MLB Player News

Belt (knee) struck out in his only at-bat Saturday against the Brewers.

Belt was a late scratch Saturday due to a lingering knee injury, but his usage off the bench is a sign that the injury isn't serious. The 30-year-old could return to the starting lineup Sunday with the right-handed Zach Davies on the bump for Milwaukee.

Harper went 1-for-1 with three walks, a two-run home run and a second run scored in a 6-5 win over the Cubs during the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.

As is Cubs manager Joe Maddon's tendency, Harper got worked around for most of the night, but the one time he got a hittable pitch, he made no mistake, crushing his 32nd homer of the year to straightaway center field off lefty Justin Wilson in the seventh inning and providing what proved to be the winning runs. Harper has a .329/.448/.594 slash line through 46 games since the All-Star break, pushing his OPS on the year up to .899.

Blackmon went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer against the Dodgers on Saturday.

Blackmon took Walker Buehler deep in the fifth inning to record his 24th home run of the season. The long ball marked his first since Aug. 24 and only his second since July 31. While that production is disappointing, Blackmon has managed to provide value by swiping seven bases and scoring 28 runs since the All-Star break.

Ozuna went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer in Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Tigers.

His two-run shot off Shane Greene in the top of the ninth inning tied the game at 3-3, only for Bud Norris to hand the game right back to Detroit with a walkoff wild pitch in the bottom half of the frame. Ozuna now has 21 homers on the year, five of which have come in the last four games.

Belt was scratched from the lineup for Saturday's game against the Brewers due to a sore right knee.

Kelby Tomlinson will take Belt's spot in the order, batting second and playing second base, with Chase d'Arnaud sliding over to first base. Belt missed Monday's game with the same issue, though he was able to start in the following three contests.

Pederson will sit against the southpaw Kyle Freeland and the Rockies on Saturday.

As usual, Pederson will continue in his platoon role. Chris Taylor will get the start in left field.

Ozuna went 2-for-4 with two solo home runs in Friday's 5-3 loss to the Tigers.

That's now three straight multi-hit performances for Ozuna, two of them being multi-homer efforts. The late-season surge has pushed his slash line on the season to .279/.322/.431, and he's now reached the 20-HR mark for the fourth time in the last five years.

Ozuna went 4-for-5 in a win over the Nationals on Wednesday.

Fresh off a multi-homer outing Tuesday, Ozuna contributed four singles to the winning cause Wednesday. The slugger has followed up an impressive August (.321 average) with a strong start to September after returning from a stint on the disabled list due to a shoulder injury, going 6-for-18 with Tuesday's pair of solo round trippers and three runs overall in his first four games.

Carpenter went 1-for-3 with a two-run single, two walks and a run in a win over the Nationals on Tuesday.

Carpenter once again excelled in a table-setting role, getting on base multiple times for the fourth time in the last five games. The veteran has been a bit quiet by his standards on the power front recently (four extra-base hits, including one home run, in the last 13 games), but he's made up for it with a whopping .407 on-base percentage (20.4 percent walk rate) over that stretch.

Blackmon went 3-for-5 with a run and a stolen base in Tuesday's win over the visiting Giants.

Blackmon slashed three singles and swiped his 12th bag of the year Tuesday, securing his third straight multi-hit game and his third stolen base in his last four games. The run also gives Blackmon an NL-leading 100 on the year, and he's now reached 100 runs scored in three consecutive seasons. The outfielder is hitting .284/.351/.477 with 23 home runs and 57 RBI this year.