MLB Player News

Brantley is not in the lineup against Tampa Bay on Wednesday, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.

Brantley will take a seat on the bench with southpaw Blake Snell on the mound for the Rays. In his absence, Brandon Guyer will start in left field and bat fifth.

Pederson went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in Tuesday's 3-1 loss to the Reds.

Pederson returned to his usual spot atop the Dodgers' lineup after being held out of the lineup against three consecutive left-handed starters. The 26-year-old has cooled off in September (.200/.304/.350), but he should continue to get opportunities to provide power and run production against right-handed starters.

Ozuna went 1-for-4 with a double and three RBI in Tuesday's win over the Pirates.

Ozuna hit a two-run double -- his 14th two-bagger of the year -- in the first inning and later hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning as the Cardinals routed the Pirates 11-5. Ozuna has recorded a hit in seven consecutive games and is hitting .333 with seven home runs and 15 RBI over his last 15 games. On the season the 27-year-old is slashing .280/.321/.435 with 21 home runs, 79 RBI and 61 runs scored.

Belt is out of Tuesday's lineup against the Braves due to a sore right knee, Amy Gutierrez of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

Belt has been battling the knee issue throughout September and is likely to have surgery after the season, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. It seems as though the 30-year-old will play through the injury for the final few weeks of the season, but it will likely be day-to-day whether he is actually in the lineup.

Belt is not in the lineup Tuesday against the Braves, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

Belt returned to action Monday after being limited to bench duty over the weekend, going 1-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts. He'll head back to the bench Tuesday as the Giants look to ease him back into action, with Austin Slater covering first base in his absence.

Lewis slashed .311/.426/.578 with three doubles, three home runs, eight RBI, nine walks, two stolen bases and nine runs over his last 13 games of the 2018 season with Double-A Arkansas, including five postseason contests.

Lewis only slashed .220/.309/.371 over 37 games with the Travelers, seeing a 40-point drop in batting average and 58-point dip in slugging percentage over what he'd generated with High-A Modesto earlier in the season. However, his impressive hot streak to wrap up 2018 certainly gives him plenty of momentum heading into the offseason. Lewis remains a highly regarded prospect in the organization, and an eventual ascension to Triple-A at some point in 2019 is likely if he's able to replicate his recent production.

Ozuna went 2-for-4 with an RBI single and two runs in a win over the Pirates on Monday.

The 27-year-old continues to wield a red-hot bat, with Monday's production extending his hitting streak to six games. He's generated a quartet of multi-hit efforts over that span, leading to a .353 average over his first eight games of September. He's already smacked five home runs since returning from the disabled list.

Choi went 1-for-4 with a bases-loaded hit by pitch and a game-winning two-run home run against the Indians on Monday.

Choi smacked an 0-1 fastball from Brad Hand into the right-field bleachers with Tommy Pham aboard and two outs in the ninth, erasing a 5-4 deficit to send the Rays home winners. The South Korean slugger already has an impressive 10 RBI over eight September games, which have largely come as the result of seven extra-base hits (four doubles, three homers). Factoring in Monday's production, Choi is hitting .346 (9-for-26) thus far in the current month, boosting his AL average 17 points to .285 in the process.

Turner is not in the lineup Tuesday against the Reds, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports.

It appears to be a rare day off for Turner, who has started 25 consecutive games for the Dodgers, slashing an impressive .374/.470/.707 with seven homers, 20 RBI and an 18:15 K:BB over that stretch. Manny Machado will slide over to the hot corner in this one, allowing Chris Taylor to pick up a start at shortstop.

Ohtani (elbow) met with Angels general manager Billy Eppler on Monday to discuss when the two-way player will undergo Tommy John surgery, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports.

After an MRI last week revealed new damage to the UCL in Ohtani's (right) throwing arm, doctors advised the rookie to go under the knife to address the issue. While it appears that Ohtani plans to heed that advice -- which would prevent him from pitching during the 2019 season -- he's continued to serve as a regular designated hitter for the Angels since receiving the diagnosis. Though Tommy John surgery would likely prevent Ohtani from hitting without restriction for approximately six months, that timetable still puts his status for Opening Day next season in some peril. The longer Ohtani delays the procedure, the less likely it becomes that he'll be ready to go for the start of next season, so expect the Angels to implore the 24-year-old to shut down activity sooner rather than later.