MLB Player News

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton tried to kickstart the team's flagging offense by himself Saturday, in a 5-4 loss to the Phillies.

Stanton drove in three of the team's runs, on a pair of longballs. He hit a long solo home run in the fifth inning followed up by a two-run homer in the seventh, eventually finishing the game 3 for 5 with two runs scored.

Stanton leads the National league in RBI with 13 through 12 games,  thanks to four home runs. He is hitting .314/.364/.608 through 51 at-bats. 

Pirates star center fielder Andrew McCutchen has recovered enough from a left ankle injury to land a spot in the Saturday lineup against Milwaukee. He left the Friday night game with discomfort in the ankle.

McCutchen is hitless in his last 11 at-bats, dropping his average on the season to .194. He has no home runs and just three RBI.

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is out of the lineup for Saturday's game against the Rockies.

Belt is tied for the league lead with five home runs, and he's played every inning of the season at first base for the Giants. He's just 2 for 13 over his last three games. Belt has hit .292/.306/.625 in 48 at-bats.

Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter went 1 for 3 with one RBI and two walks in his team's 6-3 loss to the Cubs Friday.

Carpenter has been an on-base machine over the first part of the season, drawing nine walks and being hit by a pitch once while leading off in each of his team's first 10 games. He has hit .286/.435/.371 with one home run and four RBI in 35 at-bats.

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.

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.