Kotchman Delivers for Angels; Soto Blasts Pair, Drives in Six

Players of the Day from Wednesday, April 30, 2008 American League The LA Angels regained sole possession of first place in the AL West on Wednesday, as Casey Kotchman and Ervin Santana led the Angels to a 6-1 win over the Oakland A's. While Santana was working over the A's on 4 hits and no earned runs in 6 2/3 innings, improving his record to 5-0, Kotchman was taking care of business at the plate with a 3-for-4 effort, including a two-run double in the second inning, another double and a single. In just his second season as a starter with the Angels, Kotchman is providing plenty of offense. He's batting .344 with 6 homers and 19 RBI.

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Notes: The Tampa Bay Rays recorded their best start of any season since their inception in 1998 with a 15-12 record and their best April mark (14-12). The Rays have won 7 of their last 8, including Wednesday's 8-1 win over Baltimore. The Rays trail Boston by one game in the AL East. The Red Sox won their second straight game in their last at-bat, topping Toronto 2-1. On Tuesday, Kevin Youkilis drove home the game-winner in a 1-0 win. Wednesday, it was Jason Varitek with the run-scoring single in the ninth. Both hits came with 2 outs. The Yankees place Phil Hughes (0-6) and Alex Rodriguez (.286, 4 HR, 11 RBI) on the 15-day disabled list, effective April 30. National League After dropping a 10-6 decision against the Brewers on Tuesday, Geovany Soto led the Chicago Cubs to a 19-6 thrashing of Milwaukee on Wednesday. Soto, a rookie catcher for the Cubs, had two hits in four at-bats, both of them 3-run homers, accounting for 6 of the Chicago runs. The homers were his 4th and 5th of the season for Soto and boosted his RBI total to 20 and his average to .333. Notes: Blowouts were the order of the day in the NL. Pittsburgh beat the Mets and the Dodgers topped Florida by identical 13-1 scores. Both the Pirates and Dodgers were on the road.... This is a pitcher? Arizona's Micah Owings delivered a two-run, pinch hit home run (his first) in Arizona's 8-7 win over the Astros. Owings is batting .421, with 8 hits in 19 at-bats. He's also 4-0, with a 3.48 ERA as a starting pitcher.