MLB Player News

Catcher Kurt Suzuki, DH Kennys Vargas and right fielder Torii Hunter were not included in the Twins' Sunday lineup. 

Suzuki was replaced by Chris Herrmann, who started his fourth game at catcher, batting eighth.

Oswaldo Arcia moved over from left to replace Hunter. Eduardo Escobar picked up his fourth start of the year in left, batting sixth.  

Eduardo Nunez played Dh for the first time this year, batting fifth. 

Indians infielder Mike Aviles is in the starting lineup Sunday, batting second and playing shortstop in his team's matchup with the Tigers.

Aviles is seeing just his second start of the season at shortstop, as most of his work has come in the oufield. He'll take the place of Jose Ramirez, who had started 10 straight games coming into Sunday.

The Indians have also made a change at the top of the lineup, moving second baseman Jason Kipnis to the leadoff spot. Kipnis and Aviles batted 1-2 in the team's last start against a southpaw, and lefty Kyle Lobstein is on the mound of the Tigers Sunday. Center fielder and typical leadoff man Michael Bourn will bat ninth.

The Indians are road favorites (-115) in Detroit Sunday.

Twins shortstop Eduardo Escobar went 1 for 5 at the plate in Minnesota's 8-5 win over the Mariners Saturday.

Escobar did his only damage in the fourth inning when he ripped a 3-2 pitch off James Paxton over the left center field wall for a solo home run, his first of the season. Escobar, who also struck out twice, boosted his average to .171 in 35 at-bats this season.

Athletics manager Bob Melvin likes what he's got in prospect Max Muncy, who played in his first game after being called up Saturday. Melvin expects to primarily use Muncy at third base with his infield battling a multitude of injuries, reports MLB.com.

"He can play a little first, he can play a little third, and with [Eric Sogard] being able to play all the positions, it's probably going to be mostly at third," said Melvin. "He's a grinder. He made an impression right away. You know he can hit, and he's coming in here swinging the bat well. We've always felt he was quite the hitter.

"Moved him over to third to make him a little bit more versatile, especially with [Matt] Olson in the system. We like what we saw this spring."

Muncy went 1 for 4 in the game with a single and a strikeout.

As cold as Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe was to start the season, that's how hot he's been since.

Plouffe was batting a mere .133 with one RBI through nine games. He is 10-for-23 in six games since with two doubles, one homer, two RBI and an on-base percentage of .480. How does he explain that? Discipline at the plate.

"I think that's a product of laying off borderline pitches and getting myself into better counts," he told MLB.com. "If the pitcher sees you swinging at those borderline pitches, he's just going to continue to throw those and you're not going to have great at-bats. So if you're able to shrink the zone down, that helps. And when I'm going well, that's what I do."

Plouffe led the Twins with 80 RBI last year.

The Twins will be without three regulars in the starting lineup on Saturday. 

Shortstop Danny Santana, left fielder Oswaldo Arcia and center fielder Jordan Schafer are all out of the lineup. 

Eduardo Escobar will start his third game of the year at shortstop, batting eighth in the lineup. 

Eduardo Nunez gets his second start of the year in left, batting sixth. Shane Robinson starts for the sixth time in center, batting ninth. 

The Athletics placed Ben Zobrist on the 15-day disabled list with a left knee injury, the team announced on Saturday. Zobrist has battled the injury for several days and tested the knee at designated hitter on Friday night. 

To replace Zobrist on the roster, the A's called up Max Muncy from Triple-A Nashville. Muncy will make his Major League debut on Saturday, starting at third base and batting seventh for Oakland. 

To make room for Muncy on the 40-man roster, the A's designated pitcher Eury De La Rosa for assignment. 

Zobrist confirmed that he needs surgery on the knee and will be out four-to-six weeks. 

Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson went 2 for 4 with a double, a home run and two RBI as his team was able to complete a sweep of the Orioles with a 7-6 victory Thursday.

Donaldson's two-run homer capped a three-run third inning, and the Blue Jays were able add on three more runs in the fourth inning and another in the fifth, the last of which proving to be crucial after the Orioles scored six runs in the final four innings. The third baseman has hit .349/.400/.635 with four home runs and 13 RBI in 63 at-bats.

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado went 2 for 4 with two home runs and four RBI in his team's 7-6 loss to the Blue Jays Thursday.

The Orioles found themselves down 7-0 after five innings, but Machado kickstarted the comeback with a solo home run in the sixth. After an RBI single brought the score to 7-3 in the ninth, the third baseman knocked his second home run of the game to cut the deficit to one run. However, that's as far as the Orioles were able to come, and the Blue Jays managed to complete the series sweep with the win.

"I'm just taking it day by day, one at-bat to the next," Machado said after the game, per MLB.com. "Forget about if I started off slow, if I started off hot, it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, we still have 700 at-bats left. You gotta keep grinding every day."

Machado has hit .218/.281/.418 with three home runs, 11 RBI and two stolen bases in 55 at-bats.

Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson collected three hits for the third time in six games on Tuesday vs. Baltimore. He finished with one run, one RBI, one walk and two doubles.

After batting .192 in his first seven games, Donaldson is batting .483 (14 for 29) with three doubles, three home runs, eight RBI and eight runs in his last seven games. 

He has seven multihit games this season.