MLB Player News

Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson will get his first day off this season, as he is being held out of the lineup on Friday against the Mariners. Donaldson has hit well lately, batting .270 with two home runs and seven RBI over his last 10 games, batting solely out of the top two spots in the lineup.

Manager John Gibbons said Donaldson, who has started each of the team's first 43 games this year, has been playing on a "bad calf" and was looking to give him a day off, acording to SportsNet.

Danny Valencia will get the start at the hot corner, while Ezequiel Carrera will move up to the leadoff spot the batting order. 

The Blue Jays got a home run each from Edwin Encarnacion and Danny Valencia in their 8-4 win over the Angels on Thursday. 

For Encarnacion, that's his 10th home run of the season. Encarnacion's shot was of the three-run variety and occurred in the bottom of the fifth inning. The homer also scored Steve Tolleson and Jose Bautista. 

This snapped a two-game hitless streak for Encarnacion. He finished the game 1 for 4 but struck out twice. He now holds a slash line of .231/.315/.455. 

Valencia hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot, which happened in the third inning. He finished 1 for 4 and is now hitting .339/.350/.508. Valencia has now recorded a hit in four consecutive games. 

Indians shortstop Jose Ramirez went 2 for 3 with two walks, two runs scored, one RBI and two stolen bases in his team's 4-3 win over the White Sox on Wednesday.

Ramirez hasn't been a force at the plate for much of the season but turned things on against the White Sox, going 5 for 10 with three walks and three stolen bases in the last three games. He broke a 1-1 tie with an RBI single in the seventh inning and his team didn't relinquish the lead over the remainder of the game.

"He looks like he's starting to play with some confidence," manager Terry Francona said, per Northeast Ohio Media Group. "His energy rounding the bag at first ... he looks like the Jose we became really fond of last year. That's very welcome.

"His batting average (.198) is going to be low for a while, but if he starts playing like that it will give us a huge lift."

Ramirez has hit .198/.260/.261 with one home run, seven RBI and eight stolen bases in 111 at-bats.

Making his third consecutive start at first base for the Athletics, Max Muncy launched a solo home run in Tuesday's loss to the Astros. The sixth-inning bomb was his second of the season and in the last three games.

Over the three game stretch, Muncy has brought his season average up from .227 to its current .286 clip. He will likely continue to get regular playing time for now with Ike Davis on the disabled list.

Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe hit a two-run home run in the second inning of Tuesday's win over Pittsburgh. 

Plouffe went 2 for 4 and went deep for his sixth homer of the year. He also hit his sixth double of the season and now has 20 RBI. 

Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson went 1 for 3 at the plate in Toronto's 3-2 loss to the Angels on Tuesday. 

Donaldson led things off in the first with a solo home run off of Hector Santiago, his ninth of the season. He later brought home another run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Donaldson is now hitting .316 with 28 RBI in 158 at-bats this season.

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado has hit just .217/.269/.304 in 23 at-bats against left-handers this season.

Machado struggled against southpaws in 2014 as well, posting a .642 OPS against lefties and a .802 OPS against righties, but the split has been more pronouced this season, as the third baseman has powered to a .288/.366/.519 line while hitting all six of his home runs against righties.

Machado is set to face Mariners righty Taijuan Walker on Tuesday but then has a pair of matchups against left-handers on Wednesday and Thursday.

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria went 2 for 6 with three RBI in his team's 11-3 win over the Twins on Sunday.

It's just the second time this season Longoria has racked up three RBI in a game, as he had managed just a total of four RBI through the end of April. He's played third base for the entirety of eight straight games but is just 6 for 33 with one double during that stretch. Longoria and the Rays are off Monday before opening a two-game series in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe is just 8 for 40 with no home runs in 11 games over the last two weeks.

Plouffe has managed a few extra-base hits and drawn five walks to post a .200/.289/.300 line over that stretch. The recent cool-down has the third baseman hitting .254/.336/.423 with five home runs and 18 RBI in 130 at-bats. He's set to open a two-game series in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

The Blue Jays are using third baseman Josh Donaldson as the leadoff hitter on Monday while slotting designated hitter Jose Bautista second.

Regular leadoff hitter Devon Travis is out of the lineup for a second straight day Monday, but rather than plug a replacement atop the lineup and leave most of the team's batters in their normal spots, Donaldson and Bautista will bat one-two for the second time this season, followed by first baseman Edwin Encarnacion in the No. 3 spot and catcher Russell Martin batting cleanup. It's the same configuration the team used on May 1 with both Travis and Jose Reyes out of the lineup.

The Blue Jays are home underdogs (+113) on Monday, per VegasInsider.com.