MLB Player News

Blackmon isn't in Colorado's lineup Sunday against the Cubs, Patrick Lyons of TheDNVR.com reports.

Blackmon will retreat to the bench with southpaw Jordan Wicks lined up to start on the bump for the Cubs. Blackmon's absence will shift Elias Diaz to the DH spot while Austin Wynns starts behind the plate and bats eighth.

Morel went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Saturday's win over the Rockies.

Morel is now up to 25 home runs this season, and he's been on a bit of a power surge recently, with five long balls over his last 11 games. However, the 24-year-old is batting just .217 during the stretch, which shows that he's often a boom or bust option in fantasy. Morel will need to cut down his strikeout rate, which is currently 31.4 percent, if he wants to make more consistent contact at the plate moving forward.

Harper went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI in Saturday's 7-5 win over the Mets.

He got the Phillies on the board by leading off the second inning with a solo shot off Jose Quintana. Harper extended his run-scoring streak to seven games in the process, and over his last 13 contests he's slashing .279/.446/.651 with five of his 20 homers on the season along with one steal, 11 RBI and 13 runs.

Martinez went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, a double and three total RBI in Saturday's 7-0 win over the Giants.

Martinez opened the scoring with a second-inning homer and added a two-run double a frame later. The designated hitter has been mashing lately with five homers and 12 RBI over his last six games. For the year, he's up to 31 long balls, 98 RBI, 58 runs scored, 25 doubles, a stolen base and a .270/.324/.573 slash line through 106 contests.

Pederson isn't in the Giants' lineup Saturday against the Dodgers, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Pederson will take a seat Saturday as southpaw Clayton Kershaw prepares to start for Los Angeles. Mitch Haniger will fill in as San Francisco's designated hitter and bat fifth.

Pederson is out of the lineup Friday versus the Dodgers.

Austin Slater will serve as the Giants' designated hitter and bat leadoff with left-handers Caleb Ferguson and Ryan Yarbrough both lined up to pitch for Los Angeles. Pederson has gone 8-for-43 (.186) this year against southpaws.

Pederson went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Thursday's 7-2 loss to the Dodgers.

Pederson has warmed up a bit, going 5-for-18 (.278) with two homers over his last five games. The rest of the Giants didn't follow -- his blast was one of only three hits for them in Thursday's loss. The designated hitter has a .245/.353/.434 slash line with 15 long balls, 51 RBI and 57 runs scored across 113 contests this season.

Morel is not in the lineup for Friday's game versus the Rockies.

Morel had started each of the last 10 games and homered four times during that span, but he'll take a seat for this one as the Cubs open up a weekend series against Colorado. Jared Young is in the designated hitter spot.

Martinez went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and two additional RBI in Thursday's 7-2 victory versus the Giants.

Martinez gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead with his fourth-inning solo shot and added a sacrifice fly in the sixth and a run-scoring single in the eighth. The veteran has been on fire since being activated from the injured list Sept. 8, slashing .386/.442/.750 with five homers, 17 RBI and eight runs over 12 games. Martinez's long ball Thursday gave him his first 30-homer campaign since he went deep 36 times for Boston in 2019.

Meneses went 3-for-6 with a two-run homer in Wednesday's victory over the White Sox.

Meneses singled in two of his first three at-bats before launching a two-run home run in the fifth to extend Washington's lead. The 31-year-old has now homered in back-to-back games, collecting five RBI over that brief stretch, while Wednesday also marked his 14th game this season with at least three hits.