Mitch Moreland Lead Rangers in Romp over Tigers; Travis Snider Stars as Pirates Win Third Straight

Players of the Day for Thursday, May 16, 2013

American League

Mitch Moreland

Streaking to a huge lead in the AL West, the Texas Rangers won their third straight on Thursday, opening their four-game series with the Tigers in dominant fashion by pounding ace starter, Justin Verlander, for six hits and eight earned runs en route to a 10-4 thumping.

Verlander didn't make it out of the third inning, lasting just 2 2/3, taken to the woodshed after Mitch Moreland's bases loaded double and Geovany Soto's three-run homer.

Those runs were more than enough for Texas starter Yu Darvish, who improved to 7-1, despite allowing three runs in the third and another in the fourth inning. Darvish cruised after that, going eight full innings.

Moreland doubled again in the fifth to drive in his third run of the game. A mainstay at first base in his third full season with the Rangers, Moreland is on pace for a breakout season. His two hits Thursday upped his average to .298. He's well on his way to shattering his career marks in homers and RBI, with nine and 21. His best was 16 and 51 in 2011.

Seven games up on Seattle in the division, Texas meets Detroit in game two of their series Friday night at 8:05 pm EDT. The series finale will be ESPN's featured Sunday night MLB broadcast.

National League

Travis Snider

While the red-hot Reds won their sixth straight to move to within 1 1/2 of St. Louis in the Central division, the Pirates kept pace with their third straight win, a 7-1 domination of division-rival Milwaukee.

Pittsburgh is just a game behind the Reds, making a serious bid in the NL's most-contentious division.

Francisco Liriano picked up his second win in as many starts, allowing just one run on six hits over 5 2/3 innings. Liriano has just recently come off the DL, but has come back strong, with back-to-back wins.

Travis Snider, who played 50 games with Pittsburgh after his trade from Toronto in 2012, provided solid offense from the two-hole, going 3-for-5 with a two-run homer in the fifth and a run-scoring single in the sixth.

Snider has been in and out of the Pittsburgh lineup as an outfielder and pinch hitter. His three hits upping his average to .292.

The win closed out a four-game series in Pittsburgh. Milwaukee took the opener, but the Pirates prevailed in the next three.

Today's Trivia: Who is the National League outfielder that holds the record for being on an all star game roster 21 times?

Yesterday's Answer: 20-year-old Matt Kilroy of the American Association's Baltimore Orioles set the standard in 1886 with an incredible 513 strikeouts.