MLB Player News

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera launched his 27th home run of the season Saturday afternoon against the Indians.

Cabrera took starter Carlos Carrasco deep for a two-run shot in the third inning. He finished 1 for 4 with a walk, a run scored and two RBI in a 9-4 win.

Cabrera has a .360/.450/.667 line with 27 homers and 88 RBI through his first 85 games played this season. He had a .326/.384/.565 line with 19 homers and 72 RBI through 85 games last season. He leads the AL in batting average (.360), RBI (88), runs (66) and walks (52).

The All-Star game starters were announced Saturday, with 34 of the American League's 35 roster spots officially unveiled. The final roster spot will be decided via a fan vote prior to the game.

The AL Starters -- selected by fans -- features Joe Mauer, Chris Davis, Robinson Cano, J.J. Hardy, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Adam Jones, Jose Bautista and David Ortiz.

The pitching staff is made up of Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Clay Buchholz, Brett Cecil, Justin Verlander, Justin Masterson, Chris Sale, Mariano Rivera, Bartolo Colon, Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma, Jesse Crain, Joe Nathan and Glen Perkins.

12 position players were selected as reserves: Prince Fielder, Torii Hunter, Jhonny Peralta, Dustin Pedroia, Nelson Cruz, Ben Zobrist, Jason Castro, Edwin Encarnacion, Alex Gordon, Jason Kipnis, Manny Machado and Salvador Perez.

Joaquin Benoit, Steve Delabar, David Robertson, Tanner Scheppers and Koji Uehara are the five players included in the Final Vote.

The All-Star game starters were announced Saturday,  with 34 of the National League's 35 roster spots officially unveiled. The final roster spot will be decided via a fan vote prior to the game.

The National League starting lineup features Yadier Molina, Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Troy Tulowitzki, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Gonzalez and Bryce Harper.

The pitching staff is made up of Clayton Kershaw, Patrick Corbin, Matt Harvey, Adam Wainwright, Jason Grilli, Jordan Zimmermann, Craig Kimbrel, Travis Wood, Jose Fernandez, Cliff Lee, Jeff Locke and Madison Bumgarner.

12 position players were selected as reserves: Andrew McCutchen, Michael Cuddyer, Buster Posey, Pedro Alvarez, Domonic Brown, Everth Cabrera, Matt Carpenter, Allen Craig, Paul Goldschmidt, Carlos Gomez, Jean Segura and Marco Scutaro. 

Ian Desmond, Freddie Freeman, Adrian Gonzalez, Hunter Pence and Yasiel Puig are the five players included in the Final Vote. 

The Phillies recalled outfielder Darin Ruf from Triple-A Lehigh Valle Saturday, to take Ryan Howard's place on the active roster.

Ruf was hitting .266 with a .752 OPS and seven home runs for Lehigh Valley prior to his call up.  

Nationals manager Davey Johnson was planning on sitting outfielder Bryce Harper for the final two games of the weekend series with the Padres, but Harper made it known that he was not pleased with this plan.

Harper sent Johnson a text message and then spoke with him prior to Saturday's game and Johnson ultimately relented, putting Harper in left field and third in the lineup. The message Harper sent Johnson, jokingly?

"Play me or trade me."

"Since a trade is out of the question, I decided to play him," Johnson told reporters with a smile.

It is not yet clear if Harper will get his way yet again if Johnson wants to give him Sunday off. 

Nationals manager Davey Johnson indicated Friday that outfielder Bryce Harper will likely be out of the starting lineup against the Padres Saturday and Sunday, MLB.com reports.

"I'll probably give Harper a couple days off," Johnson told MLB.com. "I think he's just fighting himself ... He's just … coming back from the long layoff, I think [he] hadn't had much break when he came back. I just need to back off him a little bit."

Harper went 0 for 4 against the Padres Friday, making him 0 for 15 over his last four games after hitting a home run in his return on July 1.

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera made his presence felt in his first game back from a sore back Friday night against the Indians.

Cabrera singled in a run in the third inning for his only hit of the night. He finished 1 for 5 with an RBI in a 7-0 victory. He is hitting .361/.451/.663 with 26 homers and 86 RBI in 332 at-bats.

Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes was moved to the No. 6 spot in the lineup Friday night against the Royals.

Cespedes has just six hits in his last 40 at-bats. He is hitting .158 with one RBI over his last five games. Manager Bob Melvin expects Cespedes to hit third or fourth regularly, according to The Mercury News.

Mariners shortstop Brad Miller will get a crack at the leadoff spot for the first time this season Friday night at Cincinnati, according to The Seattle Times. Miller is batting .200 (4 for 20) with two walks, two doubles and an RBI in six games played.

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera is back in the lineup for Friday's game against Cleveland, MLive.com reports.

Cabrera missed Thursday's game against Toronto with soreness in the left side of his lower back. Cabrera had started all 83 games prior to Thursday's, and the back injury isn't expected to impact his otherwise sterling durability.