Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Removed with stomach issue
Rotowire
Belt was removed in the eighth inning of Tuesday's game against the Brewers with a stomach issue, Mitch Bannon of SI.com reports.
The Blue Jays have had several players deal with stomach issues in 2023, and unfortunately Belt is the latest. The left-handed hitting veteran should be considered day-to-day at this point.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Idle versus lefty
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Belt is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Rays.
The lefty-hitting Belt will retreat to the bench while the Rays bring ace southpaw Shane McClanahan to the mound Wednesday. George Springer will get a day out of the outfield and will replace Belt as the Blue Jays' designated hitter.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Sitting Monday
Rotowire
Belt is not in the starting lineup Monday against the Rays.
Belt will get a breather after he went 4-for-13 with two doubles, a run scored, six walks and six strikeouts while starting each of the last five contests. Danny Jansen will replace him at designated hitter and bat eighth in the series opener with Tampa Bay.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Not in lineup
Rotowire
Belt is not in the Blue Jays' lineup for Tuesday's game versus the Yankees, Mike Wilner of the Toronto Star reports.
George Springer is getting a start at designated hitter and Cavan Biggio is in right field. Belt is heating up this month but will take a seat Tuesday after starting each of the last eight contests.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Reclaiming regular role
Rotowire
Belt will serve as Toronto's designated hitter and No. 6 batter in Wednesday's game in Philadelphia.
Belt sat out against two of the four right-handed pitchers the Blue Jays faced in Boston last week, but he now finds himself in the starting nine versus a righty for the fourth day in a row. Though he benefited from Vladimir Guerrero being sidelined with a wrist injury for two of those games, Belt has earned back a strong-side platoon role by going 5-for-10 with three doubles, three walks, five runs and two RBI. Expect the lefty-hitting Belt to remain out of the lineup when the Blue Jays face southpaws, however.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: On base four times Sunday
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Belt went 3-for-4 with a walk, a double and a run scored in Sunday's win over the Pirates.
Getting the start at first base in place of Vladimir Guerrero (wrist) and batting fifth, Belt put together his second straight multi-hit performance as he finally begins to look comfortable in a Blue Jays uniform. Over his last 10 games, the former Giant is batting .313 (10-for-32) with four doubles and a homer, although he also has 14 strikeouts during that stretch. If Guerrero's wrist continues to bother him, Belt figures to pick up more playing time in the short term, but at the very least he seems to be re-establishing himself as Toronto's top option at DH against right-handed pitching.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Sitting out again
Rotowire
Belt is out of the lineup Wednesday against the Red Sox.
The lefty-hitting Belt has now sat out two straight matchups against right-handed starting pitchers and three of the last four games overall. He's 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts in his last four games and is sitting on a .509 OPS for the season. Matt Chapman will be the designated hitter and Santiago Espinal will play third base Wednesday.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Takes seat versus lefty
Rotowire
Belt is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Mariners.
Belt is 0-for-9 with two walks and four strikeouts in his past three games and will head to the bench Sunday with southpaw Marco Gonzales pitching for Seattle. Alejandro Kirk will rest his legs as the designated hitter while Danny Jansen works behind the plate.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Resting Wednesday
Rotowire
Belt is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the White Sox.
With the Blue Jays and White Sox concluding their series with a day game after a night game, Belt and outfielder Kevin Kiermaier will receive maintenance days. Alejandro Kirk will get a day off behind the plate to serve as the Blue Jays' designated hitter in Belt's stead.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Sitting Sunday
Rotowire
Belt is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Yankees, William Ladson of MLB.com reports.
Belt started the first two games of the series in New York and will take a seat for the finale after going 2-for-7 with a double, a home run, four RBI and four strikeouts. Alejandro Kirk will serve as the designated hitter Sunday while Danny Jansen works behind the plate.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Adds late insurance
Rotowire
Belt went 2-for-4 with a two-run double and a two-run home run in Friday's 6-1 victory over the Yankees.
Belt extended Toronto's lead to 4-1 with a two-run homer off Domingo German in the sixth and added to the lead with a two-run double in the eighth. The veteran first baseman had just three extra-base hits (all doubles) and one RBI heading into Friday's contest. Belt is still slashing just .186/.255/349 though 12 games (47 plate appearances).
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: On bench Saturday
Rotowire
Belt is out of the lineup Saturday against the Rays.
Belt has gotten it going a bit after a dreadful start to the season, going 4-for-10 with two doubles and an RBI over his last three games. He'll start out on the bench Saturday with Tampa Bay lining up a bullpen game. Alejandro Kirk is the designated hitter and Danny Jansen is catching Saturday.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Takes seat Wednesday
Rotowire
Belt is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Tigers, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.
Belt will get the night off after he turned in his best game of the season Tuesday, when he went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI in a 9-3 win. He had struck out at least twice in each of six starts prior to Tuesday.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Sitting versus lefty
Rotowire
Belt is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Angels.
The lefty-hitting Belt will take a seat for the second time in the series while the Angels bring another southpaw (Reid Detmers) to the hill. George Springer will serve as the Blue Jays' designated hitter in the series finale, opening up a spot in the outfield for Whit Merrifield.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Sitting against lefty
Rotowire
Belt is not in the lineup Friday against the Angels.
Jordan Luplow will serve as the designated hitter and hit eighth with left-hander Patrick Sandoval on the mound for the Angels. Belt is 1-for-19 (.053) with a whopping 12 strikeouts through five games this year.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Not starting Tuesday
Rotowire
Belt isn't in the Blue Jays' lineup for Tuesday's game against the Royals.
After starting the season just 1-for-11 at the plate through three games, Belt will take a seat Friday for the second time in three days. George Springer will take over as Toronto's designated hitter, opening up right field for Whit Merrifield and allowing Santiago Espinal to get reps at second base, batting eighth.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Sitting versus southpaw
Rotowire
Belt is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Cardinals.
Belt batted sixth as Toronto's designated hitter in the first two games of the season, but he'll head to the bench Sunday with lefty Jordan Montgomery pitching for St. Louis. Alejandro Kirk will rest his legs as the designated hitter while Danny Jansen starts behind the plate.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Cleared to start Monday
Rotowire
Belt (illness) will serve as Toronto's designated hitter and cleanup batter in Monday's Grapefruit League game versus the Phillies.
Belt is back in the lineup after being scratched from the starting nine in both of the past two days due to a non-COVID-19-related illness that has been described as a stomach bug. Though the 34-year-old is likely to see limited action against left-handed pitching this season and may frequently sit out day games after night games, he's expected to be the Blue Jays' preferred cleanup hitter versus right-handed pitching when healthy.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Sits out Sunday after all
Rotowire
The Blue Jays scratched Belt (illness) from the lineup ahead of Sunday's Grapefruit League game against the Yankees, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports.
Toronto's initial lineup listed Belt as its starting first baseman and No. 3 batter, but he'll ultimately take a seat for the second day in a row while he aims to recover from a stomach bug. Provided his symptoms continue to steadily improve in the next few days, Belt should be included on the Blue Jays' Opening Day roster. He's projected to serve as the Blue Jays' primary designated hitter and cleanup batter versus right-handed pitching to begin the season.
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Blue Jays' Brandon Belt: Back in action Sunday
Rotowire
Belt (illness) will start at first base and bat third in Sunday's Grapefruit League game against the Yankees, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.
A stomach bug kept Belt from playing in Saturday's game against the Tigers, but he's apparently feeling fine one day later. Though he'll be picking up a start at first base Sunday, Belt is expected to serve as Toronto's primary designated hitter against right-handed pitching once the regular season gets underway.
