MLB Player News

Andujar will start at third base and bat cleanup in Wednesday's game against the Mariners.

Andujar broke into the big leagues as a third baseman with the Yankees in 2017, but he's seen most of his action in the corner outfield since the 2021 season. However, with the recent promotion of first baseman Nick Kurtz from Triple-A Sacramento having resulted in Tyler Soderstrom taking over as the Athletics' primary left fielder, Andujar has been seeing more time at third base of late as manager Mark Kotsay makes an effort to keep his bat in the lineup. Andujar will be making his fourth straight start and his third in a row at third base, where he's seemingly supplanted Gio Urshela as the primary option. Andujar could face more competition for reps at the hot corner from Luis Urias once Zack Gelof (wrist) returns from the injured list and takes over as the Athletics' primary second baseman.

Langeliers is not in the lineup for Wednesday's game versus the Mariners.

Langeliers started at catcher in each of the first two games of the series, so he's earned a rest for Wednesday's matinee. Jhonny Pereda will do the catching and bat ninth for the Athletics in this one.

Kurtz is not in the lineup for Wednesday's contest against the Mariners.

It's Kurtz's second day off since his promotion in late April and the first time he's been out of the lineup against a right-hander. The rookie has been better so far in May (.278/.417/.389, 7:5 K:BB) after a sluggish April (.250/.240/.250, 12:0 K:BB) but is still looking for his first major-league home run. Tyler Soderstrom is handling first base Wednesday for the Athletics while Seth Brown patrols left field.

Astros manager Joe Espada said Wednesday that Alvarez has been diagnosed with a muscle strain on the top of his right hand and is hoping to be activated from the 10-day injured list when first eligible May 13, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

Alvarez needs a bit of rest, but the goal is for him to rejoin the Astros early next week for the second game of a three-game set against the Royals. Jose Altuve has made two starts at designated hitter and Yainer Diaz has been in the DH spot once since Alvarez was placed on the IL on Monday.

Judge went 1-for-3 with a solo home run, an additional run and a walk in Tuesday's 12-3 win over San Diego.

Judge played a small part in New York's 10-run seventh inning (he drew an intentional walk and scored a run), but he made a bigger mark earlier in the contest, belting a solo shot in the fourth inning to give New York its first run. The superstar slugger continues to put up video-game-like numbers; he leads the majors by a wide margin with a 1.275 OPS, .772 slugging percentage, .412 batting average and .503 OBP while tying two other players for the league lead in both homers (12) and RBI (34). Judge has reached base safely in 35 of 36 games this season, including in 32 consecutive contests.

Smith is not in the lineup for Wednesday's game in Milwaukee.

Smith started the first two games of the series but will grab a seat in Wednesday's finale. The rookie outfielder's playing time has been trending downward the last two weeks, as he's started only seven of the past 13 contests. Smith is just 4-for-23 with a 33.3 percent strikeout rate over that span.

Booser (0-3) allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and one walk while recording only one out to blow the save and take the loss Tuesday against the Royals.

Booser was brought in to protect a one-run lead in the ninth inning and suffered from a combination of poor pitching and bad luck. He walked the leadoff man, but Chase Meidroth had a pop fly bounce off his head one batter later. A subsequent pair of singles -- one of which didn't leave the infield -- gave the Royals the walk-off win. Booser started the season decently but has allowed six earned runs across his last 4.1 innings of work and doesn't look likely to continue to see save chances.

Leasure retired the only batter he faced in the eighth inning to earn a hold Tuesday against the Royals.

Leasure entered the game with the tying run at second base in the eighth inning and retired the only batter he faced on three pitches to escape the jam. He was surprisingly not brought back out for the ninth inning despite the light workload, with Cam Booser instead blowing a save chance and taking the loss. This usage suggests that Leasure is the White Sox's preferred highest-leverage reliever -- rather than designated closer -- though it's difficult to speculate on the closer role given that the team has only one save for the season.

The Guardians optioned Kent to Triple-A Columbus on Wednesday.

As expected, Kent was sent back to Columbus after he was called up Tuesday to serve as the 27th man in the Guardians' doubleheader versus the Nationals. Kent tossed a scoreless ninth inning in the Guardians' 9-1 win in Game 2, giving up one hit while striking out a batter.

Wilson allowed one earned run on one hit and one walk while striking out one over 1.1 innings to earn a hold Tuesday against the Royals.

Wilson was the first White Sox reliever to appear after Sean Burke was pulled following 6.1 innings of work. Wilson entered the game with runners on first and second base and managed to escape the jam, but he then allowed a two-out rally before being pulled with two outs in the eighth inning. He has seemingly settled into a key setup role in the Chicago bullpen but has not gotten save chances.