MLB Player News

Carpenter suffered an oblique strain Wednesday and manager Mike Matheny said there is a "high level of concern," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold reports.

He suffered the injury while taking a swing in Wednesday's game, and this threatens to significantly interrupt what had been another stellar season from the best position player on the Cardinals. A timetable has not been provided, but it's safe to expect Carpenter to miss the rest of the first half and at least several weeks of the second half. Kolten Wong, who replaced Carpenter on Wednesday, figures to be a significant beneficiary while Carpenter is out.

Carpenter (oblique) left Wednesday's game in the third inning, gripping his side after taking a swing, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports.

Carpenter was replaced by Kolten Wong after being examined by a trainer. The 30-year-old has been injury-free up to this point in the season, but he suffered an injury to his right oblique and could be shut down until after the All-Star break even if it's just a minor tweak. The Cardinals will likely issue a report on Carpenter by the end of the day Wednesday or Thursday morning after he undergoes testing Wednesday night.

Harper went 1-for-4 with a three-run homer Wednesday against the Brewers.

Harper's 18th blast of the year gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead in the first inning of a game they'd eventually go on to win. He's now hit safely in six of his seven July games, and he's slashing .258/.400/.495 on the year.

Stanton went 2-for-3 with two solo homers in a loss to the Mets on Wednesday.

The Marlins' slugger accounted for both of Miami's runs in the 4-2 loss. In the last two days, he's been absolutely on fire, going 5-for-7 with four homers, seven RBI and four runs. Stanton has 19 bombs this season, including seven since missing time at the end of May.

Stanton went 3-for-4 with two home runs - his 16th and 17th of the year - and five RBI against the Mets on Tuesday.

The slugger matched his career high for RBI in a game to lift the Marlins to a much-needed with against their divisional foe. Stanton is certainly showing signs of progress after a horrid start to 2016, but that improvement still isn't coming as quickly as owners want. Despite recording hits in eight of his last 12 games, the outfielder's average has only risen 10 points and still sits at a putrid .226 through 265 at-bats. However, Tuesday did mark his first multi-homer game of the season and compensated some for his .091 average in his six previous games against the Mets this year.

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

Chris Taylor will get the nod at third base as Turner sits following six consecutive starts. Turner has picked it up at the plate considerably over the past month or so, posting a .922 OPS with eight homers in June. He's battled hamstring and toe ailments in recent weeks and this looks like a routine maintenance day for the 31-year-old.

Cespedes went 3-for-5 with a double, a run scored and two RBI in Monday's win over the Marlins.

The two RBI turned out to be the winning runs on an RBI double off Fernando Rodney in the eighth inning. Cespedes extended his hitting streak to eight games with the effort, which includes four multi-hit efforts and now five extra-base hits after his two doubles Monday. His batting line sits at .300/.366/.578 as he continues to show his monster second half last year was no fluke.

Belt had a big day at the plate Sunday, going 2-for-4 with a double, two walks, a pair of RBI and a run scored in a win over Arizona.

The Giants needed this performance from Belt with so many of their regulars sidelined. He came through, as he has all year, with another solid across-the-board effort. Belt continues to progress at the plate, seeing his strikeouts drastically drop to 18.0% and his walks skyrocket to 14.7%. With elite plate discipline numbers like those, he is exponentially more valuable in advanced leagues that use on-base percentage instead of batting average.

McCutchen (heel) will return to the lineup Monday according to manager Clint Hurdle, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune reports.

McCutchen's ailment must have proven to be minor, as he'll return to action after just one day off. He'll presumably return to center field for the afternoon matchup against the Cardinals.

Harper went 2-for-4 with a solo shot, his 17th home run of the season, in Sunday's blowout win over the Reds.

Despite the blast, he actually lost the team HR lead to, of all people, Danny Espinosa after the shortstop hit two more homers of his own Sunday. Harper's coming out of his slump, though, hitting .391 (9-for-23) over his last six games with two HR and five RBI, and it's just a matter of time before he surges ahead of Espinosa once again.