MLB Player News

Smith went 2-for-4 with a grand slam and a double in Thursday's win over the Padres.

Smith crushed a 405-foot grand slam in the sixth inning off reliever Trey Wingenter to give the Dodgers a 5-2 lead that would last the rest of the way. The 24-year-old catcher also doubled in the eighth inning to cap off another successful night at the plate. Smith has now gone 8-for-17 with four doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI since rejoining the Dodgers last weekend.

Smith went 1-for-4 with a three-run home run in Wednesday's 5-1 win at Colorado.

Smith was having a rough afternoon, as he was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts entering his final at-bat. However, he delivered a 449-foot, three-run homer to break a scoreless tie in the ninth inning to lift the Dodgers over the Rockies. The rookie backstop is 6-for-13 with three doubles, two home runs and nine RBI since rejoining the big-league club over the weekend.

Gomes went 1-for-5 with a three-run home run in Tuesday's loss to Atlanta.

His eighth-inning blast came with the Nats down 11-2, kick-starting a late rally that closed the gap to three runs before the team ran out of time. Gomes now has six homers on the year, but half of them have come in July. However, his .184/.354/.421 slash line on the month still puts a significant damper on his fantasy value.

Stallings will start at catcher and bat eighth Tuesday in Cincinnati.

Since the beginning of July, Stallings has slashed .273/.333/.394 in 36 plate appearances. He's also started nine of the team's last 17 games, earning at least an equal timeshare behind the plate with Elias Diaz. Stallings offers little in the way of power or speed, but he does feature a career .303 batting average in 142 at-bats.

Smith isn't in the starting lineup for Tuesday's game against the Rockies.

Smith has collected five base knocks over his last three contests, including four extra-base hits. He'll take a seat for the second matchup of the series, opening the door for Russell Martin to handle the catching duties.

Contreras isn't in the starting lineup for Tuesday's game against the Cardinals.

Contreras is 2-for-13 with a double and an RBI over his last three contests, so he'll catch a breather Tuesday. Victor Caratini will handle the catching duties and back sixth in Contreras' stead.

Diaz isn't in the starting lineup for Tuesday's game against Cincinnati.

Diaz will head to the bench for the third time in the last four days. Jacob Stallings draws the start behind the dish and is set to hit eighth in Diaz's absence.

Hedges is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Orioles.

Francisco Mejia will handle catching duties in the series finale, but he seems to have fallen behind Hedges on the depth chart, given the usage of both backstops recently. Hedges had started four of the Padres' previous six games, and it looks like his superior defense could be the playing-time tiebreaker between the two when Mejia is in the midst of dry spells at the plate.

Barnhart is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game against Pittsburgh.

Barnhart has gone 6-for-10 at the plate over his last three games. He'll get a rest in favor of Kyle Farmer on Tuesday.

Gomes drew walks in all four of his plate appearances during Monday's win over Atlanta and scored two runs.

His display of patience had a lot more to do with the fact that Gomes was hitting eighth in front of the pitcher than any skill on his part. On the season, the veteran catcher has a feeble .213/.317/.325 slash line, and he's fallen decidedly behind Kurt Suzuki on the Nats' depth chart.