MLB Player News

Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera is progressing well from the calf injury that landed him on the 15-day disabled list, per The Detroit News.

Cabrera has been cleared for light baseball activities. He took throws and some swings in a light batting practice session on Friday.

"Feeling better," Cabrera said. "Making progress. Hopefully it will be soon I can get on the field and try to do some baseball activities."

The Grade 3 calf strain Cabrera suffered is likely to keep him out of the lineup until late August, but he isn't sticking strictly to the timetable.

"I want to say my body will tell me," Cabrera said. "Hopefully I can make good progress. I don't want to say six weeks or eight weeks. I want to see how it feels every day and when I am ready to play I want to say, 'I'm ready to go.' That's my mind(set).

"These injuries can take a long time. Hopefully it can be soon."

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt had a nice night at the plate, as he went 2 for 5 with three RBI and a run scored in Friday's 9-3 win over the A's. Belt ripped an RBI double in the fifth inning, and added a two-run single in the eighth.

Belt has hit safely in 11 of his past 12 games, batting .333 with five two-baggers over that stretch. 

Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon went 3 for 5 in Friday's win over Cincinnati. 

Blackmon scored once, drove in a run and stole his 25th base of the year. 

Blackmon now has seven multi-hit games in his last 10. 

Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner went 3 for 5 with two doubles and a home run in Friday's win over the Mets. 

Turner hit in his sixth straight game. He's 13 for 24 with a pair of three-hit games and a four-hit outing over that stretch. He's also homered in two of the last three. 

Turner drove in two runs and has scored in six of the last seven games. 

Twins outfielder Byron Buxton began baseball activities before Friday's game, per MLB.com.

Buxton is on the 15-day disabled list with a thumb injury. 

Manager Paul Molitor said that Buxton fielded ground balls and fly balls in the outfield. He also took swings underwater.

On May 23, Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen had a multi-hit game with a homer. He did the same on June 23.

So perhaps it was meant to be that on Thursday - July 23 - he again achieved that feat. McCutchen, who had not blasted off as part of a multi-hit game over the past month, singled and scored in the first inning and turned a 4-1 lead into a 6-1 lead with a two-run tater in the seventh.

His big game ended a 4-for-24 mini-slump and sweetened his slash line on the year to .289/.389/.496.

Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter went deep on Thursday for his 10th home run of the season. The third-inning, two-run blast, his only hit of the game, gave the Cardinals a 4-2 lead, and they would hold on for the 4-3 win over the Royals.

After going 135 at-bats between home runs, Carpenter has now hit two in his last 35 at-bats. But he has just three other hits over that same stretch, giving him a .143 average over the nine games. 

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, but he did something Wednesday that he had not done previously during that stretch. He knocked one over the fence for the first time since June 20.

Belt blasted his 10th homer, a 413-foot solo shot in the sixth inning that tied the game. He also walked twice in improving his on-base percentage to a strong .353.

It took a few months and a healthier back, but the 2015 version of Indians outfielder Michael Brantley is finally starting to look like the 2014 edition that placed third in the American League Most Valuable Player voting.

Brantley continued his rampage Wednesday with his first four-hit game since April 25. He fell only a triple short of the cycle in battering the Brewers.

The hits came consecutively. Brantley blasted a three-run homer in the third to knot the score at 4-4. His RBI single in the fifth gave his team the lead for good. He doubled and scored in the seventh and singled in the ninth.

Brantley has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games and is batting .415 (17-for-41) during that stretch. His .302 average is at its highest point since June 19.

Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon will get a day off, as he's being held out of the lineup against the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon. Blackmon had started 17 games in a row, and has been a force offensively atop the Rockies' lineup.

In that 17-game stretch, Blackmon slashed .357/.416/.571 with two doubles, two triples, three home runs and 10 RBI. 

But he'll get a day of rest in the matinee affair, with Drew Stubbs handling center field and DJ LeMahieu moving up to the lead-off spot in the order.