MLB Player News

Buxton, listed as day-to-day, is out of the lineup for Tuesday's contest against the Athletics.

Buxton, who was on a four-game hitting streak before running into the outfield wall Friday, will miss his third consecutive game Tuesday. He should return to the lineup in center field as soon as he's fully healthy.

Miller went 2-for-4 with a solo homer and two runs in a 4-2 victory over the Angels on Monday.

The shortstop connected off Nick Tropeano for a solo shot with two out in the third, his second round-tripper of July. Miller has also hit safely in three of the first four games of the new month, and is slashing .248/.297/.462 on the season.

Cespedes went 3-for-5 with a double, a run scored and two RBI in Monday's win over the Marlins.

The two RBI turned out to be the winning runs on an RBI double off Fernando Rodney in the eighth inning. Cespedes extended his hitting streak to eight games with the effort, which includes four multi-hit efforts and now five extra-base hits after his two doubles Monday. His batting line sits at .300/.366/.578 as he continues to show his monster second half last year was no fluke.

Belt had a big day at the plate Sunday, going 2-for-4 with a double, two walks, a pair of RBI and a run scored in a win over Arizona.

The Giants needed this performance from Belt with so many of their regulars sidelined. He came through, as he has all year, with another solid across-the-board effort. Belt continues to progress at the plate, seeing his strikeouts drastically drop to 18.0% and his walks skyrocket to 14.7%. With elite plate discipline numbers like those, he is exponentially more valuable in advanced leagues that use on-base percentage instead of batting average.

Reed is out of the lineup Monday against the Mariners, Angel Verdejo of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Reed has gotten off to an unremarkable 2-for-22 start to his big-league career, striking out in exactly half of those at-bats. The Astros will probably keep him through the All-Star break to see if he can turn it around, but it's certainly not encouraging that he'll be held out of the lineup for the second time in three days. Marwin Gonzalez gets the start at first base.

McCutchen (heel) will return to the lineup Monday according to manager Clint Hurdle, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune reports.

McCutchen's ailment must have proven to be minor, as he'll return to action after just one day off. He'll presumably return to center field for the afternoon matchup against the Cardinals.

Vargas will start at first base and slot fifth in the order Monday against the Athletics, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

Vargas was promoted from Triple-A Rochester earlier Sunday after Trevor Plouffe (ribs) landed on the DL, and he'll immediately step into the lineup with a couple of the Twins' other position players still banged up. Eduardo Escobar is battling a hamstring injury and Byron Buxton is dealing with general soreness, but neither player looks at risk of missing significant time. If that ends up being the case, Vargas can't be counted on to see everyday at-bats.

Buxton is out of the lineup Monday due to general soreness after running into the outfield wall Friday, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

Buxton is available off the bench. He was also out of Sunday's starting lineup due to the issue.

Vargas was recalled from Triple-A Rochester on Monday, Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

The Twins called up Vargas to assume the roster spot of Trevor Plouffe, who was placed on the 15-day DL with a cracked rib. Vargas' power has long been regarded as his best tool, but a poor contact rate has made it difficult to establish himself as a viable lineup option in the big leagues. In addition, Vargas doesn't possess much positional versatility, and with Joe Mauer and Miguel Sano seemingly locked into regular roles at first base and DH, respectively, it may be difficult for the 25-year-old to make a legitimate push for at-bats.

Harper went 2-for-4 with a solo shot, his 17th home run of the season, in Sunday's blowout win over the Reds.

Despite the blast, he actually lost the team HR lead to, of all people, Danny Espinosa after the shortstop hit two more homers of his own Sunday. Harper's coming out of his slump, though, hitting .391 (9-for-23) over his last six games with two HR and five RBI, and it's just a matter of time before he surges ahead of Espinosa once again.