MLB 2024 | Three hits for Yordan, including a home run; Yandy with his fifth homer; Gurriel Jr. has a multi-hit game; Colás could be demoted to the minors

Cuban Players News for the 2024 Major League Baseball season. A compilation of several sources

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Yordan Alvarez homered and went 3-for-5 with two RBI in a 5-3 victory for Houston over the White Sox on Thursday.

Alvarez smoked a homer in the first inning off Chris Flexen to give the Astros a 1-0 lead, and he tied the game at 3-3 with his single in the seventh. The 26-year-old outfielder has now driven in 39 runs, and it’s the 15th homer of the campaign. Simply put, Alvarez is one of the best hitters in baseball.

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Yandy Díaz hit a two-run homer and doubled in an extra-inning loss to the Rays on Thursday.

Díaz went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run Thursday against the Twins. Díaz absolutely clobbered a two-run homer that went an estimated 439 feet to extend the Rays’ lead to 6-2 in the ninth. It turns out the Rays would need those runs, as Minnesota scored four to tie it in the bottom half of the frame. Díaz collected two hits extending his hitting streak to 13 games and his on-base streak to 22 games in the process. He's batting .351 over the course of the hitting streak, though he has just one home run, one double, four RBI and six runs scored to show for his efforts. Díaz is starting to heat up again, and he’s been much better than the .264/.327/.368 slash suggests after his slow start.

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A one-hit night for Andy Pagés.

In the Dodgers' 5-3 victory over Colorado, Pagés went 1-for-5. His only hit was his 11th double of the season, which pushed him into 22 RBIs. As a first-year player, he now has a batting line of .264/.318/.429, but his 11 doubles and 8 home runs are a better reflection of what the Dodgers require of him.

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June continues to be a hot month for Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Gurriel went 2-for-5 in the D-backs' 5-2 victory over the Nationals on Thursday. Additionally, he struck out. With a slash line of .323/.343/.492, 3 HRs and 11 RBIs in June, Gurriel is righting his 2024 season after putting up offensive lines of .219/.261/.314 and .213/.245/.287 in April and May, respectively. During this time period he has achieved eight multi-hit games and has hit .339/.362/.429 with 9 RBIs in his last 15 games. Currently, he has 72 hits and 42 RBIs, which puts him on track to reach 100 hits for the fourth consecutive year and 80 RBIs for the third time in his career. 

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Oscar Colás could head back to the minors soon.

White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said Thursday that Colás may be optioned to Triple-A Charlotte soon in order to play on an everyday basis, Vinnie Duber of AllCHGO.com reported. Colás hasn't started a game in a week, and while Grifol said he plans to put the outfielder in the lineup soon, he admitted that it might be more beneficial for the 25-year-old to go back to the minors. The outfielder has gone 9-for-30 at the plate during his limited chances with the White Sox this season, although all nine hits have been singles. Chicago will be sellers at the trade deadline, and playing time for Colás could open up at that point.

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Miguel Vargas started in left field and batted seventh for the Dodgers on Thursday.

With the Dodgers facing left-hander Ty Blach, Vargas played left field with Jason Heyward getting the day off. He went 1-for-3 collecting his 6th RBI of the season. Vargas has some intriguing plate discipline and power growth this season in the minors, but the Dodgers seem unlikely to play him against right-handed pitching, which will limit him at the MLB level. Truthfully, he could develop more if he played for a team that wasn't fighting for the championship.

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