MLB Player News

Phillies outfielder Darin Ruf has begun swinging in the batting cage, MLB.com reports.

"He's starting to progress," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "I'm not sure when we'll get him into games yet."

Ruf is on the disabled list due to a strained oblique. He has yet to play in the regular season.

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper is in the starting lineup a day after being removed for lack of hustle.

Harper is slated to play left and hit second. He was removed from Saturday's game after refusing to hustle on a ball he hit back to the pitcher. Harper is hitting .295 in 61 at-bats. 

For the third time in his last four games, Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna registered a multi-hit game, including his third home run of the season in his team's 7-0 victory over the Mariners Saturday night.

Ozuna launched a three-run home run off starter Roenis Elias in the sixth inning. He also added an RBI single in the eighth inning. He finished 2 for 4 with a run scored and a season-high four RBI. He is hitting .343 with three homers and 10 RBI through his first 67 at-bats.

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper was pulled from Saturday's game against the Cardinals, but it wasn't because of any lingering issues with a quad injury. Instead, he was benched by manager Matt Williams, who was displeased with Harper's effort following a sixth-inning groundout.

"The inability to run 90 feet," was Williams' response, when asked why Harper was pulled from the game.

Harper finished the game 0 for 3, and Williams told reporters Harper should be back in the lineup Sunday. 

Nationals left fielder Bryce Harper was removed from the game before the top of the seventh Saturday against St. Louis and replaced by Kevin Frandsen.

Harper has been dealing with tightness in his quad, but there has been no announcement as to why he left the game. He made an awkward running catch in the sixth before grounding out to the pitcher in the bottom of the inning.

One of the hottest hitters in baseball entering Friday play remained one of the hottest hitters in baseball as Rockies leadoff man Charlie Blackmon smacked three singes in a rout of Philadelphia. He rose his batting average to a stout .426 while scoring twice and adding an RBI.

Blackmon, who has struck out just three times in 61 at-bats this season, owns an impressive stat line of .426/.446/.590 with 11 runs and 10 RBI.

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton played a big part in Miami's 8-4 win over the Mariners, but it wasn't all positive.

Stanton cost the team an early lead with a two-run error in the second inning, and had to make amends late. He drove in one run with an RBI single in the first inning, but made his biggest impact felt late in the game. He clubbed a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning to secure the win, fiishing the game 3 for 3 with a pair of intentional walks.

Stanton is starting to take the next step in his fifth season, and is already more than one-quarter of the way to his first 100-RBI season. Stanton leads the majors with six home runs and 26 RBI after 17 games, while batting .329/.390/.657 in 70 at-bats. 

Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen brought his season-opening power outage to an end Thursday, in an 11-2 win over the Brewers.

McCutchen's  homerless drought reached 15 games with the end of his last appearance, and he wasn't interested in letting it leak into a 16th game, as he took Yovani Gallardo deep in the bottom of the first for a 422-foot slam to center field. McCutchen drove in two runs on that swing, and added one more RBI on a fielder's choice later in the game, finishing 1 for 5 and extending his hitting streak to six games.

McCutchen has set the bar pretty high with his play in recent seasons, so his .262/.378/.410 line through 16 games is a disappointment so far. He has still driven in eight runs and score seven, with six extra-base hits in 61 at-bats. 

As expected, Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper has returned to the lineup for the Thursday game against St. Louis after missing one game with a quad ailment.

The quad muscle that prevented Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper from playing Wednesday should not keep him out Thursday against St. Louis, according to the Washington Post.

Harper has been dealing with tightness since Friday, but remained in the lineup. "He's been running a lot," Matt Williams said. "He's been doing a lot of things. Give him a day to calm it down a little bit."

Harper certainly hasn't been negatively affected at the plate. He owns an eight-game hitting streak during which he has 14 hits in 29 at-bats with five RBI. His power numbers have been slow to come around, however. He has just one home run in 50 at-bats this season.