Max Scherzer, Victor Martinez Lead Tigers Back to 1st in Central; Matt Carpenter Keeps Cards Close in NL Central

Players of the Day for Wednesday, July 3, 2013

American League

Scherzer: 13-0

Seven games over .500 (45-38), the Detroit Tigers continue battling in the AL Central, re-taking the top spot over Cleveland by 1/2 game after beating the Blue Jays, 6-2, while Cleveland was losing at Kansas City, 6-5.

Victor Martinez

Without Max Scherzer, who earned his 13th straight win without a loss, the Tigers might well be in third place or worst, because Scherzer's wins alone account for all their games over .500 and then some.

Not especially sharp, Scherzer did manage to hold the home-standing Blue Jays scoreless for five innings while his teammates built a 6-0 lead, but was touched up for a pair of runs in the sixth inning and turned the ball over to the bullpen after 6 1/3 frames, striking out eight and walking just one.

Scherzer has a 3.09 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP and his 139 Ks are second-most in the AL, behind Texas' Yu Darvish, who has 151.

Victor Martinez was 2-for-4 with his seventh home run coming in the fifth inning, supplying Detroit final run with the solo shot. Martinez scored on Alex Avila's three-run jack in the second inning and singled in Torii Hunter in the third.

The Tigers have taken two of three from Toronto and will close out the four-game series Thursday night at 7:07 pm EDT.

National League

Matt Carpenter

Batting from the leadoff position, Matt Carpenter had himself a fine game as St. Louis hammered the Angels, 12-2, keeping pace two games behind the Pirates, who took a 6-5 decision over Philly, Wednesday.

The Cards scored seven times in the second inning off LA starter, Jerome Williams who didn't make it to the third, surrendering seven runs on four hits and four walks in 2 1/3 innings.

Carpenter singled in a run and scored on Jon Jay's homer in the second, stroked a ground-rule double in the fifth for another RBI, scoring on Jay's single, and socked his eighth homer of the season - a solo job - in the seventh, going 3-for-6 with three runs, a stolen base and three RBI.

Carpenter's hitting streak reach 12 games and his .324 average is fifth in the NL.

St. Louis and LA have split the first two games of their series on the West coast, which concludes Thursday night at 9:05 pm EDT.

Today's Trivia: Who holds the record for most hits in a single season (262)?

Yesterday's Answer: Nolan Ryan threw seven no-hitters, six in the AL and one in the NL.