MLB Player News

Siani (oblique) took a full round of batting practice Thursday, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

It's the first time he's done so since landing on the 10-day injured list in early August with a right oblique strain. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said Thursday that Siani will begin a rehab assignment soon, although the team is still determining when and where that will occur. The center fielder has a shot to return before the end of August.

Matz (back) is expected to make one more minor-league rehab start prior to being activated from the 60-day injured list, Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

On Wednesday, Matz made his third rehab start for Triple-A Memphis, striking out three batters in five innings and giving up four earned runs on nine hits and one walk while pushing his pitch count up to 85. Though Matz looks to be fully stretched out at this point, the Cardinals may want to see a sharper outing from the lefty before bringing him back from the IL. According to John Denton of MLB.com, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak previously floated the idea of the team using a six-man rotation down the stretch, though Matz could still find himself as the odd man out for a starting role once he's activated. Lance Lynn (knee) looks to be tracking toward a return from the IL around the same time as Matz, and current fifth starter Andre Pallante (3.81 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in five starts since the All-Star break) may be pitching well enough to keep his spot in the rotation.

The Brewers activated Perkins (calf) from the 10-day injured list Thursday.

Perkins required a minimum-length absence for a right calf strain and didn't go out on a rehab assignment prior to being activated. The 27-year-old outfielder should be deployed mostly against left-handed pitching by the Brewers down the stretch.

The Brewers optioned Black to Triple-A Nashville on Thursday.

Black will cede his spot on the 26-man active roster to outfielder Blake Perkins (calf), who was reinstated from the 10-day injured list. After getting recalled from Nashville on Aug. 12, Black started at designated hitter in five of the Brewers' ensuing nine games while going 2-for-15 with three walks against five strikeouts. Now that Black is out of the mix, the Brewers will likely rotate a number of players at DH, with Gary Sanchez, Jake Bauers and Perkins all being candidates to see upticks in opportunities.

Wisdom is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Tigers.

The 32-year-old has started in just three of the Cubs' 18 games thus far in August and is expected to continue seeing limited usage while Michael Busch and Isaac Paredes are healthy and entrenched as the team's everyday starters in the corner infield. Wisdom has logged three straight seasons of 20-plus home runs, but he's slugged just six long balls so far in 2024 while receiving only 135 plate appearances.

Muncy went 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI in Wednesday's win over Seattle.

Muncy doubled in two of his first three trips to the plate, plating three runs on the latter two-bagger as the Dodgers jumped out to a commanding 8-1 lead. The third baseman has now hit safely in three straight games since returning from the injured list due to an oblique strain, driving in at least one run in all three contests. In fact, he's recorded at least one RBI in each of his last five starts, dating back to May 14 against the Giants.

Goldschmidt is absent from the lineup for Thursday's game against the Brewers, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

Goldschmidt went 1-for-9 with four strikeouts in the first two games of the series and will now begin the rubber match on the bench. The Cardinals will go with Alec Burleson at first base.

Hernandez went 2-for-4 with an RBI, a stolen base and two runs scored in Wednesday's win over the Mariners.

Hernandez led off the bottom of the fourth with a single before stealing second and eventually coming around to score on a sacrifice fly from Will Smith. The outfielder would then add an RBI single with two outs in the fifth, giving him his sixth multi-hit performance this month. Hernandez is now batting .292 in August with four homers, 12 RBI and 15 runs scored. However, over his last seven games he's batting just .153 (4-for-26).

Flaherty (10-5) picked up the win over the Mariners on Wednesday, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and one walk over 5.2 innings while striking out five.

Flaherty hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch to lead off the second inning and the latter would eventually come around to score Seattle's first run on sac fly from Dominic Canzone. The right-hander then kept the Mariners off the board over the next three frames before allowing the first two men to reach in the sixth. Flaherty fell one out shy of his second quality start as a member of the Dodgers, but he did improve his streak of pitching at least five innings to 22 starts. He's gone 3-0 in four starts since being acquired by his new club, posting a 3.22 ERA over that stretch.

Chaparro is not in the lineup for Thursday's contest against the Rockies, Andrew Golden of The Washington Post reports.

Chaparro will get his first day off since being called up from Triple-A Rochester on Aug. 13, as he had started each of the last eight games. Joey Gallo will handle first base for the Nationals, while Juan Yepez will serve as the designated hitter.