MLB Player News

Ozuna is in the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Royals, Craig Davis of the Sun Sentinel reports.

Ozuna left Tuesday's game due to a family emergency, but is back in the lineup Wednesday evening. He'll start in center field and bat cleanup as Miami takes on Dillon Gee and the Royals.

Soler (leg) is back in the lineup, hitting cleanup and manning left field Wednesday against the Padres.

Soler has been a league average hitter this year (101 wRC+), but he has nine home runs in 197 plate appearances after managing just 10 long balls in 404 plate appearances last season. He won't play every day due to the Cubs' ridiculous depth, but whenever he is in the lineup, particularly in the middle of the order, he can safely be deployed in most formats.

McCutchen is not in the lineup for Wednesday's game against Houston.

The struggling outfielder doubled in a run in Tuesday's win over the Astros, but he'll take a seat Wednesday, marking his first absence from the lineup since Aug. 4. Starling Marte will get the nod in center field and he'll bat in McCutchen's usual No. 3 spot in the order.

McCutchen went 1-for-3 with an RBI double, a walk and a run in Tuesday's 7-1 win over the Astros.

McCutchen played a key role in Pittsburgh's four-run first inning, doubling in Matt Joyce before coming around to score on Gregory Polanco's single. His .244/.325/.409 line has been disappointing, but the 2013 NL MVP is still batting in the valuable third spot in the Pirates order.

Ozuna left Tuesday's game due to a family emergency.

Details are scarce but Ozuna was replaced in center field by Christian Yelich after seven innings, with Robert Andino coming into the game in left. Ozuna went 1-for-3 with a double prior to exiting the game.

Pederson is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Giants, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Manager Dave Roberts has stacked his lineup with mostly right-handed bats to counter Giants ace Madison Bumgarner, with Enrique Hernandez subbing in for Pederson in center field. Pederson is putting together his best month of the season (.288/.411/.508) but is just 4-for-41 (.098 average) this year against left-handed pitching.

Soler (leg) is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Padres.

Soler will not start Tuesday for the third day in a row while he continues to recover from his sore leg. He will be back in the corner outfield mix for the Cubs when he is ready to get back on the field.

Blackmon (toe) is back in the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Brewers.

After sitting out a pair of games due to a toe injury, Blackmon came on in the ninth inning Monday to pinch hit, which was enough to convince manager Walt Weiss that he was ready to get back into game action. Blackmon will reclaim his usual spot atop the Rockies' order while also getting the start in center field against Chase Anderson and the Brewers. Prior to his toe injury, Blackmon had been absolutely destroying the ball to the tune of a .364/.418/.694 slash line with nine home runs in his previous 30 games.

McCutchen, who went 0-for-4 against the Astros on Monday, has just two hits in his last 16 at-bats.

It looked like his struggles were past him after a successful West Coast road trip, but he's cooled off since returning to PNC Park. Despite working a three-balls-and-one-strike count Monday, he rolled over an outside pitch, resulting in a weak grounder to the left side of the infield -- indicative of both his lack of plate discipline and an unwillingness to go opposite field.

Soler is not in the lineup Monday against the Padres.

Soler was scratched from Sunday's lineup due to soreness in his leg, though he did enter the game as a pinch hitter, providing an RBI single in the Cubs' 11-4 loss to Colorado. It's unclear if the leg is still bothering him, but Soler should still be considered day-to-day until the team says otherwise.