MLB Player News

Perez had a career day at the plate Sunday, going 3-for-5 with a home run and five RBI in a blowout win over Baltimore.

Perez has received spotty playing time this season, but he has now driven in at least one run in four consecutive starts, with a pair of homers and nine total RBI during that stretch. He will continue to see regular playing time with Geovany Soto (knee) on the disabled list, and he seems to be taking well to the regular at-bats.

McCann is out of the lineup Sunday against the Rays.

Chalk it up as a regular day off for the Tigers' primary backstop, as McCann will give way to Jarrod Saltalamacchia behind the plate for the afternoon contest.

Gomes is out of the lineup for Saturday's game against Boston.

Chris Gimenez will take over catching duties Saturday with Gomes getting the afternoon off. After a brutally slow start to the season, Gomes has started to turn things around at the dish over the last week, slashing .286/.304/.667 with a pair of home runs. He figures to rejoin the lineup for Sunday's series finale against Rick Porcello.

Vazquez went 2-for-4 with three RBI in Boston's 5-2 win over Kansas City in the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader.

Vazquez delivered in a key situation, singling with the bases loaded in the sixth inning after the Royals intentionally walked Jackie Bradley to get to him. A 7-for-20 stretch over the past week has lifted his average to .254, but the catcher hasn't been much more than a .220 hitter this season.

Perez is out of the lineup for Game 1 of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Red Sox, MLB.com's Jeffrey Flanagan reports.

He was likely getting one of the two games off Wednesday, and it will be the day game. Drew Butera will start behind the dish and hit eighth in Game 1, and Perez should be back in the lineup for the nightcap.

McCann is not in the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Twins.

McCann will be held out in favor of Jarrod Saltalamacchia on Wednesday with the Tigers playing a day game following a night game. McCann's second day off in three days could do him some good, as he is just 4-for-36 (.111) with no extra-base hits and 14 strikeouts since being activated from the disabled list earlier this month.

Perez is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Dodgers.

Geovany Soto will take over behind the plate Tuesday, batting fifth in the order as the Angels take on Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers. Perez and Soto have been evenly splitting the playing time at catcher for most of May, although Perez has been a far weaker option offensively, batting just .176 on the season.

Casali hit his fifth home run as part of a 2-for-5 game with three RBI and two runs scored in Monday's win over the Blue Jays.

Casalli's batting average climbed closer to the Mendoza line, now up to .197, but he struck out two more times Monday and now has 35 strikeouts in just 27 games and 83 plate appearances. The power is there, as with Monday's home run and double Casali now has a .447 slugging percentage and nine extra-base hits in his limited action. But he's stretching the limit of how often a player can strike out and remain in a major league lineup, and if he can't cut his strikeout rate down to at least his career mark of 32.7 percent, his power will be overshadowed by his inability to get on base (.256 OBP in 2016).

Gomes continued his recent hot streak, going 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI in the Indians' blowout victory against the Reds.

Gomes has had a rough season at the plate thus far, and it has been especially difficult in May, where his three home runs make up a full half of his hits for the month. Gomes' six homers in 2016 gives him half of his 2015 total already, but at this rate it'll take a while for his batting average to reach the .231 mark he set a season ago, let alone the .278 he hit the year before that.

McCann is not in the starting lineup Monday against the Twins.

McCann has not been great at the plate lately, as he's only collected three hits over the past week, although that actually raised his batting average to a poor .125. Jarrod Saltalamacchia will fill in for him behind the plate Monday.