Murphy Blasts A's Past Twins; Lee Scoreless Streak at 21; Leadoff Lopez Drives in 6

Players of the Day for Thursday, April 24 2008 American League After being released by Toronto, Frank Thomas has found a new home in Oakland, but it was lightly-used rookie third baseman Donnie Murphy who carried the big stick in Oakland's 11-2 romp over the Minnesota Twins. Murphy, who has spent parts of the last two seasons with the A's but still qualifies as a rookie since he's never had more than 130 at-bats in a season, stroked a single and a pair of solo homers in 5 at-bats, scored three times and drove in four runs. Notes: The Detroit Tigers are picking up steam quickly. After starting horribly (0-7), they've gone 10-6 and won their last four straight. On Thursday, Magglio Ordonez whacked a pair of homers and drove in four runs as the Tigers completed a three-game sweep over Texas with an 8-2 win. The Tigers still trail the White Sox by 3 games in the Central Division. Texas dropped their 7th straight, as did KC, 2-0 losers to Cleveland as Cliff Lee (left) improved to 4-0 with a 3-hit, complete game shutout. Lee struck out 9 and extended his scoreless innings streak to 21 innings. National League Leadoff hitters aren't supposed to be big run-producers, but on Thursday Felipe Lopez singled in two runs in the 5th and knocked a grand slam in the 6th inning, blowing open a 3-3 tie and leading the Nationals to a 10-5 win over the stumbling Mets.

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For Lopez, it was his first home run of the season and the six RBI gave him 8 on the year. Notes: Arizona continues to dominate the NL West, last night topping the Dodgers, 6-4, to improve their record against teams in their own division to 15-4. The D-Backs still hold a 6-game lead in the West. Other clubs doing well against teams in their own division are the Cubs (11-4), the Mets (10-6) and the Marlins (9-5).