Chris Johnson Homers Twice in Arizona's 10-4 Win over Pittsburgh; Miguel Cabrera Helps Tigers Past Yankees, 6-5

Players of the Day for Tuesday, August 7, 2012

American League

Miguel Cabrera

Miguel Cabrera is having another fabulous season for the Detroit Tigers. His 95 RBI lead the American League. He is second in batting, at .326, and the home run he socked in the Tigers' 6-5 win over the Yankees was his 25th, tying him for second on that list.

Who knew, with less than two months left in the season, he'd be making a run at a triple crown?

Cabrera doubled and homered in four at-bats Tuesday, driving in three runs, scoring once.

With the White Sox losing to Kansas City, 5-2, the Tigers are just 1/2 game off the pace in the AL Central, as they seek to sweep their four-game series in Detroit with the Yankees.

They've won the first two games, with the third and fourth on schedule for Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.


National League

Now that Arizona has made up considerable ground in the NL West, they seem reluctant to go away, remaining four games off the pace set by the Giants after their 10-4 shelling of Pittsburgh.

Johnson: 2HR 5RBI

The Diamondbacks dropped the first game of their four-game set in Pittsburgh, 4-0, but evened the series when Chris Johnson erased a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning with a three-run homer, then piled on with plenty of insurance with a two-run bomb in the top of the ninth.

Since being traded from Houston, Johnson has stroked five homers and 15 RBI for Arizona in eight games.

The win snapped a three game losing streak for Arizona, keeping them within range of the lead in their division. They remain moored in third place, but they are in a much better position than just after the all star break. From July 20 through August 3rd, the Diamondbacks were one of the hottest teams in baseball, going 11-3 during that span and making up ground on both the Dodgers and Giants.

The Pirates are 3 1/2 back of Cincinnati in the Central, so both teams are looking to win the last two games of the series, Wednesday and Thursday.