Arraez is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Nationals.
The Padres are closing out their series in Washington with a day game after a night game, and the Nationals are bringing a lefty (Patrick Corbin) to the hill, so San Diego manager Mike Shildt likely decided that it was an opportune time to give the lefty-hitting Arraez a breather. Unless he's used off the bench, Arraez will put his six-game hitting streak on hold and will cede the designated-hitter spot to Manny Machado on Thursday.
Arraez went 1-for-3 with two walks, one RBI and one stolen base in Saturday's 7-0 win over the Guardians.
While Arraez has no trouble getting on base, he typically doesn't run much. His steal Saturday was his fourth of the year, matching his career high from 2022. The infielder is batting .292 (14-for-48) over 12 contests in July, though that's put him on a slight decline with a .312/.347/.382 slash line through 95 contests between the Padres and Marlins this season. Arraez has battled a thumb injury recently, which caused him to miss the All-Star Game, so it's likely he'll get most of the playing time at designated hitter in the immediate future, though Jake Cronenworth started there Saturday.
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Padres' Luis Arraez: In lineup Friday
Rotowire
Arraez (thumb) will DH and bat leadoff for Friday's game against the Guardians.
Arraez has been nursing a jammed left thumb and opted to sit out the All-Star Game to let the injury heal. However, the issue won't require him to miss any time for the Padres, and he'll fill his regular leadoff spot during Friday's series opener against Cleveland. The 27-year-old is slashing .310/.342/.378 across 416 plate appearances this season.
Padres' Luis Arraez: Out of All-Star Game with thumb injury
Rotowire
Arraez will attend All-Star festivities in Texas but won't play for the National League in Tuesday's game due to a jammed left thumb, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Arraez first hurt the thumb while sliding into third base June 25. He has played in all but two of San Diego's games since then, most recently sitting out Sunday's 6-3 loss to Atlanta. While Arraez has mostly been able to remain in the lineup despite the injury, he admitted that the thumb hurts "a lot" when he swings and catches the ball. The issue probably won't be anything that causes him to miss much, if any, additional time in games that count, but he'll use the All-Star break to rest the jammed thumb rather than risking further injury in the exhibition contest.
Arraez is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against Atlanta.
After rapping out three hits in Saturday's 4-0 win to break out of a 1-for-15 funk over his previous four starts, Arraez will head to the bench for the series finale and the final game before the All-Star break. Jurickson Profar will take over as the Padres' leadoff hitter in place of Arraez, who had started in each of the Friars' last 13 contests.
