Asdrubal Cabrera Leads Indians with three Doubles; Ubaldo Jimenez Gats First Win

Players of the Day for Wednesday, June 1, 2011

American League

Asdrubal Cabrera

The Cleveland Indians just keep rolling along. At 33-20 (.623) they have the best record in the majors and lead the AL Central division by five games over the Tigers.

Part of the reason for their overall success is the career year Asdrubal Cabrera has been putting together. In Wednesday's 13-9 slug-fest win over the Blue Jays, the Indians banged out 19 hits off seven Toronto hurlers, four of those hits coming off Cabrera's bat.

Cabrera singled and doubled three times in six at-bats, raising his batting average to .302. He drove in three runs and scored twice.

While a .306 batting average may not sound like much, there are just 15 players in the American League hitting .300 or better. Cabrera ranks 13th on that list. His 39 RBI are the 7th-most in that department and are more than half of his best single-season total - 68 in 2009.

National League

Ubaldo Jimenez

At last, Ubaldo Jimenez has a number in the left column.

Starting out the season 0-5, Jimenez finally notched a win for 2011, blanking the Dodgers on four hits and going the distance in a 2-0 Colorado win.

All business on the mound, Jimenez needed just 106 pitches (74 for strikes) to get through the nine innings without walking a batter while striking out seven.

The win for the Rockies' ace could not have come at a more opportune time. The Rockies, who at one time held a comfortable lead in the NL West, ended the month of May on a 2-9 skid, so starting off June with a win certainly is a step in another direction.

Jimenez may be turning things around as well. On July 8 of 2010, he was 15-1, but finished the season at 19-8, going 4-7 into the fall.