Miggy reclaims All-Star lead at 1B

CLEVELAND -- Once again, the Royals might have a hard time holding down Miguel Cabrera in the end.

• Cast your Esurance All-Star ballot for Miggy and other #ASGWorthy players

With a week and a half to go for voting on the 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, Cabrera has retaken the vote lead in the push for his third consecutive All-Star start. He passed Eric Hosmer for the start at first base with 9,342,149 votes, second most among all American League players.

The lead change is the second in three weeks. Hosmer surged past Cabrera in votes around the start of the month. Cabrera trailed by about 618,000 votes two weeks ago, then 476,000 votes last week. Cabrera now leads Hosmer by more than 1.3 million votes. The surge of votes over the final week, however, leaves his lead less than safe.

The Tigers have put on a voting drive for Cabrera over the last couple weeks, from a bombardment of ballpark advertising and scoreboard messages to batting practice T-shirts to email messages from teammates such as David Price. Team officials even took to the streets of downtown Cincinnati, site of next month's All-Star Game, while the Tigers were in town last week to garner support from Reds fans in a video piece for a pregame show.

Video: Price wants you to vote for Miggy

"He deserves it," Price said on Monday, "and that's what you want to see. You want to see the most deserving guys not only be All-Stars, but starting. Since it is for home-field advantage in the World Series, you want to put your best nine guys out there that gives the American League the best chance."

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus got into the act as well.

"I voted last night, once," Ausmus said. "I was testing out the app to see if it worked. We were looking at the voting, and I said, 'Hey, I can vote for Miggy right here.' Is he one vote ahead of Hosmer now?"

Cabrera's teammate, Yoenis Cespedes, got a secondary boost to work his way back into the AL outfield race. He jumped Alex Rios and Adam Jones to move into fourth with 5,929,670 votes, about 1.9 million behind Alex Gordon for the third and final spot. Jose Iglesias remains second among AL shortstops, but 2.6 million votes behind Alcides Escobar.

Fans can cast their votes for starters at MLB.com and all 30 club sites -- on their computers, tablets and smartphones -- using the 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot until Thursday, July 2, at 11:59 p.m. ET. For the first time, voting is exclusively online, where fans may submit up to 35 ballots.

Fans may also receive the ballot by texting VOTE to 89269 (USA) or 101010 (Canada). Or text VOTA for a ballot in Spanish. Message and data rates may apply. Up to five messages. No purchase required. Reply STOP to cancel. Reply HELP for info.

Following the announcement of the 2015 All-Stars, be sure to return to MLB.com and cast your 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote for the final player for each league's All-Star roster. On Tuesday, July 14, watch the 2015 All-Star Game live on FOX, and during the game visit MLB.com to submit your choice for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet via the 2015 MLB All-Star Game MVP Vote.

MLB.com will provide extensive online coverage of All-Star Week festivities.

The 86th All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS, and worldwide by partners in more than 200 countries via MLB International's independent feed. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB Network and SiriusXM will also provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information, please visit allstargame.com.