MLB Player News

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt and shortstop Brandon Crawford (calf) both returned to the starting lineup Friday night against Philadelphia, per MLB.com.

Both players received the day off on Thursday. Belt, who is batting fifth, is hitting .306 with seven homers and 24 RBI on the year. Crawford, who is batting sixth, is hitting .293 with eight homers and 37 RBI on the year.

Mets right fielder Curtis Granderson is not in the starting lineup for Thursday's matchup with the Diamondbacks.

Granderson is taking a seat with the Mets facing lefty Robbie Ray, so John Mayberry will play right field and bat sixth on Thursday. Infielder Ruben Tejada will bat leadoff and move across the infield to play second base after seeing six straight starts as the third baseman and No. 2 hitter.

The Mets are road favorites (-135) in Arizona on Thursday, per VegasInsider.com.

After sitting out Wednesday's game in order to rest, Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed is back in the lineup for Thursday's contest against the Mets, the team announced.

Ahmed will bat eighth and play shortstop. He go against Matt Harvey, who he has never faced in his career. Over his last eight games, Ahmed is hitting .280 with two home runs and three RBI.

The Diamondbacks are the underdogs (+125) against the Mets on Thursday.

Mets third baseman Ruben Tejada etended his hitting streak to seven games in a row in Wednesday night's 7-3 loss to the Padres. 

Tejada went 3 for 5 with an RBI in the loss. Tejada was the only member of the Mets to record a multi-hit game. For Tejada, he's recorded two or more hits in five of his last six games. He's been on fire of late, batting .500 over his last five games. 

For the season, Tejada has a slash line of .310/.380/.451. 

Giants manager Bruce Bochy told reporters that Hunter Pence has a minor left wrist issue and Brandon Crawford is experiencing some calf soreness, which is why both were awarded the day off Wednesday against the Pirates, per the San Francisco Chronicle.

Pence is hitting .270 (10 for 37) with one home run and six RBI over his last nine games. Crawford is hitting .361 (26 for 72) with three homers and 19 RBI over his last 18 games.

San Francisco will start a three-game weekend series in Philadelphia on Friday.

Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford keeps on hitting. On Tuesday, Crawford belted his eighth home run of the season in the 7-4 loss to the Pirates. 

His third-inning blast brought his team to within two, but it just wasn't enough. Over his last 10 games, Crawford is batting .275 (11 for 40) with two home runs and five RBI. 

Mets third baseman Ruben Tejada went 3 for 5 with a double and two runs scored in his team's 7-0 win over the Padres on Monday.

Tejada was batting second and serving as the starting third baseman for the fourth straight game, and he's been excellent in the role, going 8 for 17 with three doubles and four RBI. Manager Terry Collins said on Sunday that Tejada would continue to serve as the regular third baseman for now. The infielder has hit .274/.357/.419 with one home run and eight RBI in 62 at-bats.

Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon tallied two singles in four at-bats Sunday against the Mets, extending his hitting streak to nine games.

Gordon is batting .341 (14 for 41) with no extra-base hits, no RBI, one walk, six runs and eight stolen bases during the hit streak.

After a pretty spectacular April, Gordon didn't quite put up the same numbers in May. Nonetheless, he had a pretty good month. Gordon had a .351/.393/.412/.806 slash line in 26 May games. He also had one triple, five doubles, three RBI, seven walks, 18 runs and 12 stolen bases.

After two months, Gordon has a .377/.405/.444/.849 slash line in 48 games. He has failed to record a hit in just eight games.

Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford hit a solo home run in the second inning of Sunday's loss to Atlanta. 

Crawford's shot completed back-to-back homers for the Giants, giving them a short-lived lead over Atlanta. Crawford also committed an untimely error in the ninth when trying to field a grounder.

"I was trying to get two before I caught the ball," Crawford said to CSN Bay Area. "I came at it too hard and was trying to get two before I ever caught the ball. It's disappointing with the comeback we had and with (Joe Panik's) homer and battling back and coming back the way we did. Having it end like that is disappointing."

Crawford went 1 for 4. It was his seventh home run and 34th RBI. 

Mets manager Terry Collins hasn't shown a ton of faith in Ruben Tejada so far this season, but on Sunday, he declared the usual shortstop his third baseman, for the time being, according to ESPN.com.

"Right now he is," Collins said. "He's earned it. He can do a lot of things when he's playing well. Right now, he's playing well."

Tejada went 1 for 4 at the plate on Sunday's win over the Marlins with a double and an RBI. 

"My problem with Ruben -- I used to think I could get a guy to step up a little," Collins said. "I'm 0-for-3 with him. For three years, we said, 'The [shortstop] job is yours, go get it.'

"He just didn't rise to the occasion."

Over the last six games, Tejada is hitting .357 with four RBI after dropping his season average under .200. 

"I'm really pleased," Collins said. "I'm extremely pleased. It's real promising. We needed someone to step in there and give us some offense."