MLB Player News

Carpenter (shoulder) is not in the lineup for Thursday's game against the Padres.

Carpenter will remain sidelined for a third straight contest as he continues to nurse a shoulder injury. The good news is an MRI revealed no significant damage, so he shouldn't be sidelined too much longer. In the meantime, Jose Martinez will draw another start at first base in his absence.

Blackmon went 2-for-4 with a double, a solo home run and a second run scored in Wednesday's 11-3 loss to the Giants.

It's his third homer and fourth multi-hit performance in the last week, and Blackmon has already established new career highs in every major offensive category except steals with 23 games left on the Rockies' schedule. The 31-year-old will be hard to ignore in the first round of fantasy drafts in 2018.

McCutchen went 2-for-4 with his 11th stolen base of the season Wednesday.

After slashing .171/.244/.207 in his prior 90 plate appearances, the outfielder has four hits in nine at-bats. McCutchen boasts a 1.111 OPS in 110 at-bats against southpaws in 2017 and will face lefty Jose Quintana on Wednesday.

Ozuna went 3-for-4 and scored the Marlins' only run in Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Nationals.

It's been feast or famine for Ozuna lately, as he has four multi-hit performances and six oh-fers in his last 10 games. A 4:14 BB:K is the main culprit, and while his .275/.341/.375 slash line over that stretch doesn't make him a big liability in season-long formats, he's become a very risky DFS play due to that game-to-game volatility.

Manager Mike Matheny reported Tuesday that the MRI on Carpenter's injured shoulder did not reveal any significant damage, FOX Sports Midwest reports.

Initial tests on Carpenter's shoulder provided good news, as the Cardinals' first baseman seems to simply be dealing with inflammation in his ailing shoulder. He'll see another doctor Wednesday and may soon receive a cortisone shot, but it appears that Carpenter is no worse than day-to-day.

Carpenter underwent an MRI on his injured right shoulder Tuesday, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports.

Carpenter has been plagued by shoulder pain this season and has now missed three of the team's past four games with the ailment. He's undergoing testing on his shoulder Tuesday to determine the best course of action moving forward, and the results of his MRI should be revealed shortly. He remains a day-to-day case.

Carpenter (shoulder) is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Padres.

Jose Martinez is filling in at first base with Harrison Bader leading off. Carpenter was removed from Monday's game with shoulder tendinitis and later revealed that he's been dealing with nagging pain in the shoulder for some time. The issue is affecting both his throwing and hitting. To this point, the Cardinals have not given any indication as to when Carpenter may return to action.

Pederson was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday.

The Dodgers did not bring Pederson back right away when rosters expanded, choosing instead to continue his reclamation project in the minors for a while longer. He's back now, but Pederson failed to get going with Oklahoma City, and as a result of his prolonged struggles, figures to play a marginal role off the bench over the remaining weeks. Cody Bellinger is starting in center field Tuesday with Adrian Gonzalez at first. Chris Taylor and Alex Verdugo both figure to remain involved in center as well.

Harper (knee) played catch from about 30 feet Tuesday, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports reports.

This was a very minor catch session, but it was the first time Harper has played catch since the injury. He also walked the stadium stairs with team trainers, which, according to Zuckerman, is the most exercise Harper has done in a while. The pessimistic comments from the team last week about Harper being "a long ways from running" still carry weight, but it seems like he is making very gradual progress.

Martinez hit four home runs in five at-bats Monday against the Dodgers, driving in six runs in a 13-0 rout.

Most incredibly, he didn't hit one 'til the fourth, as Arizona's offense was a bit slow to get in gear despite the lopsided score -- but Martinez took the game over in the late innings, as he proceeded to homer in the seventh, eighth and ninth. The slugging right fielder joined an exclusive club in the process, as he's just the 18th hitter in MLB history (and the first Diamondback) to deliver a four-homer game. Through just 97 games split between the Tigers and D-backs, he's hit an incredible 34 home runs and racked up 79 RBI; that's a 162-game pace for 56 and 131. Eight of those homers have come in his last eight games, and he's been raising his batting average over that span too, going 12-for-30 (.400).