MLB Player News

Royals catcher Salvador Perez went 1 for 4 with a solo home run in his team's 4-3 win over the Rangers on Sunday.

Perez's homer was a big one, as the eighth-inning blast broke a 3-3 tie and kept the Royals from being swept at home by the Rangers. He has hit .277/.286/.452 with eight homers and 27 RBI in 188 at-bats.

Pirates catcher Chris Stewart is in the starting lineup for Sunday's game against the Braves, with Francisco Cervelli on the bench.

Stewart has been catching Sunday starter Gerrit Cole for the last few turns through the rotation and will do so again on Sunday. Cole owns a 1.33 ERA and 54:8 K:BB ratio in seven starts with Stewart as his catcher, while he has posted a 3.04 ERA and 25:8 K:BB ratio in four starts with Cervelli behind the plate.

The Pirates are road favorites (-148) in Atlanta, per VegasInsider.com.

Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco (hip) will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville in Columbus on Monday, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Mesoraco, who said he feels great, will man left field during the rehab assignment in preparation for a new role with the Reds. Manager Bryan Price thinks Mesoraco will need three or four games with Louisville before being activated from the disabled list.

Mesoraco has hit .178/.275/.244 with two RBI in 45 at-bats.

Angels catcher Chris Iannetta is back in the starting lineup for Sunday's game against the Yankees. 

Iannetta appeared in the ninth inning in Saturday's 8-2 loss and struck out. He's hitting .174 this season. With Iannetta back in the lineup, catcher Carlos Perez will head back to the bench for Sunday's game. 

Perez is hitting .283 in 19 games. 

Diamondbacks catcher Tuffy Gosewisch underwent surgery on his right knee on Friday. Gosewisch was diagnosed with a torn ACL earlier in the week, and it seems likely that his season is over.

"He feels great," D-backs manager Chip Hale said, per MLB.com. "What they told us was there were no issues in the knee other than that, so that's good."

Gosewisch was with the team on Saturday, but will not travel with the team on their up-coming road trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Tigers catcher James McCann broke out of his recent slump with a three-hit effort in Saturday's 7-1 win over the White Sox. McCann, who entered the game with just two hits in his previous five games, belted an RBI double among his three hits. He also scored a run, increasing his batting average to .285 on the season.

Braves catcher Christian Bethancourt hadn't hit a home run in 201 major league at-bats. On at-bat No. 202, Bethancourt hit a walk-off home run to beat the Pirates 5-4 on Saturday.

Bethancourt went 3 for 4 with two RBI and two runs scored. The performance brought his batting average to .205 on the season.

"I've been feeling more confidence," said Bethancourt, per MLB.com. "I've been working in the cage with the hitting coach and during [batting practice]. You know, trying to get back on track and finally it seems like it's showing up. So I'm happy with it."

Injured Mets Travis d'Arnaud and Dilson Herrera played full games at Class A St. Lucie on Saturday, taking another step in their rehab, per ESPN.com. 

d'Arnaud was 3-for-4 with an RBI as the catcher attempts to recover from a pinky injury and bone bruise. He caught the entire contest. 

Herrera has been on the disabled list since mid-May while recovering from a broken right middle finger. He was 1-for-4 on the night and also played the entire game at second base.

Both players are expected to move their rehab assignments to Triple-A Las Vegas and could be activated as early as Tuesday, according to ESPN.com.

It's been a rough return for catcher Yan Gomes since he was activated from the disabled list after missing six weeks with a knee injury, but the Indians are hoping the All-Star backstop can find his hitting stroke, per the Chronicle-Telegram. 

Gomes had two hits in Saturday's win over the Orioles to raise his average to .200 after going 6-for-31 in his return from the DL. 

"He's a good hitter. He'll hit," manager Terry Francona said. "I don't want to say it's inevitable, but I can't say it's not totally unexpected that a guy misses that much time and doesn't have perfect timing."

Royals catcher Salvador Perez brought some offense late in Saturday's contest against the Rangers, but it wasn't enough as the Royals fell 4-2. Perez went 2 for 4 in the game, including a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to bring the Royals to within two.

The home run was his seventh of the season, but he has been struggling at the plate in recent times. Over his last nine games, Perez has just four hits in 30 at-bats, with two of those hits going for home runs.