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Agustin Ramirez DH | MIA
Marlins' Agustin Ramirez: Goes yard in loss
Ramirez went 3-for-5 with a solo home run in Friday's 8-2 loss to the Padres.
Ramirez took Nick Pivetta deep in the third inning to open the scoring. While Ramirez has three homers over 12 games in September, he's struggled with consistency, going just 7-for-35 (.200) at the dish even with Friday's big performance. He's batting .231 with a .681 OPS, five homers, 22 RBI, 28 runs scored, nine doubles, one triple and four stolen bases across 64 contests this season.
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Bryce Eldridge DH | SF
Giants' Bryce Eldridge: Scratched from lineup
Eldridge was scratched from the lineup for Friday's game against the Dodgers due to a head laceration, Justice delos Santos of The San Jose Mercury News reports.
Eldridge has posted a .948 OPS with 14 RBI and seven runs scored over 15 games since the beginning of September, but the Giants will be without his services during Friday's series opener. Brett Harris will fill in at first base and bat seventh.
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Yordan Alvarez DH | HOU
Astros' Yordan Alvarez: Launches 40th homer
Alvarez went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in Thursday's 6-2 win over the Royals.
Alvarez extended Houston's lead to 4-1 in the fifth inning with a 375-foot shot off Seth Lugo, his career-high 40th this season. Over his last six games, Alvarez has gone 6-for-19 (.316) with a pair of homers and a 1.172 OPS. He'll have his sights set on the AL Triple-Crown down the stretch -- Alvarez leads the league with a .311 batting average, while he's second in both home runs and RBI (99).
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Joc Pederson DH | TEX
Rangers' Joc Pederson: Swelling abates
Pederson (hand) is not yet swinging a bat, but the swelling in his left hand has gone down over the past few days, MLB.com reports.
Pederson missed a fourth consecutive game Thursday after suffering a slight fracture of his left hand Saturday when he was hit by a pitch. The first three of those four missed contests were against left-handers, so Pederson would not have been in the starting lineup anyway, but he was replaced at DH on Thursday by Josh Jung against Boston right-hander Sonny Gray. The Rangers are scheduled to face another right-hander Friday, Toronto's Dylan Cease.
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Joc Pederson DH | TEX
Rangers' Joc Pederson: Out of Texas lineup
Pederson (hand) is not in the lineup for Thursday's game against the Red Sox.
Pederson suffered a small fracture in his left hand when he was hit by a pitch Saturday. He hasn't played since then, but the Rangers are facing a righty in Sonny Gray for the first time during that span. Pederson is aiming to play through the injury, but clearly he's not feeling well enough to do so just yet. Josh Jung is slotting in at designated hitter for Texas on Thursday.
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Christian Yelich DH | MIL
Brewers' Christian Yelich: Sitting out series finale
Yelich is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Pirates.
Yelich will get a break for the matinee contest after he started in each of Milwaukee's prior four games. Gary Sanchez will step in for Yelich as Milwaukee's designated hitter and will bat fifth.
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Shohei Ohtani DH | LAD
Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani: Taking swings off coaches
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Thursday that Ohtani (biceps/knee) has progressed to hitting off coaches, Jack Harris of the California Post reports.
Ohtani has been easing back into a hitting progression after landing on the 15-day injured list last week with biceps and knee injuries. He is eligible for activation Sept. 23, and he could be back on that date or shortly after to get a few regular-season games under his belt before the playoffs.
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Tommy Pham DH | CHW
White Sox's Tommy Pham: Launches first homer of year
Pham went 1-for-4 with a three-run home run in Wednesday's 6-3 loss to the Guardians.
Getting the start at DH and batting cleanup against Parker Messick, Pham produced all the offense for the White Sox when he took the southpaw deep in the fifth inning. It was Pham's first long ball in the majors this season in his 11th game, and he'll likely continue to be deployed as a short-side platoon option over the final days of the regular season as Chicago tries to make the playoffs for the first time since 2021.