Mike Trout, Albert Pujols Power Angels Past A's; Nats' Stephen Strasberg Shuts Out Marlins

Players of the Day for Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Trout: 4-for-4, HR, 4 R

American League

With the Yankees getting swept three straight by Cleveland, dropping both ends of a Yankee Stadium doubleheader Wednesday, the AL wild card race has suddenly become a life-and-death affair for eight teams, all within five games of each other.

New York's lead as the top wild card has slipped to a single game over the Twins, but even they are not safe, despite winning three straight. The Angels are one game back and the Orioles won their seventh straight to end the day 1 1/2 behind the Twins and 2 1/2 behind the Yankees. The other teams in contention are Texas, Tampa Bay, Seattle, and Kansas City.

In LA, capped by Cliff Pennington's grand slam, the Angels rallied for five runs in the seventh inning, overtaking the A's for a 10-8 victory and a three-game sweep.

Pujols: 2 HR, 4 RBI

Albert Pujols socked a pair of home runs, scored three runs and drove in four. Mike Trout went 4-for-4, scored four runs, and drove in one with a first inning solo homer, his 27th. Pujols banged out numbers 20 and 21, tying Jim Thome for seventh place on the career HR list, at 612. At 37, Pujols has played 17 seasons. The six players ahead of him on the career list all played 22 seasons, except for Hank Aaron (755), who played 23. The LA slugger has an outside chance of catching Barry Bonds (762) for the all-time lead, but almost certainly will make the 700 club if he remains in good health.

With the sweep behind them, the Angels get a day off Thursday and begin a nine-game road trip Friday, starting with three games in Texas with the Rangers.

National League

The Miami Marlins were red hot entering their three-game series with at NL East leader, Washington. After being swept, including Wednesday's 4-0 shutout courtesy of Stephen Strasberg, they couldn't get out of town soon enough.

Strasberg Shuts Out Miami

Strasberg, who hurled the complete game shutout (first of the season), was largely untouchable, except for T.J. Realmuto, who had three of the six hits off the National's hurler, a single, double and triple. Strasberg threw 78 of 110 pitches for strikes, fanning eight and walking one.

The shutout left the Marlins tied with the Cardinals, 5 1/2 games back of Colorado for the second wild card spot, but Milwaukee is ahead of them, three games down to the Rockies. Arizona holds a three-game lead in the top position.

Sweeping the series also virtually ended any hope in the NL East, expanding the Nationals' lead to 15 games over Miami, with 30 remaining.

The Marlins head back to Miami for a three-game series starting Friday with the Phillies. Washington opens a four-game series with another contending team, the Brewers, in Milwaukee, Thursday night.