call him ‘all-star’

Corey Dickerson didn’t go for a catchy nickname on the back of his jersey for Players Weekend. The Meridian Community College product was just plain “Dickerson” when he went out Friday night and reminded everyone why he was called an “All-Star” last month. He went 4-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI to spark Tampa Bay to a 7-3 win against St. Louis. Dickerson, who started in the All-Star Game for the American League, has been slumping for several weeks but is showing signs of a revival. The lefty-hitting outfielder is 9-for-18 with two homers, three RBIs and five runs over the last week. He is at .291 with 24 homers – matching his career-high set in 2014 and 2016 – for a Rays team that remains in the thick of the AL playoff battle. … Mitch “2-Bags” Moreland worked two jobs for Boston, playing eight innings at first base and then making his second MLB pitching appearance in the ninth in the Red Sox’s 16-3 loss to Baltimore. The Amory native and ex-Mississippi State star was 0-for-3 at the plate but put up a zero from the rubber, yielding two hits and getting a strikeout. The Fenway Park radar gun clocked one of Moreland’s pitchers at 94 mph, though he questioned the gun’s validity postgame. Moreland, a lefty, pitched in high school and at MSU. … Kendall “Digger” Graveman, another State alum, pitched seven strong innings for Oakland in a 3-1 victory over Texas. Graveman, who missed a big chunk of the season with an injury, improved to 4-4 with a 4.24 ERA and is now 3-0 at Oakland Coliseum in 2017.