MLB Player News

Indians outfielder Michael Brantley picked up three RBI Wednesday afternoon in Minnesota during an extra-inning win. Brantley went 2 for 5 in the game with a sacrifice fly RBI. 

The speedy outfielder scored a run and is batting .281. He's recorded at least one hit in nine of his last 10 games. He has six RBI over that stretch with one stolen base. 

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera belted a three-run homer during Wednesday's 6-4 win at Chicago. Cabrera now has 38 homers on the year. 

The slugger finished the game 1 for 5 with the three RBI. He has 114 RBI on the season to go with his .360 average and is leading the majors in both. 

Cabrera, who trails Chris Davis for the major league lead in home runs, has homered six times in his last eight games. 

If I wasn't already president of the Brad Miller Fan Club, the rookie's two-homer game Tuesday at Tampa Bay clinched it.

It was his second two-homer game since coming up from the minors June 28. Granted, he has only the four home runs total, but he's done plenty more as the Mariners' starting shortstop. Most notably, he's collected multiple hits in 15 of his 39 games, including five of his last nine for a .333 batting average during that stretch. Granted, he's had a few 0-fers mixed in, making his overall batting average an uninspiring .261, but in Head-to-Head leagues, his steady play makes it seem like it should be higher.

And it probably will be given his knack for hitting the ball where it's pitched. He hit .334 over his minor-league career. Favorable park or not, that's impressive. He also takes walks, splits gaps, steals bases ... he's a jack-of-all-trades type of player. And at shortstop, that can add up to some serious production.

He's now ahead of Starlin Castro and Asdrubal Cabrera at the position in my rest-of-season rankings, and I'd be comfortable starting him there even in shallower leagues.

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper is back in the team's starting lineup Wednesday against the Giants. 

Harper was not in Tuesday's starting lineup because he had the flu. He was able to pinch hit during the game. Harper is hitting .262/.361/.507 at-bats. 

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton called his struggles "mind-blowing," according to the Miami Herald. 

Stanton is missing his second game on the team's road trip. He expressed his frustration with all his numbers. "There's no one thing. (It's) everything, even defense. It's just one of those mind-blowing things," Stanton said. 

In 278 at-bats, Stanton is hitting .237/.351/.439. 

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton is not in the club's starting lineup Wednesday against the Royals. 

Stanton will be replaced in right by Justin Ruggiano. In 278 at-bats, Stanton is hitting .237/.351/.439.

Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes hit his 19th home run in Tuesday's loss to Houston.

Cespedes finished 3 for 4 with the two-run blast. It was Cespedes's fourth home run in his last 13 games, and he owns a sharp .545 slugging percentage over that span. However, he still has 14 strikeouts in those 13 games and an on-base percentage of just .293.

Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen had another strong performance Tuesday, in a 4-3 loss to the Cardinals in 14 innings.

McCutchen went 2 for 5  with a home run, his 17th of the season. He drove in two runs and scored one, while walking once and striking out twice. He has seven multi-hit games in the month of August, and is batting .471 with two home runs and nine RBI in 11 games. 

Mariners infielder Brad Miller was a part of history Tuesday against the Rays, but he needed a little help from his counterpart in a Rays' uniform.

Miller opened the game with a home run and then added another in the fifth, joining forced with Ben Zobrist to become the first pair of leadoff hitters to home twice in the same game since 1994, and just the second since 1916.

"I was just trying to get things going and I hit a ball I was hoping had enough to get out of there, and it did," Miller told MLB.com after the game. "I was just flying around the bases. I don't know, just kind of blacking out a little. But it felt really good."  

Miller finished the game 2 for 5 with two runs and two RBI in a 5-4 win. He has four home runs and 20 RBI in 39 games, while hitting .261/.329/.439. 

Cubs general manager Theo Epstein told the Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday that outfield prospect Jorge Soler is still healing from a stress fracture/tibia, but will not be able to return to Class A Daytona in time. Soler still has a chance to appear in the Arizona Fall League before the season is over.