Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Nationals Swamp Mets, 25-4, Daniel Murphy Drives in 6; A's Stay Hot Behind Kris Davis

Players of the Day for Monday, July 31, 2018

American League

Davis: On a home run spree
Oakland keeps grinding along in the AL West, and they are beginning to look like a significant threat to the first place Houston Astros.

The A's won their second straight at home against the Blue Jays with a 6-2 victory on Tuesday.

Khris Davis socked his 29th home run of the season and drove in a pair of runs, going 3-for-5. Quietly heating up the leader boards, Davis is fourth in AL home runs and second in RBI with 84, trailing only Boston's J.D. Martinez (89).

Davis has been hotter than a pistol of late. Over his last 10 games, he's smacked eight home runs and driven in 20 runs. He batted .323 in July.

The win left the A's in third place in the division, five games off the pace. Seattle is second, trailing the Astros by four.

Oakland will be seeking the sweep over Toronto when they take the field Wednesday, 3:35 pm EDT.

National League
Murphy: 3-4, 2 HR, 6 RBI

The Washington Nationals scored in each of the first five innings and added six runs in the eighth for a 25-4 rout of the visiting New York Mets, the worst defeat in Mets' history.

After a seven-run first inning, the Nats scored three runs in each of the next four, leading by a 16-0 score.

It got worse when the Mets put their seventh pitcher on the mound to work the bottom of the eighth. The pitcher of choice was actually outfielder, Jose Reyes, who, honestly, would stick to being a position player. Reyes allowed five hits, two walks, a pair of homers and six runs before eventually getting the Nationals to make three outs.

The gaudy numbers put up by the Nationals included five doubles, two triples and five home runs. Daniel Murphy drove in six runs with a single and two home runs to lead the 25-hit assault.

Murphy, who only started his 2018 campaign on June 12 due to injury, is batting .287 with four homers and 23 RBI. He hit .347 in July.

Washington's win left the Nationals in third place, 5 1/2 behind Philadelphia in the NL East. Atlanta holds second, 1/2-game back of the Phillies.

Washington has taken the first two games of the series, which concludes Wednesday at 12:05 pm EDT.

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