Verlander Mows Down 14 in Tiger Win; Lucas Duda, Joey Votto Star for Mets, Reds

Players of the Day for Saturday, June 25, 2011

American League

Justin Verlander

In the odd twist that is interleague play, the Detroit Tigers knocked the Arizona Diamondbacks out of first place in the NL West with a 6-0 win, courtesy of Justin Verlander's right arm and a 1-0 win by San Francisco over Cleveland.

In conjunction with that same San Fran win, the Tigers got back into a tie for first place in the AL Central with the Indians.

Verlander tied C.C. Sabathia as the first pitchers to win 10 games this season in the AL. They were joined by Jair Jurrjens of Atlanta, who won his 10th for the NL Atlanta Braves.

As usual, Verlander was in complete control from the mound, allowing just four hits and a walk while striking out a season-high 14 batters, improving to 10-3 on the year.

Approaching the all star break, Verlander's stats are worthy of a start in the midseason classic, with an ERA of 2.38, 124 Ks (leads the majors) and an 0.84 WHIP.

National League

Lucas Duda

The New York Mets scored a season-high for runs in their 14-5 victory over the Texas Rangers as rookie Lucas Duda went 4-for-5 with three doubles and drove in four of the Mets' runs.

Joey Votto

Duda was the most unlikely of heroes. He entered the game batting just .173, sharing time at first base and in left field with Daniel Murphy and the struggling Jason Bay.

Equalling Duda's performance for NL POTD was Cincinnati's Joey Votto, who displayed some of the spark that made him the NL MVP last season.

In the Reds' 10-5 romp in Baltimore Votto was 3-for-5, blasting his 10th and 11th home runs of the season - a three run homer in the 3rd inning and a 5th inning, two-run job. Votto also singled and scored another run on Scott Rolen's homer in the 7th.

The Reds remained tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates for third place in the NL Central, three games behind Milwaukee. The second place Cardinals are two games back of the Brewers.

INTERLEAGUE TALLY: After the two leagues ended up tied at 70 on Friday, the American League narrowly took back the lead in interleague play, winning 8 and losing 6, to put them ahead 78-76.