MLB Player News

Pirates manager Derek Shelton said Friday that Kiner-Falefa has been dealing with a lower-body injury, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

It helps explain why Kiner-Falefa was not in the lineup for Thursday's game versus the Cubs. Consider the infielder day-to-day for the time being. With Kiner-Falefa banged up, Liover Peguero was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on Friday as middle-infield protection.

Perez (elbow) said the plan is to make a total of eight rehab starts in his continued recovery from Tommy John surgery, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports.

Perez has made two starts at Single-A Jupiter already and will throw one more before making his final five with Triple-A Jacksonville. He's following a typical starter schedule of pitching every five days. In two starts at Single-A, Perez has thrown a total of 2.2 innings, allowing one hit while striking out four and walking one. Perez's fastball has hit 98-plus mph. With six more rehab starts to come, Perez appears likely to return to the mound for the Marlins in early June.

Perdomo will start at shortstop and bat ninth in Friday's game against the Phillies.

Perdomo batted either first or second in all of his starts since April 5 after Ketel Marte (hamstring) went on the injured list, but with Marte back and batting leadoff Friday, Perdomo has returned to the bottom of the order. The switch hitter is batting .275/.387/.459 with five homers and seven stolen bases this season.

Smith is not in the lineup for Friday's game in Philadelphia.

It's southpaw Jesus Luzardo on the hill for the Phillies, so the left-handed-hitting Smith will begin the festivities on the bench. Randal Grichuk is in the designated hitter spot and batting third in the series opener.

Chandler gave up one run on three hits and one walk while striking out nine in five innings Thursday for Triple-A Indianapolis.

The three hits Chandler gave up were actually a season high, and he hasn't walked more than one batter in four straight starts, so he is pretty clearly ready for the next level. His nine strikeouts Thursday were a season high, and his five innings matched his season high, so it's possible Chandler's next start will come in Pittsburgh's rotation. That said, if Chandler were to stay on schedule, he'd need to bump one of Paul Skenes or Mitch Keller back a day, or Skenes would need to be pushed up a day to pitch on four days' rest after his worst start of the year, so the schedule doesn't line up perfectly for Chandler's entrance into the rotation.

The Diamondbacks optioned Barrosa to Triple-A Reno on Friday.

The Diamondbacks decided to keep Tim Tawa around rather than Barrosa, who is 3-for-15 at the plate during his brief time in the majors this season. He'll play more regularly with Reno.

The Diamondbacks activated Marte (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list Friday.

Marte will skip a rehab assignment and go directly back onto the active roster after missing nearly a month of action with a strained left hamstring. The 31-year-old had slashed .346/.469/.462 in his first eight contests before getting hurt.

Walker is absent from the lineup for Friday's game against the Mets.

Walker's playing time has slipped a bit lately, as this is the third time he's been out of the lineup over the Cardinals' last seven games. Lars Nootbaar has slid over to right field and Brendan Donovan is in left field Friday.

Sanchez is not in the lineup for Friday's game against the Athletics.

Following the team's off day Thursday, the Marlins are getting Sanchez a second consecutive day off, even with right-hander Gunnar Hoglund on the mound for the Athletics. Sanchez is hitting .200/.310/.300 with just one home run, four RBI, three runs scored and an 8:15 BB:K across his first 58 plate appearances since returning from an IL stint to begin the season. With Sanchez sitting Friday, Eric Wagaman, Dane Myers and Kyle Stowers will man the outfield from left to right for Miami.

Rojas is not in the lineup for Friday's game against the Diamondbacks.

Rojas had started all 14 games in center field after Brandon Marsh (hamstring) got hurt but will yield to Cal Stevenson on Friday. With Marsh due back as soon as this weekend, Rojas could return to a reserve role shortly.