MLB Player News

Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera went 0 for 4 in Friday's loss to the Padres to continue his slow start to the season.

The winner of back-to-back MVP awards, Cabrera has hit just .250/.294/.406 with one home run and three RBI in 32 at-bats in his first eight games. He started at third base for the second time Friday, making his third overall appearance at the position as the Tigers continue a West Coast swing through the National League West.

Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen left Friday's game against the Brewers late, after lining out to third in the eighth inning. Afterwards, the team announced McCutchen left with "discomfort in his left ankle."

McCutchen was hitless in three at-bats, with one walk and a pair of stolen bases before the injury, and it is not clear exactly when it occurred. His status moving forward is not yet known, with the Pirates set to take on the Brewers yet again Saturday.

A matchup against Giants stud southpaw Madison Bumgarner on Friday night has surprising Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon grabbing some pine.

The left-handed hitting Blackmon has not cooled off since a three-game tear in which he bashed out 10 hits, including a 6-for-6 performance Arizona. He was 3 for 5 with two runs scored Wednesday against the White Sox and now owns a ridiculous .471 batting average on the season.

Both Blue Jays competing for the starting second base job will play Friday night in Baltimore. Ryan Goins will man that position with Maicer Izturis playing short instead of Jonathan Diaz.

Izturis and Goins have been going in opposite directions at the plate. The former is batting .385 this season while the latter has just one hit in 19 at-bats.

Maicer Izturis has made four straight starts for the Blue Jays at second base, but John Gibbons has declined to name him the full-time starter ahead of struggling Ryan Goins.

Izturis boasts a .455 batting average while Goins has just one hit in 19 at-bats this season. But Gibbons believes the latter is a better all-around fielder and refuses to commit to Izturis.

"I'm not ready to stay that," Gibbons told the Toronto Sun. "Izturis gives you some offense and some defense. Goins is a defensive specialist. We think he's going to hit enough. He's off to a slow start but I expect him to improve on that. But right now we're playing the hot hand, the guy that's swinging the bat."

Gibbons added that he might have considered continuing to play Goins if others in the lineup were hitting better.

Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna was one of the few bright spots in his team's 7-1 loss to the Nationals on Thursday.

Ozuna took Washington ace Stephen Strasburg deep for a solo home run in the seventh inning, his only hit of the afternoon. He finished 1 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI. He has a hit in all but one of his first 10 games played. He is hitting .333 (12 for 36) with two homers and four RBI over that span.

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper snapped out of a funk in a big way Wednesday, as he drove in his first three runs of the season in a 10-7 win over the Marlins.

Harper entered the game in run-production drought, but ended that with one swing of the bat. He took Marlins starter Brad Hand deep in the fourth inning for his first home run of the season, a three-run shot to the third deck in right field. He finished the game 2 for 4 as well, his first multi-hit game of the season.

Harper has gotten off to a dreadful start this season, and is still hitting just .207/.233/310 with 13 strikeouts and just one walk in 29 at-bats after Wednesday's game.  

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper has been dropped to seventh in the order Wednesday.

Harper has now been passed by Ian Desmond in the lineup. With Ryan Zimmerman also returning, that pushes Harper down to the seventh spot. He's struggled to get going early, hitting just .160 in 25 at-bats.

Cubs outfield prospect Jorge Soler is on the Double-A disabled list with a sore right hamstring, MLB.com reports.

"We need to make sure he's 100 percent before he gets back on the field," president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said Tuesday. "He didn't pull it again, but it obviously hasn't healed all the way. We want him on the field as much as anybody -- he needs the at-bats. We can't force it right now."

Soler has made just one plate appearances this season, smacking a double.

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt has been scorching hot to start the season, a trend his continued Tuesday in a 7-3 win over the Diamondbacks.

Belt opened the game with his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot to give the Giants a lead they would never relinquish. He ultimately went 2 for 4 with two RBI and two runs scored in the win.

Belt is hitting .343 through eight games, with five of his 12 hits going over the wall. He has driven in nine runs and scored nine more, though he has yet to walk while striking out 10 times.