MLB Player News

Indians first baseman Carlos Santana went 4 for 5 with two doubles, one home run and two RBI in his team's 8-2 win over the Twins Tuesday.

Santana smacked a solo home run in the fifth inning and drove in the final run of the game with a ninth-inning double. He was just 3 for 18 since the All-Star break before exploding Tuesday. Santana has hit .214/.353/.401 with 15 home runs and 42 RBI in 322 at-bats.

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu is getting the day off Tuesday against the Royals, due to minor soreness in his back, manager Robin Ventura told reporters.

Abreu is available to pinch-hit off the bench Tuesday, and is expected back in the lineup in time for Wednesday's game. This is the first game Abreu has missed since he returned from the disabled list in early June.  

Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera is not in the lineup Tuesday against the Twins, as a result of a back injury suffered during Monday's game.

Cabrera is considered day to day at this point, after leaving Monday's game in the second inning with back spasms. 

Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera was removed from Monday's game due to lower back spasms, the team announced.

Cabrera struck out on the top of the first inning and played two innings in the field, but the team pinch-hit for him in the top of the third. He has hit .247/.308/.392 with with nine home runs, 39 RBI and seven stolen bases in 365 at-bats.

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu owns an 11-game hitting streak after going 2 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored Sunday. He's batting .400 (18 for 45) during the streak.

Abreu has hit safely in 29 of his past 30 games, hitting .353 in that span. For the season the All-Star is batting .293 with 29 homers and 74 RBI.

Angels outfielder Kole Calhoun went 3 for 5 with a solo homer and two runs scored in Sunday's 6-5 win over the Mariners. Calhoun is up to 11 homers, 26 RBI and 51 runs scored. He sports a .291/.348/.513 line in 234 at-bats.

The Angels optioned first baseman C.J. Cron to Triple-A Salt Lake Saturday, to clear room on the active roster for the acquisition of Huston Street.

Cron's demotion comes as a surprise, as he is hitting .269/.297/.480 with nine home runs and 27 RBI in 53 games this season. 

Chris Carter has homered six times in his last eight games to make him the sixth-best hitter in Head-to-Head leagues and the fifth-best in Rotisserie during that stretch, which is great.

Now who wants to bet on him doing it again in his next eight?

We've seen this before from him -- too many times before -- so we know what comes next: a two-week stretch when he collects just three hits, striking out every other at-bat. How do you think his batting average got to be .223 last season? How do you think it got to be .205 this season? He has five more singles than home runs, for crying out loud.

And that's the catch with him: He can hit you bunches of home runs, sure, but because he does absolutely nothing in between, he's inevitably sitting for you when he hits those home runs.

Maybe he won't cool off this week. Maybe the requisite slump won't come until the last week of July or the first week of August. But rest assured, it'll come, so unless you're willing to ride it out with him, you might as well not even bother with him. I don't know about you, but I'd have to be pretty desperate for power to take that hit in batting average.

White Sox All-Star first baseman Jose Abreu will open the second half of the season with an eight-game hitting streak. In fact, the rookie first baseman has failed to record a hit just once in his last 27 games.

Abreu is batting .355 with a .400 on-base percentage, .692 slugging percentage and 1.092 OPS in his last 27 games. He also has six doubles, 10 home runs, 15 runs, 22 RBI, eight walks (five intentional), 18 strikeouts and one stolen base in that span.

Astros designated hitter Chris Carter has found his swing in recent games, as he put together his second multi-homer game in three days Friday against the Red Sox.

Carter went deep twice in an 8-3 loss to the Red Sox, clubbing a pair of solo home runs. He finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two driven in along with one strikeout in the loss.

Carter has a seven-game hitting streak active, and has clubbed six home runs in that span. He now has 19 on the season, ranking eighth in the American League, while hitting .203/.280/.470 in 266 at-bats.