MLB Player News

Soler will sit Thursday in Cleveland, Alec Lewis of The Athletic reports.

Soler has now found himself on the bench for three of the Royals' last five games. He'll be a free agent this winter, so the rebuilding team may not see too much reason to give him regular at-bats down the stretch given that he's hitting just .183/.279/.309 on the year. Jarrod Dyson will be the right fielder Thursday, with Ryan O'Hearn serving as the designated hitter.

Canha (hip) won't be reinstated from the 10-day injured list until after the All-Star break, Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Canha has been progressing well in his rehab recently, and manager Bob Melvin indicated earlier in the week that the right fielder had a slight chance to return this weekend. However, the Athletics will give the 32-year-old additional time to recover rather than rushing him back prior to the break. Assuming Canha remains on track in his recovery, he could be available for the first game after the break, which is July 16 against Cleveland.

Blackmon isn't starting Thursday against the Diamondbacks.

Blackmon will get a breather after he went 5-for-8 with two runs across the last two games. Yonathan Daza will shift to right field while Garrett Hampson starts in center.

Turner will sit Thursday against the Marlins, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.

The veteran will rest during the early getaway day game. It's certainly not a performance-related day off, as he's hitting .500/.556/.750 thus far in the month of July. Zach McKinstry will take over at the hot corner in his absence.

Blackmon went 3-for-4 with a run scored in Wednesday's 6-4 loss to the Diamondbacks.

All three of Blackmon's hits went for singles and he ended up scoring in the eighth on a throwing error by catcher Daulton Varsho. The 34-year-old Blackmon now has back-to-back multi-hit games and 15 total for the year, but for the most part he's lost his power and knack for stealing bases. He's slashing .267/.364/.374 with four homers, 38 RBI, 35 runs, and a 35:43 BB:K over 313 plate appearances.

Jimenez (pectoral) will begin a rehab assignment with High-A Winston-Salem on Friday.

Jimenez underwent surgery in late March on a ruptured left pectoral tendon and was expected to miss four-to-five months. The best-case return date was thought to be late-July/early-August, so it sounds like this will be a best-case scenario if he avoids setbacks. It's unclear how long the rehab assignment will be, but as a position player, it may only take Jimenez a couple weeks to get up to speed.

Ruf went 1-for-1 with a two-run homer and a walk in Wednesday's 5-2 win over the Cardinals.

Ruf entered the game in the sixth as a replacement for LaMonte Wade who had to be taken out due to a left hand strain. The 34-year-old Ruf walked his first time up and then clobbered a 427-foot home run to center to give the Giants some breathing room and put them up 5-2 in the eighth. He now has two home runs in the first week of July after missing most of June with a right hamstring strain. Ruf continues to be a viable depth option for manager Gabe Kapler this season, slashing .259/.396/.537 with eight homers, 20 RBI, 22 runs scored, a steal and a 23:38 BB:K over 134 plate appearances.

Turner went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run in Wednesday's 9-6 loss to the Marlins.

He took Ross Detwiler deep in the third inning, one of three Dodger long balls in the frame. Turner is red hot right now, batting .410 (25-for-61) over his last 17 games to push his slash line on the year to .303/.393/.493 with 14 homers and 45 RBI through 81 contests.

Pederson went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored in Wednesday's win over the Phillies.

Pederson had gone hitless in five straight games coming into Tuesday's contest but he's now strung together consecutive two-hit performances. The outfielder has always been a bit of a streaky performer, and the 43-44 Cubs are going to need him to get hot if they want to push themselves back into the NL Central race.

McCutchen went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run Wednesday against the Cubs.

McCutchen provided the majority of Philadelphia's offense for the evening with a two-run blast in the sixth inning. It was his 15th home run of the season and second in as many games. Though he's hitting only .233 on the campaign, McCutchen has a .351 on-base percentage and has scored 46 runs while driving in 48 across 79 contests.