MLB Player News

A wrist ailment continues to sideline Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who is not in the lineup Saturday against the Mets.

His wrist remained a problem when he took a few swings Saturday, leading to speculation that he could be out until at least Tuesday, per MLB.com.

Freeman has been down since Wednesday, when his six-game hitting streak was halted.

Freeman is expected to have an MRI on Monday before the team travels to Washington, D.C. for a set with the Nationals. 

"[My wrist] is not worse, it's just not getting better," Freeman said. "I really don't have an answer until I can maybe get an X-ray or an MRI. I just want to know what is wrong."

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard was an offensive bright spot for what was an otherwise ugly evening on Friday. Howard launched a three-run home run, his 13th of the year, in the bottom of the fifth innning against the Cardinals, but it wasn't enough to avoid the 12-4 defeat. 

Howard has homered in back-to-back games for the fourth time this season. 

Rays shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera went 2 for 4 in Friday's win over Cleveland. Cabrera hit a solo home run in the second inning to put the Rays in the lead to stay. 

Cabrera hit his fourth homer and drove in his 16th run. 

"That was kind of special," Cabrera said of his big game against his old team. "Earlier, in my first inning on defense, I was a little nervous, but as soon as I hit the home run everything felt better."

Blue Jays left fielder Chris Colabello reached base in all three plate appearances, in Friday's win over Baltimore. 

Colabello went 2 for 2 with a walk, extending his hitting streak to eight games. Colabello doubled, his tenth of the year, and scored. 

Colabello is hitting .387 with .940 OPS over his hitting streak. 

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo provided the only offense for his club on Friday, as the Twins defeated Chicago 7-2. Rizzo popped a pair of solo home runs, his 13th and 14th of the season.

The power-hitting Rizzo now has five home runs over his last 13 ballgames, and is batting .304 overall this season. 

Braves red-hot first baseman Freddie Freeman will cool his heels on the bench Friday night against the Mets after sustaining a right wrist sprain Wednesday. Kelly Johnson will play the position instead.

Freeman hopes he can play Saturday, but admitted there is a chance he will be forced to skip the entire weekend series since his wrist remains sore, per MLB.com.

He had seven home runs and 18 RBI in his previous 19 games before going down.

Blue Jays left fielder Chris Colabello hit his fifth home run of the season against the Mets on Thursday.

Colabello hit a solo home run off of Mets starter Bartolo Colon in the top of the fifth inning. He finished the game going 1 for 4 with with an RBI and two runs scored.

Colabello is hitting .344 with 10 hits and four RBI over his last seven games, which he has hit safely in all of them.

Astros left fielder Chris Carter went 2 for 5 with two RBI in Thursday's win over the Rockies.

Carter's bat has come alive during his last two games, going a combined 4 for 10 with two doubles and four RBI.

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard hit his 12th home run of the season in Thursday afternoon's 2-1 win over the Orioles. 

Howard hit a two-run homer off of Bud Norris in the sixth inning that ultimately served as the game-winner. He finished the game 2 for 3 and also hit a single. It was Howard's first home run since June 5. 

Howard now has a slash line of .236/.276/.471. 

Reds first baseman Joey Votto has returned to the starting lineup for Thursday's game against the Tigers. 

Votto did not start Wednesday but did play in the eighth and nine innings, notching a single in his lone at-bat. Votto is hitting .298/.398/.549 this year with 14 home runs and 36 RBI. Votto will bat third against the Tigers.