Paul Goldschmidt's Two Homers Send Dodgers to 7th Straight Loss; Minnesota Rides Ryan Doumit's Bat to 15-8 Win at Boston

Players of the Day for Wednesday, May 8, 2013

American League

Ryan Doumit

While the Baltimore Orioles were winning their fourth straight - a 5-3 victory over visiting KC - Boston was being pummeled by the Twins, taking a 15-8 beating at Fenway, the end result a tie between the Orioles and Red Sox for first place in the AL East.

After the Twins scored four first inning runs - two of them on Ryan Doumit's home run - the Red Sox came back to take the lead in the bottom half of the frame, putting up a five-spot, but that proved to be short-lived as Minnesota piled on seven more runs in the second inning and were never headed.

Minnesota banged out 20 hits, DH Doumit and right fielder Oswaldo Arcia each going 4-for-5, with four other starters having multiple hits. Doumit singled three times after his first-inning blast, scoring three times to go with his two RBI.

Boston has dropped two of their last three to the Twins and will try to salvage a split of the four-game series Thursday night at 7:10 pm EDT while the Orioles try to sweep their series with the Royals.

National League

Paul Goldschmidt

At the start of the season, the Dodgers were the pundits' pick to contend in the NL West, but after being swept three straight by the Arizona Diamondbacks and extending their losing streak to a season-high seven games, LA has found the cellar of the division, 6 1/2 games behind leading San Francisco.

The Diamondbacks, however, have put together a 19-15 start to their season, Wednesday's 3-2 win in LA getting them to within one game of first place, with the Rockies sandwiched - 1/2 game back - between them and the Giants.

Much of Arizona's success this season has been due to the play of first baseman, Paul Goldschmidt, who accounted for all three of the D'Backs' runs with a pair of home runs - his eighth and ninth of the year.

The Dodgers had taken a 2-0 lead with a pair of fourth-inning runs, but Goldschmidt evened the score, taking Dodger starter, Clayton Kershaw, deep with a man aboard, then won the game in the eighth with a solo shot off reliever Kenley Jansen.

Having an all-star season with a .320 batting average, nine homers and 30 RBI, Goldschmidt has put the Diamondbacks in a position to challenge for a post-season spot. He is 11th in the NL in batting, tied for fourth in home runs and leads the league in RBI.