Mike Trout, Albert Pujols Lead 13-0 Rout of Tigers; Buster Posey Drives in 5 as Giants Pad NL West Lead

Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 17, 2012

American League

Trout's .355 leads AL

Winning the second game of their four game series at Detroit, the LA Angels banged out 18 hits, including four home runs, for a lopsided, 13-0 win, evening the series at a game apiece.

Albert Pujols

Rookie Mike Trout continues to blaze away, going 4-for-6, including his 13th home run of the year, a second inning, two-run blast. Trout's .355 batting average easily leads the league (Joe Mauer is second at .333), and his three runs scored upped his total to 64, puttin him in fourth place behind a trio of players with 65.

Albert Pujols chipped in with his 16th home run, a solo shot, scored three times and had two RBI, going 3-for-4 in the game.

The Angels continue to chase the Rangers, though it seems every time LA wins, so does Texas, whose lead in the AL West is still 5 1/2 games following their 6-1 win at Oakland.

National League

Outside of Tim Lincecum's problems (he's 3-10 with a 5.93 ERA), everything is going just swimmingly in San Francisco.

Posey: 3-5 5 RBI

The Giants opened a three-game set in Atlanta on Tuesday and quickly cooled off the ret-hot Braves, who had won eight straight, with a 9-0 victory.

While Barry Zito was moving down the Braves, allowing just three hits over seven innings, Buster Posey was busy clearing the bases, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a single, driving in five runs.

Posey doubled home the game's first run in the opening inning, drove in another with a single in the third, then busted loose with a bases-loaded double in the fourth inning, driving in three more, as the Giants broke the game open with six runs.

Posey is having a solid season, batting .302 with 52 RBI.

The win was the Giants' fourth straight. At the same time, the Dodgers have lost four in a row and now trail San Francisco by three games in the NL West.

The Braves and Giants will have at each other in the second game of the series, Wednesday night at 7:10 pm EDT.