MLB Player News

Wells is absent from the lineup for Thursday's game versus the Blue Jays.

Wells popped his first major-league home run in Wednesday's loss to the Jays but will take a seat Thursday for the second time over the last three contests. Ben Rortvedt is doing the catching for Gerrit Cole.

Murphy isn't in Atlanta's lineup Thursday against the Nationals.

Atlanta seems to have fallen into a pattern of alternating between Murphy and Travis d'Arnaud behind the plate, and Thursday will mark d'Arnaud's turn to start. Murphy is slashing .135/.286/.138 across 35 plate appearances since Sept. 1.

Raleigh went 2-for-5 with a solo home run in a win over the Athletics on Wednesday.

Raleigh's solo homer to right field was part of a critical four-run fifth inning for Seattle. The slugging backstop is now just one homer short of reaching the 30-mark for the first time at any professional level, and he's been a consistently productive asset throughout September with a .273 average, .812 OPS, five extra-base hits and seven RBI across 73 plate appearances.

Contreras, who is out of the lineup Thursday against the Brewers, has been sent for an MRI on his injured left wrist, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

Contreras has been bothered by wrist discomfort for a while and felt "acute pain on a swing" during Wednesday's loss to the Brewers, per Jones. This could all potentially lead to an early shutdown for the 31-year-old catcher, who has put up an impressive .309/.402/.557 batting line with 10 homers and 31 RBI in 46 games since the All-Star break. Andrew Knizner and Ivan Herrera are the fill-in options behind the plate for St. Louis.

Contreras (wrist) is not in the lineup for Thursday's game versus the Brewers.

Contreras had to be lifted from Wednesday's loss to Milwaukee with left wrist soreness, so it's no surprise he's sitting out Thursday's afternoon tilt. He's considered day-to-day for the time being. Andrew Knizner will do the catching for Miles Mikolas on Thursday.

Heim went 1-for-3 with a walk, a home run, three RBI and a second run scored in Wednesday's 15-5 win over Boston.

Heim was productive in two straight wins over Boston, hitting two doubles and a home run with five RBI between Tuesday and Wednesday. He's slumped overall since his return from the injured list Aug. 13 with a .202 average and .619 OPS, but the catcher's bat has shown life of late. Heim is batting .273 (9-for-33) with three homers, three doubles, 13 RBI and six runs scored over the last nine games.

Vazquez went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and a stolen base in Wednesday's win over Cincinnati.

Vazquez reached base three times Wednesday and came around to score the Twins' second run in the top of the eighth after leading off the inning with a double. The backstop then stole his first base of the season in the ninth before coming home a second time on a Jorge Polanco single, giving Minnesota a 5-3 lead. Vazquez had failed to record a hit in his previous four games coming in and is still batting just .194 in September following the two-hit performance.

Moreno went 3-for-4 with an RBI in Wednesday's 7-1 win over San Francisco.

Moreno, who has multiple hits in three of the last five games -- all Arizona wins -- is batting .364 for the month of September. During the five-game winning streak, all against rivals in the wild-card hunt, the catcher has reached base safely 13 times in 22 plate appearances.

Wells went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and a double in a loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday.

Wells accounted for New York's only extra-base hits in the loss, and his ninth-inning homer was the only thing that prevented the team from getting shut out. The long ball was the backstop's first in the big leagues, and this was the first time he's had more than one hit in a game. Wells has found the going tough at the plate in his first cup of coffee with the Yankees, slashing .163/.196/.326 with a 2:11 BB:K over 46 plate appearances thus far.

Contreras was removed from Wednesday's game against the Brewers due to left wrist discomfort.

Contreras' wrist had been bothering him heading into Wednesday's game and ultimately caused him to make an early exit in the sixth inning. It wouldn't be surprising if the Cardinals held Contreras out for a day or two so he can properly recover.