MLB Player News

Pederson will be on the bench against lefty Kwang Hyun Kim and the Cardinals on Saturday, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

Pederson has had far more than a platoon role this season, as he started against four of the last five lefties the Cubs faced prior to Saturday's off day. For what it's worth, he's shown effectively no platoon split this year, posting a 96 wRC+ against lefties and a 95 wRC+ against righties. Patrick Wisdom starts in left field in his absence.

Dickerson is not starting Saturday's game against the Nationals, Mark W. Sanchez of KNBR 680 San Francisco reports.

After a 1-for-2 Friday, Dickerson is hitting .179 with two home runs and two RBI in his last 10 games. Thairo Estrada gets the start in left field and bats eighth Saturday.

Ruf went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and an additional RBI in Friday's 5-3 win over Washington.

Ruf plated the Giants' first run of the game with a single in the first inning, then drove in another with a 433-foot solo shot in the fifth. The veteran has gone deep in each of his past two games and has homered three times across 12 at-bats since July 4. He is on pace to surpass his career high of 14 home runs set back in 2013 when he was with Philadelphia.

Pederson went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a walk, three RBI and two runs in Friday's 10-5 win over the Cardinals.

The 29-year-old enjoyed his third two-hit, two-run performance in his last four games. Home runs have escaped Pederson's game of late, as he hasn't hit one since June 18. Friday's game raised his batting average to a still-underwhelming .230, but he's raised that mark by 10 points in the last four contests alone.

Miller went 3-for-5 with three home runs and five RBI in Thursday's 8-0 win over the Cubs.

The utility man took Cubs starter Adbert Alzolay deep in the third and fifth innings. Miller also added a seventh-inning blast off reliever Cory Abbott. The 31-year-old typically isn't known to be much of a power threat, but he made the most of an increasingly rare start Thursday. He's up to nine homers, 25 RBI, 26 runs scored and three stolen bases while maintaining a .260/.347/.480 slash line through 170 plate appearances.

Vogelbach (hamstring) hit on the field ahead of Thursday's game against the Reds, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

Vogelbach is slated to miss approximately six weeks after he suffered a significant hamstring strain in late June. While the 28-year-old still has several hurdles to clear in terms of running and fielding, he called his hitting session Thursday a good step forward in his recovery.

McCutchen is out of the lineup Thursday against the Cubs, Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

McCutchen will take a seat for the first time since June 25, when he was on the bench for Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Mets. He has a .856 OPS with two homers, two doubles, nine RBI, 11 runs and three stolen bases in the past 12 games. Travis Jankowski will work in left field for Thursday's series finale.

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.