MLB Player News

Ohtani is not in the lineup Thursday against the Mariners.

Ohtani has started the past six games for the Angels, going 5-for-24 with a trio of RBI in those contests. He'll take a seat for Thursday's series opener with left-hander Yusei Kikuchi toeing the rubber for the Mariners. In his place, Jonathan Lucroy is starting at the designated hitter, with Dustin Garneau getting the start at backstop.

Stanton (shoulder) ran and hit in the cage Thursday, Lindsey Adler of The Athletic reports.

Stanton had been shut down from baseball activities after suffering a calf strain last week, so this is an encouraging step for the veteran slugger. Manager Aaron Boone is hoping Stanton will be able to ramp up to live batting practice soon, at which point an updated timetable for his return will hopefully emerge.

Choi is not in the lineup Thursday against the Twins, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Choi will take a seat for Thursday's series opener with left-hander Martin Perez toeing the rubber for the Twins. In his place, Brandon Lowe is covering first base, while Daniel Robertson and Christian Arroyo are starting at second and third base, respectively.

Buxton (knee) is starting in center field and hitting ninth Thursday against the Rays, Brandon Warne of ZoneCoverage.com reports.

Buxton exited Tuesday's game against the Brewers with a bruised right knee, but he won't be forced to miss any action thanks to Wednesday's off day. The outfielder, who is hitting .265/.330/.518 with four homers and three stolen bases this month (26 games), will face right-hander Charlie Morton in Thursday's series opener in Tampa Bay.

Ozuna went 2-for-4 with an RBI single, a double and a run in a loss to the Phillies on Wednesday.

Ozuna came through with one of only two multi-hit efforts for the Cardinals in the blowout loss. The 28-year-old outfielder is hitting just .212 in May, but he's starting to pick up the pace as the month winds down. Factoring in Wednesday's production, Ozuna is hitting .290 (9-for-31) with four doubles, two home runs, eight RBI, four walks and six runs across his last eight games.

Carpenter is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Phillies.

Though the Cardinals are facing a right-handed pitcher (Jerad Eickhoff) in the series finale, the lefty-hitting Carpenter will take a seat in what merely amounts to a maintenance day due to the quick turnaround between games. The move to the bench spells an end to a rough series as a starter for Carpenter, who went hitless with five strikeouts in seven at-bats in the first two contests.

Pederson went 2-for-5 with a home run, double and another run scored in Wednesday's 9-8 win over the Mets.

With the Dodgers trailing 8-5, Pederson sparked a ninth-inning rally with a leadoff home run as the Dodgers worked together to take down Mets closer Edwin Diaz for the win. The 27-year-old has been relentless atop the Dodgers' talented lineup against right-handed pitching this year. Overall, he's batting .268/.372/.647 with 16 homers, 36 runs scored and 30 RBI.

Soler went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI in Wednesday's 8-7 loss to the White Sox.

His two-run shot started a four-run rally in the sixth inning and helped chase Reynaldo Lopez from the game, although the Royals' comeback attempt fell short. Soler now has three homers in the last eight games but only four other hits, sinking his slash line on the year down to .245/.296/.495 with 13 home runs and 36 RBI in 55 contests.

Belt went 1-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and a stolen base in Wednesday's 4-2 loss to the Marlins.

He got the Giants on the board with a fourth-inning solo shot, then picked up a second RBI with a fielder's choice in the ninth. Belt now has eight homers and two steals on the year to go along with his .230/.333/.467 slash line through 52 games.

Canha went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in a 12-7 extra-innings loss to the Angels on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old is 9-for-28 (.321) in the last eight games, but he's still only hitting .233 this season. However, owners will take that because he's also slugging .581. Canha has nine home runs in just 86 at-bats. He's also walked 15 times, giving him a healthy .368 on-base percentage. Along with those numbers, he has 17 RBI, 17 runs and a .949 OPS in 32 games.