Avila Has 5 RBI to Pace Tigers over Baltimore; Posey Leads Giants Past Padres

Players of the Day for Wednesday, April 6, 2011

American League

Alex Avila

Suffering their first defeat of the season in a 7-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers, the Orioles find themselves tied for first place in the AL East with Toronto, thanks mostly to the #8 hitter in the Tiger lineup, catcher Alex Avila.

A native of Hialeah, Florida, Avila put on his own version of bird-killing, smacking a two-run double in the second inning, a two-run homer in the 4th, and capping off the night with a run-scoring single in the 8th.

With the exception of Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez's back-to-back jacks in the 5th inning, Avila accounted for all of Detroit's runs on a breakout night with 3 hits in four at-bats and five RBI.

With the AL East upside down, further notice that baseball is only one week into the current season was provided by the Central division, where Kansas City leads Cleveland and Chicago by 1/2 game. Meanwhile, Texas is off to a 6-0 start in the West.

National League

Buster Posey

Buster Posey is proving that his NL Rookie of the Year award was no fluke even though the San Francisco Giants haven't exactly looked like defending world champions.

San Francisco got its second win of the season against four losses, leaving the Giants in last place in the NL West as they topped the Padres by an 8-4 score.

Posey knocked his first homer of the season off San Diego starter, Tim Stauffer, in the opening inning, driving in Aubrey Huff from second. Huff had doubled after Freddy Sanchez's one-out triple got Stauffer into immediate trouble.

Working with a lead, the Giants put the game away with a 4-run sixth inning. Posey singled in a pair of runs, giving him 4 RBI on the night. He added anothre single to go 3-for-5, raising his batting average to .320.