David Price Blanks Angels; Carlos Gonzalez Bangs a Pair in Colorado Loss

Players of the Day for Tuesday, April 24, 2012

American League

Excepting the West, where the Rangers have a 5 1/2 game lead, the American League division races are up for grabs.

David Price

In the East, the Yankees, Rays, Orioles and Blue Jays are all tied for first place with 10-7 records, while in the Central, there are no games separating Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago, though technically, the Indians have the percentage edge at 9-6 over the 10-7 Tigers and White Sox.

Three teams were held scoreless on Wednesday night. The White Sox were blanked, 2-0, by the A's, and the Yankees were kept from crossing the plate by Texas' Yu Darvish, who fanned 10 in 8 1/3 innings for the 2-0 win, but Tampa Bay's David Price outdid all hurlers, blanking the Angels on five hits for a 5-0 victory.

Price improved to 3-1 with his complete game shutout, the second of his career. He walked one while striking out six, throwing 80 of 119 pitches for strikes. Four Rays - Desmond Jennings, Luke Scott, Carlos Pena and BJ Upton - hit solo homers. Upton added a sac fly RBI in the sixth to complete the Rays' scoring.


National League

Carlos Gonzalez

Carlos Gonzalez is stinging the ball for Colorado, but even his first two homers of the season were not enough to beat the Pirates, as Casey McGahee drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth, giving Pittsburgh a 5-4 win over the visiting Rockies.

Gonzalez hit a pair of two-run homers, providing all the offense the Rockies could muster, belting his first of the season in the opening frame, then putting the Rockies up 4-3 in the eighth with a bomb to center field.

The Pirates, however, scored twice in the bottom of the inning to retake the advantage and Joel Hanrahan worked a perfect top of the ninth for his third save.

Pittsburgh improved to 7-9, while dropping the Rockies back to an 8-8 record. Both teams are struggling to keep pace in their respective divisions. Colorado is tied for third in the West, four games behind the Dodgers, while Pittsburgh is three games back of St. Louis, in 4th place in the Central.