MLB Player News

Right fielder Mark Trumbo and catcher Tuffy Gosewisch will get some rest Saturday as  both are out of the Diamondbacks' starting lineup against the Padres.

Trumbo has started 24 of the D-backs' 28 games in right field before Saturday while Gosewisch has started 21 games behind the plate.

Outfield utility-man Ender Inciarte will start in right and bat leadoff with Jordan Pacheco batting seventh in his seventh start behind the plate.

Jonny Gomes and A.J. Pierzynski aren't in the Braves' starting lineup for Saturday's game against Washington.

Kelly Johnson gets the start in left field in place of Gomes. It's Johnson's 13th start of the year in left, one shy of Gomes' total, but it's just the second time in the last six games that Johnson has started there.

Johnson will bat cleanup.

Christian Bethancourt gets the start behind the plate in place of Pierzynski. It's his 13th start of the year at catcher. He'll bat seventh. 

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said Saturday that catcher James McCann will see the bulk of the starts behind the plate in the wake of the injury to Alex Avila, the Detroit Free Press reports.

McCann has served as the team's starter at catcher against left-handed pitchers but will now see regular action against righties with Avila sidelined. McCann has hit .295/.311/.432 with one home run and five RBI in 44 at-bats this season but has posted a .600 OPS against righties while delivering a .929 OPS against lefties.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez is out of the starting lineup for Saturday's game against the Tigers.

It's just the second time this season that Perez hasn't been behind the plate for the Royals. He has hit .306/.316/.459 with four home runs and 18 RBI in 111 at-bats. Drew Butera, who was acquired by the Royals Thursday, is getting the start and batting ninth.

The Royals are underdogs (+140) in Detroit Saturday, per VegasInsider.com.

The Tigers made a late change to their lineup for Friday's game. Alex Avila was scratched from the lineup, and James McCann will take his place at catcher, per MLive. 

Avila suffered a right forearm contusion in the eighth inning of Thursday's game, which will keep him out of the lineup, the team announced. 

If recent lineups are any indication, the starting job could be slipping away from scuffling Angels catcher Chris Iannetta.

Iannetta has been benched for the third time in four games for the Friday night game against Houston. Carlos Perez is set to start instead.

Iannetta did himself no favors with another hitless performance Thursday. He is 1-for-25 over his last eight games and owns a .091/.197/.106 slash line on the year.

Devin Mesoraco is back in the Reds' starting lineup on Friday against the White Sox. Mesoraco, who hasn't started a game since April 11 due to a hip injury, is listed as the designated hitter and cleanup hitter for manager Bryan Price. 

Mesoraco has been able to pinch hit over the last few weeks, but has not recorded a hit since his last start. He has just two hits on the season overall. 

Diamondbacks catcher Tuffy Gosewisch went 3 for 4 with four RBI during Thursday's 11-0 win over the Padres.

Gosewisch entered the game without any extra-base hits on the season, but he hit three doubles Thursday. Gosewisch now has back-to-back three-hit games after only having one multi-hit game prior to Wednesday's game. The last two games has raised his batting average from .176 to .237.

"It felt great," Gosewisch said, per MLB.com. "First one, got lucky and it fell in and relaxed a little after that and got some pitches to hit. But as a whole I think the whole team had a great approach. We just continued to get hits throughout the game."

Pirates catcher Chris Stewart drove in two runs to help lead the Pirates to a 7-2 win over the Reds on Thursday.

Stewart went 2 for 4 in the game. The two RBI came when he hit a single off Kevin Gregg to drive in Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte in the seventh inning. Stewart has now hit safely in his last four games. During the hitting streak, Stewart has six hits in his last 15 at-bats.

Catcher Chris Iannetta is back in the starting lineup for the Angels on Thursday. Iannetta sat out the last two games while rookie Carlos Perez drew the start. The veteran Iannetta is hitting an ugly .094 on the year, and has gone 0 for 5 lifetime against Astros' starter Collin McHugh.