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Arenado went 1-for-8 over both games of Wednesday's doubleheader versus Atlanta.

Advice: Arenado played all 18 innings Wednesday at third base in his return from a left forearm injury. He didn't make much of an impact at the plate, but it's encouraging to see the 33-year-old play both halves of the twin bill. He's down to a .254/.310/.364 slash line with six home runs, 32 RBI, 26 runs scored and one stolen base over 73 contests this year. The Cardinals have occasionally used Brandon Crawford and Brendan Donovan at the hot corner, and they could continue to be an option there if Arenado is out of the lineup or limited to designated hitter at any point in the future, as his forearm issue is believed to be a lingering one. Rotowire.com Yesterday, 7:59 pm

William Contreras went 0-for-5 on Wednesday, dropping his OPS back under .800.

Advice: Contreras has not been getting results for a good month now, but things might be starting to turn around some. He had doubles on both Monday and Tuesday. Today, his four balls in play, one of which left the bat at 107.5 mph, had xBAs of .870, .480, .470 and .260. Rotoworld Yesterday, 2:17 pm

Ryan Pepiot recorded eight strikeouts and allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings on Wednesday in a no-decision against the Mariners.

Advice: Pepiot carried a shutout into the sixth inning before being lifted from the contest at 88 pitches (54 strikes) after issuing a one-out walk to J.P. Crawford. He wound up being charged with that run when reliever Shawn Armstrong served up a three-run homer to Cal Raleigh later in the frame. The 26-year-old righty generated 15 swinging strikes, including nine on his four-seam fastball alone, and finished with a respectable 29 percent CSW. It was a nice effort from Pepiot considering he failed to complete five frames in each of his previous two outings. He’ll bring a 4.40 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 83/25 K/BB ratio across 71 2/3 innings (14 starts) into a strong road matchup on Wednesday against the Royals. Rotoworld Yesterday, 1:20 pm

Soto went 1-for-3 with a solo home run, an additional run and two walks in Tuesday's loss to the Mets.

Advice: Soto plated the Yankees' first run with his solo shot in the fifth inning, though the Mets had already built a big lead by that time. The long ball was the first extra-base hit over the outfielder's past eight games, and he's batted an uncharacteristically poor .160 (4-for-25) during that stretch. Soto has continued to reach base consistently, however, due to his willingness to take a walk -- across the eight-game span, he's accumulated an 11:6 BB:K, and he leads the league with 65 total walks on the season. Rotowire.com Yesterday, 10:00 am

Astros manager Joe Espada said Wednesday that Verlander (neck) hasn't resumed playing catch and won't accompany the team to New York for this weekend's three-game series versus the Mets, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.

Advice: Verlander isn't eligible to return from the 15-day injured list until Monday, but with the Astros continuing their trip in Toronto and then Minnesota next week, the right-hander's absence for the start of the road swing wouldn't seem to inspire much optimism about his chances of being ready to make a start against the Blue Jays, and perhaps even the Twins. The Astros will likely wait and see if Verlander is able to take any meaningful steps forward in his recovery from the neck issue over the next few days while he's back in Houston before determining his status for the Toronto series. Rotowire.com Yesterday, 9:29 am