MLB Player News

Mariners second baseman Brad Miller hit his fifth home run of the season in the fifth inning Wednesday in a win at Oakland. Miller finished 1 for 5. 

The home run made it 3-2 Oakland at the time in a game the Mariners came back to win. Miller now has a .251 batting average and 24 RBI on his rookie season. 

The 23-year-old has gone 4 for 14 over a three-game hitting streak with two RBI in those games. 

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera made it into the starting lineup Wednesday against the Twins despite aggravating a lingering abdominal injury during Tuesday's game. Cabrera has failed to record a hit in just one of 17 August games, batting .358 with a .776 slugging percentage and 1.203 OPS.

After getting a rest Tuesday, Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter has returned to the team's starting lineup Wednesday against the Brewers.

Carpenter will assume the leadoff spot again. He missed Tuesday's game in order to get Kolten Wong and David Freese playing time. Carpenter is hitting .312/.385/.474 in 481 at-bats. 

Mariners shortstop Brad Miller netted two singles, one RBI and one run in five at-bats Tuesday against the A's. It was his seventh multi-hit game in August.

Miller is batting .260 (20 for 77) with a .455 slugging percentage, .742 OPS, two home runs, three doubles, three triples, eight RBI and nine runs in 18 August games.

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton continued to show signs of waking up Tuesday, as he picked up three hits in a 6-4 loss to the Dodgers. 

Stanton, who extended his hitting streak to a modest seven games in the outing, went 3 for 5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. He is now hitting .215 in the month of August, though his average is .333 in 30 at-bats during his hitting streak. 

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt made up for some lost time Tuesday, snapping a three-game hitting streak with a three-hit game.

Belt went 3 for 4 while ending up a home run short of the cycle. He had a double and a triple as part of his game, but ended up with no runs drive in or scored in a 3-2 win over the Red Sox.

Belt is hitting .276 on the season, but has been red hot with a .379 average in the month of August. 

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera's final swing of Tuesday's 6-3 loss to the Twins might not have just cost the Tigers the game; it could also end up costing Cabrera time, as he appeared to suffer an injury.

"You could see it in his facial expression,'' manager Jim Leyland told MLive.com after the game.

Cabrera winced after striking out to end the game, and it appears as if he may have re-aggravated his lingering abdomen strain. He has been able to play through the injury, but has been forced to miss four games as a result. It is not yet clear whether he did injure his abdomen, or if it is a different, unrelated issue.

"It looked like it might be the area of the stomach," Leyland said. "Not sure if it was the groin, or up in the stomach area, but he was in some pain."

Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter is not in the team's starting lineup Tuesday against the Brewers.

Carpenter will be replaced at second by Kolten Wong. David Freese will take Wong's normal spot at third. Carpenter is hitting .312/.383/.474 in 481 at-bats. 

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he's contemplated moving Victor Martinez to third base and Miguel Cabrera to DH, according to MLive.com. Leyland said he initially pondered the idea when Cabrera was nursing a strained abdomen.

"Gene Lamont and I talked about it one night," Leyland said. "In fact, we even had (first-base coach) Rafael Belliard tell Victor that there's a slight, slight possibility this might happen."

Leyland said he would prefer to keep his current alignment, but Martinez has proven to be effective at first base when he's filled in for Prince Fielder.

"He’s got good hands, it’s just the matter of the quickness of the ball," Leyland said. "He takes ground balls all the time during batting practice, so, Victor can catch the ball."

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton clubbed his 15th home run Monday against the Dodgers. 

Stanton added the the team's lead in the eighth inning, hitting a solo shot off Chris Withrow. He also added a single, finishing the game 2 for 4. He's hitting .241/.353/.452 in 294 at-bats.