MLB Player News

Soler went 2-for-4 with a solo homer and two runs Friday against the Giants.

Soler's third blast added a run in the eighth inning and gave the Cubs a six-run lead in an easy win. He now has a modest three-game hitting streak that has raised his batting average to the .200 mark for the first time in more than a month.

Cabrera belted two home runs to drive in three runs in Friday's loss to the Rays. He now has eight on the season and has gotten at least one hit in each of his last six games.

The first home run traveled 364 feet to right field and the second was a 431-foot monster that hit the TV tower in dead centerfield. It was just Miggy's second multi-home fun game of the season and first since late April. But Cabrera's been on fire in the last week, going 11-for-24 with four dingers and eight RBI and raising his OPS nearly 100 points to .896.

Pederson is not in the lineup for Friday's game against the Padres.

He will sit in favor of Trayce Thompson in center field with Christian Friedrich due up for San Diego, as is typical whenever the Dodgers face a lefty. Pederson has logged all of 14 at-bats against southpaws so far this season, with his lone hit against a left-hander going for a home run.

The addition of Jimmy Paredes, who was picked up off waivers from Baltimore, is likely to reduce Goins' role with the Blue Jays, the Toronto Star reports.

He has already been ceding more playing time to Darwin Barney, but this could signify the end is near for Goins. The middle infielder is hitting just .155 through 110 at-bats, and Goins is facing the possibility of a trip to the minors once Devon Travis (shoulder) returns from the DL.

Carpenter went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a homer, six RBI and two runs against the Rockies on Thursday.

No, this game wasn't played in Coors Field, but you could be forgiven for suspecting that the Rockies brought the thin air with them. Carpenter's average is still lingering at a career-low .259, but that's the only mark against him -- after all, he's sustaining last year's power outburst while refining his plate discipline back to its pre-2015 level.

Buxton (back) is expected to return to the lineup at Triple-A Rochester on Friday, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

A bout of back spasms has kept Buxton off the field for close to a week, but it sounds like the discomfort has subsided to a large extent. Buxton has responded well to his demotion, slashing .301/.356/.494 with three homers in 20 games with Rochester, but his 1:7 BB:K in his last seven games with the affiliate suggests the approach could still use some work.

Stanton struck out in all four of his plate at-bats during Wednesday's loss to the Phillies, wrapping a hitless three-game set with the division rivals.

It's been quite the streaky start to the season for Stanton, who is batting just .098/.196/.195 in his last 12 games (41 at-bats). In the 11 games prior, he belted seven home runs while slashing .395/.531/.1.026. The power production is as expected overall, but with a meager .221 average and .335 OBP, the slugger has been more of an all-or-nothing proposition in 2016.

Harper walked four times and struck out in his other plate appearance Wednesday against the Mets.

The net effect was that he only scored one run despite the Nats putting up seven on Bartolo Colon and the Mets staff. Harper's been racking up walks fiendishly, which is curious for a guy who's only hitting .254. Sure, he hit .330 last year, but when you take a look at Harper's last 20 games this season, the picture you get is of a guy who hasn't been very effective when he's actually been pitched to -- he has just a .167 average despite having drawn 32 walks in that span. Not to take anything away from him, but giving him the steroid-era Barry Bonds treatment just might be overkill.

Cespedes went 2-for-4 with a solo homer that accounted for all the Mets' scoring in a 7-1 loss to Washington on Wednesday.

Incredibly, Cespedes is actually outperforming his magical late-2015 run with the Mets here in his first full season under the bright lights of Broadway (or, well, Queens). His OPS is a shining 1.024, thanks in no small part to all the homers he's been slugging -- so many that his stats in 92 games as a Met would be a fantastic whole season for most players. Since donning the orange and blue at last year's trade deadline, Cespedes has hit 30 homers and driven in 77 runs.

Brantley (shoulder) may not resume swinging a bat until next week and remains without a firm return date, MLB.com reports.

Brantley received and anti-inflammatory injection during a checkup Tuesday and the Indians figure to give him 5-7 days to let it calm down before resuming hitting activities which would seem to put his earliest return date of May 26 in serious jeopardy.