MLB Player News

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria went 1 for 4 with a solo home run in his team's 7-2 win over the Cardinals Tuesday.

Longora waited until the last possible moment to deliver his blast, knocking his home run with two outs in the ninth inning. He has hit .262/.336/.400 with 12 home runs and 49 RBI in 390 at-bats.

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado is out of the lineup Tuesday with tightness in his lower back, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Machado is just 1 for 10 over his last three games but is still hitting .267/.317/.422 with 10 home runs and 23 RBI in 258 at-bats. He's day-to-day with the back issue.

Royals infielder Danny Valencia was unable to return to the lineup Tuesday against the White Sox, after he was hit by a pitch on the left hand Monday. He is day to day at this point. 

Royals infielder Danny Valencia underwent X-rays Monday after getting hit on the left hand by a pitch but the tests came back negative, the Kansas City Star reports.

Valencia went 1 for 2 and drove in the team's only run of the the game before being removed. He has hit .295/.342/.400 with two home runs and 11 RBI in 105 at-bats.

Twins infielder Trevor Plouffe was the team's only batter to make an impact Friday, in a 6-2 loss to the Rays.

Plouffe had just one hit in the game, as he slugged a third-inning two-run home run post the team's first and only runs on the board. He finished the game 1 for 4 overall with a run scored and a strikeout.

Plouffe has seven home runs and 44 RBI on the season, while hitting .245/.317/.417 in 78 games.  

Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson didn't get his first hit until the ninth inning Friday, but made it count in a 5-4 win over the Orioles.

Donaldson went 1 for 4 in the game, but his lone hit won the game for the A's. He slugged a three-run walk-off home run in the ninth inning, erasing a two-run deficit with one swing.

Donaldson has 21 home runs in 93 games, and is just a few long balls away from his career-high mark of 24, set in 158 games a year ago. Donaldson is hitting .238/.316/.455 in 369 at-bats this season. 

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado continued his resurgence Friday, as he clubbed a late home run in a 5-4 loss to the Athletics.

Machado drove in two runs with his seventh-inning homer, to put the Orioles up, 4-2. Unfortunately, the bullpen could not make that lead stand up, as Machado's blast went to waste. He finished the game 2 for 4 with two runs driven in and one scored in the loss.

Machado has been red-hot in the month of July, hitting .486/.514/.829 with three home runs and five RBI in nine games since returning from a suspension. 

Rays infielder Evan Longoria drove in three runs Friday against the Twins.

With the bases loaded in the third inning, Longoria cleared the bases with a double to center. He also singled later in the game. Longoria finished 2 for 4, with no runs scored and three RBI. 

Orioles infielder Manny Machado doesn't expect any issues in Oakland, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Machado drew a five game suspension the last time the two teams played each other, but doesn't anticipate any bad blood this time around. "I’m past it already," Machado said. "We’re just going to go out there and take it like it’s another day. I’m going to go out there and play my game."

Machado said he hasn't even thought about playing the Athletics again, he just wants to start the second half on the right foot. Machado is hitting .270/.319/.422 over 244 at-bats. 

Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and Reds third baseman Todd Frazier survived tiebreaking swing-offs in the first round before eventually meeting in the finals of Monday's Home Run Derby, where Cespedes picked up his second straight title with a 9-1 knockout of Frazier.

Cespedes' three first-round homers earned him a swingoff with Athletics teammate Josh Donaldson, and after Donaldson managed just one home run three swings, the outfielder delivered homers in each of his first two swings to advance. He defeated Orioles outfielder Adam Jones 9-3 in the second round after Jones managed four first-round shots, then took down Jose Bautista, who had a competition-best 10 homers in the first round, by a score of 7-4 in the AL Final. Twins home-field competitor Brian Dozier hit just two home runs in the first round, failing to advance.

Frazier played the role of underdog throughout, hitting just two home runs as the first batter in the competition but managing to slide into a swing-off with Rockies first baseman Justin Morneau after Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig failed to hit a single home run before recording seven outs. Frazier went first in the swing-off and managed one home run in three swings but advanced after Morneau went 0 for 3. The Reds third baseman took down Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki 6-2 after Tulowitzki hit four first-round homers. Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton earned a bye after hitting six massive blasts in the first round, but he bowed out to Frazier 1-0 after a long break.

Cespedes joined Ken Griffey as the only players to win back-to-back Home Run Derby titles. He'll likely enter the 2015 competition as the favorite to make it three in a row.