MLB Player News

Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter (fatigue) is back in the starting lineup and batting second Tuesday, while center fielder Jon Jay (thumb) is on the bench for his team's game against the Indians.

Carpenter missed four games last week due to extreme fatigue but is ready to see his first action since Wednesday. He has hit .333/.403/.620 with five home runs and 20 RBI in 108 at-bats.

Jay suffered a thumb injury Saturday and was only able to serve as a pinch-runner Sunday. Peter Bourjos will make another start in center field with Jay sidelined.

The Cardinals are underdogs (+110) in Cleveland Tuesday.

Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna connected off Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke in the seventh inning for his third home run of the season during Monday's 5-3 loss the Dodgers.

The home run was Ozuna's only hit in the game. He finished the contest 1 for 3 with one walk and two runs scored. Over his last five games, Ozuna is 6 for 20 with three home runs and four RBI. Ozuna has hit each of the three home runs during that span.

After taking Sunday's game off to rest, Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton was back in Monday's lineup to face the Dodgers in Los Angeles, reports MLB.com.

Stanton will hit in his usual No. 3 spot in the lineup and he will face Zack Greinke. Stanton is 2 for 9 with one home run in his career against Greinke. Over his last nine games, Stanton is hitting .167 with one home run and eight RBI. 

The Marlins are the underdogs (+220) at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday.

For the second straight game Juan Uribe is out of the Dodgers' starting lineup, as Justin Turner gets the nod at third base Monday against the Marlins. 

Turner, a utility infielder, was the Dodgers' hero on Sunday after breaking a tie game with a pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning. 

Uribe is hitting .261 this season with one homer and six RBI.

Phillies outfielder Darin Ruf is not in the starting lineup for Monday's game against the Pirates.

Ruf has made seven straight starts while seeing time at first base and left field. With Ruf out of the lineup Ben Revere is shifting to left and Grady Sizemore is getting the start in right field for the second straight game.

The Phillies are home underdogs (+155) against the Pirates Monday, per VegasInsider.com.

The Cubs open a series against the Mets on Monday with a slightly revamped lineup that features right fielder Jorge Soler hitting cleanup for only the second time this season. 

Soler only has three home runs on the season, but with catcher Miguel Montero out of the lineup in place of David Ross, the Cubs will slide his bat into that power position. 

Soler's other appearance in the 4-hole came on May 5, when he went 1-for-4 in a loss to the Cardinals. The Cubs (-142) are favorites in Monday's contest. 

Though Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez was able to break a seven-game hitless streak Saturday, he has managed just two hits in 25 at-bats in the month of May.

Martinez jumped out to a hot start this season, collecting four home runs in his first seven games, but it's been largely downhill since. He's managed to battle the offensive woes by drawing eight walks in his last five games, but the outfielder is hitting just .222/.295/.436 with six home runs and 15 RBI in 117 at-bats. Those numbers are more in line with his early-career production rather than his breakout 2014 campaign.

Third baseman Matt Carpenter will return to the Cardinals on Tuesday after missing four straight games dealing with what the team called "extreme fatigue," per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

Carpenter experienced dizziness, an elevated heart rate and trouble sleeping last week. The team ran tests, thinking it was a virus, but they did not reveal anything. So manager Mike Matheny decided to give Carpenter four days off. 

"Whenever a guy is that worn out we have to figure out a way," Matheny said. "It would make 'Carp' absolutely sick that we're having conversations like this. The reason he is able to do what he's been able to do is because of the work that he puts in."

Carpenter is hitting .333 with five homers and 20 RBIs this season, but was only 4-for-22 in six games so far this month. 

Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera went 0 for 3 with a walk in Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Royals and has just six hits in 31 at-bats this month.

Cabrera was his normal MVP-quality self in April, hitting .373/.465/.627 with five home runs and 17 RBI in 83 at-bats. Aside from a three-hit game in which he homered on May 3, he's had yet to find success since the calendar turned. Cabrera has hit just .186/.327/.209 this May, but it's unlikely the minislump lasts long. Even with the May doldrums, he's hit .325/.431/.535 with six home runs, 21 RBI and a 21:21 K:BB ratio in 114 at-bats.

Justin Turner's pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning Sunday broke a 5-5 tie and produced the winning run for the Dodgers against the Rockies.

"That's what you like about J.T., no matter if he's in the starting lineup or not, you're getting a quality at-bat if you send him up there,'' Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

The homer was Turner's fifth of the year and fourth in the month of May.

"I hit it OK," Turner said. "I didn't think it was going to be a homer but you never know, I guess, playing in Colorado."