Rangers Oust Rays; Yankees Survive; Goldschmidt Slam Leads Arizona; Ben Francisco Homer Stops Cards

Players of the Day for Tuesday, October 4, 2011

American League

Rangers 4 Rays 3

Adrian Beltre

Texas became the first team to win a divisional series and await the winner of the Yankees-Tigers series in the next round of the MLB playoffs. Adrian Beltre socked three solo home runs to lead the Rangers to a 4-3 win over the Rays, taking the series, three games to one. The only run Beltre was not responsible for in the victory was Ian Kinsler's first inning solo home run.

The Rangers only had six hits in the game, but four of them were homers, enough to spoil the mood of the crowd at Tropicana Field in Tampa, Florida.

Yankees 10 Tigers 1

Getting an unusually strong pitching performance from A.J. Burnett, the Yankees piled on Rick Porcello and defeated the Tigers in Detroit to send the series back to New York for a conclusive game five on Thursday.

AJ Burnett

Burnett, 11-11 on the season with an ERA over five, worked 5 2/3 innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits and four walks, striking out three, The only run off Burnett was a 4th inning solo homer by Victor Martinez. Burnett left the game as the Tigers batted in the bottom of the 6th inning, comfortably ahead, 4-1. The Yankees broke the game wide open in the 8th when they batted around, scoring six runs in the frame.

Game time Thursday for game five is 8:07 pm EDT. Detroit's Doug Fister will face the Yankees' Ivan Nova.

National League

Phillies 3 Cardinals 2

Ben Francisco

Ben Francisco broke a 0-0 tie with a three-run bomb in the seventh inning to put the Phillies out in front of the Cardinals en route to a game three victory, puttng the Phillies ahead, two games to one, in the divisional playoff series.

Francisco was inserted as a pinch hitter for starter Cole Hamels, who hurled six scoreless innings on five hits, but had thrown 117 pitches. Hamels walked three and struck out eight.

The Cards and Phils get right back to action on Wednesday when game five begins in St. Louis at 6:07 pm EDT.

Diamondbacks 8 Brewers 1

Josh Collmenter

Grand Slam
Goldschmidt

Arizona staved off elimination from the playoffs with an offensive outburst against four Milwaukee pitchers, but it was rookie Paul Goldschmidt's grand slam in the 5th inning off Milwaukee starter Shawn Marcum that really broke the game wide open.

Goldschmidt singled home Miguel Montero in the first inning. He went 2-for-4 with five RBI.

Another Arizona rookie, starting pitcher Josh Collmenter, held the Brewers in check over seven innings, allowing just one earned run on two hits. Collmenter walked a pair and struck out six, earning his first career playoff win.

The Diamondbacks were down two games to one when the series shifted to Arizona for game three. Their victory kept them in the playoffs, forcing game four in Phoenix on Wednesday at 9:37 pm EDT. Randy Wolf goes for Milwaukee against Joe Saunders for the Diamondbacks.