MLB Player News

Perez went 1-for-3 with a solo homer, a walk and two runs in Saturday's 5-3 victory over the Mariners.

The veteran backstop went deep off reliever Vidal Nuno in the seventh to make it two games in a row with a homer. After a 1-for-19 start to July over his first five games, Perez has gone 5-for-10 over his first three contests versus Seattle, with two homers, four RBI, a pair of walks and five runs scored.

Rupp is not in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Rockies, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Since stringing together a 10-game hitting streak, which boosted his average to .289, Rupp is 0-for-10. He will turn catching duties over to Carlos Ruiz on Saturday, but Rupp has carved out a large share of the workload with his performance in the first half. In fact, he's been a top-15 catcher so far for fantasy purposes.

Casali (head) is back in the lineup for Saturday's game against Boston, Bill Chastain of MLB.com reports.

Casali is back in the lineup after suffering a bruise during Wednesday's game against the Angels. He ended up missing two games as Hank Conger got the starts at catcher the past two days, but will return behind the plate for Saturday's matchup.

McCann is out of the lineup for Saturday's game against the Blue Jays.

McCann will get a regular day off after starting the past two games behind the plate. In his place, Jarrod Saltalamacchia will be in the catcher's position with Matt Boyd on the mound for Detroit.

Grandal went 5-for-5 with three home runs and Six RBI in Friday's win over the Padres.

Grandal went deep in the first and third innings, accounting for five of his RBI, and he capped off the scoring with a 430-foot bomb to center in the seventh. Grandal had shockingly only delivered one multi-hit game since late April, but Friday's game raised his disappointing average 21 points to .204. His power has picked up as well, as six of his last nine hits have left the yard.

Perez went 1-for-3 with a solo home run, a walk and an additional run scored in Friday's loss to Seattle.

Kansas City ultimately ended up dropping the game, but Perez offered a glimmer of hope when he took Steve Cishek deep in the ninth inning to bring his club within one. Perez broke out of a slump with a 3-for-4 performance Thursday, and Friday's follow-up indicates that he's beginning to get back in a groove, although it remains to be seen if the All-Star break will affect this development.

Perez was optioned to Triple-A after Friday's game, the Los Angeles Times' Pedro Moura reports

He had started roughly half the Angels' games over the past two weeks, collecting eight hits in his last 25 at-bats. Geovany Soto was activated from the DL as a corresponding move. Soto should share time behind the dish with Jett Bandy going forward while Perez serves as organizational depth.

Casali (head) is not in the lineup for Friday's game against the Red Sox, The Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin reports.

Casali appeared to have suffered a bruise after getting hit with a back swing in the head during Wednesday's matchup with the Angels. He is not in the lineup for Friday's game, but the Rays have been going back and forth with him and Hank Conger. Casali could be back in the lineup this weekend, but the Rays could choose to have him sit out until after the All-Star break as a precaution.

Contreras will start in left field and bat cleanup Friday against the Pirates.

Friday's start in the No. 4 spot will be the ninth for Contreras, and it will be his ninth start in left field as well. The 24-year-old is now batting a ridiculous .319/.397/.623 through 78 plate appearances, doing similar damage against both handedness of pitcher. It seems he's firmly locked into the heart of the Cubs' order.

D'Arnaud is not in the lineup Friday against the Nationals.

Rene Rivera will catch for starer Noah Syndergaard as d'Arnaud sits for the second time in three games. D'Arnaud hit his first two home runs of the season this week, giving him 14 hits in 44 at-bats since his return from the DL (.318 average). He remains the primary backstop in New York but he's among the biggest injury risks in baseball.