MLB Player News

McCutchen, who went 1-for-4 with a walk Friday, appeared to injure his left ankle while rounding third base but remained in the game.

The outfielder tested his ankle following the end of the inning and everything checked out, but it may be something to keep an eye on. Remarkably, McCutchen's .250 batting average is the highest it's been since June 9 -- he's slashed .300/.424/.486 in 86 August plate appearances.

McCutchen went 3-for-5 with a solo homer and two RBI singles -- including the game-winning hit in the 10th inning -- against the Brewers on Thursday.

He provided all the offense for the Pirates, including opening the scoring with his first-inning homer -- No. 18 on the year. Although this has been a highly disappointing season for McCutchen on the whole, we've seen a resurgence out of him recently -- over the last 13 games, he's hitting .333 with three homers, 11 RBI and a couple steals. It wouldn't exactly be shocking to see the long-time star streak to the finish line.

Winker is one of a handful of Reds prospects expected to get the call when rosters expand on September 1.

Winker has been a good on-base threat at Triple-A Louisville, but he still hasn't found the ability to hit for power, slugging just .380 on the season.

Reed is out of the lineup Friday against the Rays.

Marwin Gonzalez will start at first as Reed gets the night off. Reed's hitting has been subpar lately, as he's gone just 4-for-22 over the last seven games. However, he's managed to post a .333 on-base percentage over that time, as he owns a fantastic 13 percent walk rate for the year.

Pederson is out of the lineup Friday versus the Cubs.

With the left-handed Mike Montgomery taking the mound for Chicago, Pederson will head to the bench and give way to Enrique Hernandez in center field. Pederson will likely be back in the lineup Saturday, as Jason Hammel is slated to pitch for the Cubs.

Pederson is out of the lineup Thursday against the Giants, J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group reports.

The Dodgers are once again rolling out their right-handed-heavy lineup with San Francisco starting another left-hander in Matt Moore. Enrique Hernandez starts in center field in place of Pederson and the two players will likely continue on in a platoon situation for the foreseeable future.

Goins was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo on Thursday, Blue Jays radio play-by-play announcer Mike Wilner reports.

Goins had gone 4-for-9 while also drawing a pair of walks since his latest call up last week, but Jose Bautista's (knee) return from the DL on Thursday necessitated a corresponding move to clear up a major league roster spot. The 28-year-old is a likely candidate to rejoin the big league club when rosters expand in September.

Belt was dropped to seventh in the batting order Wednesday, going 0-for-3 with a walk in a loss to the Dodgers.

Belt has cooled off at the plate in the second half of August (.231, no homers and two RBI over last 10 games) after hitting three homers through the first 10 games of the month. Manager Bruce Bochy may have moved him down the order in an effort to take the pressure off his slugging first baseman, or it may have simply been a matchup play with a left-hander on the mound. Either way, Belt is one of several Giants whose cold bats have resulted in a 2-8 record over the club's last 10 games. Batting lower in the order (especially for an on-base machine like Belt) will result in fewer scoring opportunities. Thursday's series finale against the Dodgers will feature right-hander Ross Stripling, so we'll see if Belt's lineup movement was temporary or not.

Cabrera went 4-for-5 with two doubles, his 28th homer, two RBI and two runs against Minnesota on Wednesday.

It's never pleasant being Cabrera's division rival -- he's pounded out seven hits in the first two games of this series with the Twins and is hitting a cool .400 against them this season. He wasn't quite himself in April (.270/.337/.472), but Miggy's been doing his normal thing since then, having lifted his season line to a pretty typical .313/.386/.552. The 33-year-old slugger needs just two more homers to reach 30 for the 10th time in his career.

Turner went 2-for-3 with his 24th homer Wednesday in a 1-0 win over the Giants.

His fourth-inning shot to left center off San Francisco starter Johnny Cueto accounted for the game's only scoring. With five hits in the last two games and a .343 average (including six homers) in August, Turner's brought his season average up to .282 -- its highest point since the first week of April action. He certainly won't match the career high he set two years ago (.340), but Turner's made up for that with a host of career marks in other categories -- homers, doubles (28), RBI (74) and runs (61) -- and he has plenty of time left to pad those stats.