Sunday, September 21, 2014

Chris Coghlan, Cubs Drop Dodgers, 8-7; Baltimore Beats Boston, 7-2, as Adam Jones Belts a Pair of Homers

Players of the Day for Saturday, September 20, 2014

American League

Adam Jones
Increasingly, it appears that the Baltimore Orioles will finish with the second-best record in the American League and wind up hosting a first-round playoff series with the winner of the Central division, presumably the Detroit Tigers.

This is all falling into place as the Angels continue to hold a 2 1/2 game edge on the O's for the league's best record. Even after dropping a few games to the Mariners and the first game of their weekend series with the Rangers, the Angels rebounded with an 8-5 win over Texas on Saturday, while the Orioles punished the Red Sox, 7-2.

Adam Jones socked a pair of two run homers - one in the third and another in the fifth inning - for the win, with just eight games left on the regular season schedule.

Elsewhere, the Tigers extended their lead in the Central division with a 3-2 win over Kansas City, their second straight in the three-game series, giving Detroit a 2 1/2 game edge. All three of the main contenders for the two wild card spots lost, as the A's and Mariners also were losers on Saturday, giving Cleveland a boost with a 7-3 win over the Twins. The Indians trail Kansas City by 3 1/2 games.

Chris Coghlan
National League

In the first two games of the four-game series between the Dodgers and Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the two teams combined to score 29 runs in a pair of Dodger wins. On Saturday, they added 15 more, as the Cubs took the win, 8-7, as Chris Coghlan went 4-for-4 with a pair of homers, a single, double, three RBI and three runs, topping the two-homer, five RBI output of LA's Adrian Gonzalez.

The Dodger loss had little affect on the NL West race, as the Giants were downed by San Diego, 3-2, keeping LA's lead in the division at 3 1/2 games.

The Cubs and Dodgers wrap up the series Sunday afternoon at Wrigley. Game time is 2:20 pm EDT.

In the Central, the Pirates were cooled off by the Brewers, 1-0, while the Cardinals took an 8-4 decision from the Reds and lead the division by 3 1/2 games with eight left to play.

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