Alex Rios Drives In Five with Grand Slam as White Sox Down Braves; Rockies Pound Cubs, Dexter Fowler Leads Victory

Players of the Day for Saturday, July 20, 2013

American League

With a 4-0 lead over the White Sox in the middle of the third inning and Paul Maholm on the hill, the Atlanta Braves appeared to be on their way to another victory, expanding their lead in the NL East.

Alex Rios

By the bottom of the frame, however, the Braves would find themselves down a run, thanks to a grand slam homer off the bat of Alex Rios, who went 3-for-5, drove in five runs and scored twice as the Sox banged out 13 hits in a 10-6 win.

The White Sox scored five in the third and tacked on four more in the fourth, a single by Rios driving in one of the fourth-inning runs. He and Alexei Ramirez later scored on a single by Jeff Keppinger. The Sox added a final run in the seventh inning.

Jake Peavy (7-4) got the win for Chicago, allowing four runs (two earned) over six innings.

While the Sox are still in last place and seemingly going nowhere in the AL Central, the Braves weren't damaged much as Chicago evened the series at a game apiece. Philadelphia and Washington, both chasing the Braves, also suffered losses on Saturday.

The rubber game of the series will be played at 2:10 pm EDT, Sunday afternoon.

National League

Dexter Fowler

Dexter Fowler's two-run triple broke a 1-1, fourth-inning tie, propelling the Colorado Rockies to a 9-3 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs.

Carlos Gonzalez continued the scoring outburst with his league-leading 26th homer in the fifth. The Rockies scored four runs in the inning, culminated by Fowler's sac fly, driving in Todd Helton. Fowler went 2-for-3 with three RBI, a stolen base and scored a run, helping the Rockies remain in the heat of the NL West race, 3 1/2 games behind Arizona, losers of three straight. The Dodgers beat Washington, 3-1, in 10 innings, to pull to within 1/2 game of the division lead.

Fowler has been very steady in the leadoff spot for the Rockies all season, batting .288 with 53 runs and 14 stolen bases.

Colorado's win evened the series at a game apiece, with game three slated for a 4:10 pm EDT start, Sunday afternoon.

Today's Trivia: In 1996, what AL record did Baltimore's Bobby Bonilla tie? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Probably better at getting out of the way of errant throws, Frank Robinson was hit by 198 pitches, while Don Baylor was plunked 267 times, fourth-most in major league history.