Yankees Trip Up Angels, 14-7 on Alfonso Soriano's Two Homers, Six RBI; Paul Goldschmidt's Two Homers Lead D'Backs over Orioles in 11

Players of the Day for Tuesday, August 13, 2013

American League

On a day which saw six games go into extra innings, the New York Yankees needed only 8 1/2 to tear up the LA Angels, 14-7, taking the second straight in the four-game series in the Big Apple.

Alfonso Soriano

Alfonso Soriano, picked up from the Cubs by the Yankees, just prior to the trading deadline, provided the bulk of the offense, smashing a pair of home runs and a single in six at-bats. Soriano's first homer came in the fifth inning, his two-run blast turning a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 Yankee advantage, one they would not relinquish, as they put up four runs in the sixth, four more in the seventh and two in the eighth.

Soriano singled in another run in the sixth and scored on Alex Rodriguez's double, then launched a three-run shot in the seventh to give the Yanks a commanding, 12-3 lead.

Adding some punch and variety to the injury-riddled Yankee lineup, Soriano has 10 RBI in eight games in pinstripes this season. He was originally brought up to the majors by the Yankees in 1999 and played full time for the Bombers from 2001 to 2003.

Trailing the Red Sox by 9 1/2 in the AL East, New York is also 5 1/2 behind Tampa Bay for the final wild card spot. The series with the Angels continues Wednesday night at 7:05 pm EDT in the Bronx.

National League

Paul Goldschmidt

It was home run derby in Arizona's 4-3, 11th-inning win over visiting Baltimore Tuesday, all of the runs save one coming off long balls.

Baltimore's Chris Davis belted his major league-leading 44th of the year in the fourth inning, to put Baltimore up 2-0. An inning later, J.J. Hardy made it 3-0 with his 22nd of the season.

Arizona didn't respond until the seventh, when Martin Prado got a run in on a ground-out and Gerardo Parra homered to cut the Orioles' lead to one.

After that, Paul Goldschmidt took over, making his case for NL MVP by hitting a solo homer leading off the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, then winning it in walk-off fashion with another solo belt leading off the 11th inning.

Goldschmidt earlier had a single to go 3-for-5 on the night, raising his average to .297. His two homers moved him past Pittsburgh's Pedro Alvarez to the NL lead, with 29 on the season. Goldschmidt also leads the league in RBI, with 93.

The Diamondbacks need every win they can muster as they try to run down the Dodgers in the West. LA leads them by 7 1/2 games. Arizona is also 5 1/2 behind Cincinnati for the second wild card slot. The Orioles have lost two straight and find themselves in thrid place in the AL East, six games behind Boston and two games behind Tampa Bay for the last wild card. The AL Wild Card race has six teams all within 5 1/2 games of each other, vying for two spots.

Arizona has taken two straight from the O's and will be seeking the series sweep at 3:40 pm EDT on Wednesday.

Today's Trivia: Who led the AL in saves each season from 1982 to 1985? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: The major league record of 1252 games by a pitcher is held by Jesse Orosco, who played 24 seasons on eight different teams. Eight of them were with the Mets and five with the Orioles.