David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury Power Red Sox past Houston, 15-10; Reds' Mat Latos Blanks A's to Keep Cincy in NL Central Race

Players of the Day for Tuesday, August 6, 2013

American League

Jacoby Ellsbury

Boston extended its lead in the AL East to 1 1/2 over Tampa Bay, as the Rays lost at Arizona, 6-1 while the Red Sox came back from multiple deficits to overwhelm Houston, 15-10.

David Ortiz

Leadoff batter, Jacoby Ellsbury, socked a pair of home runs, drove in three and scored four times, while teammate David Ortiz went 4-for-4 with two RBI and two runs to lead a 15-hit Boston attack.

The Red Sox trailed 5-0 after two innings, scored three in the top of the third, but Houston tacked on two more, scoring single runs in the third and fourth, before the Boston bats erupted for five in the fifth, five more in the sixth, and two runs in the seventh.

By winning, the Red Sox evened their series at Houston at a game apiece with the rubber game set for 8:10 pm EDT Wednesday at Minute Maid Park.

National League

Mat Latos

The Reds are still hanging in the race in the Central division, 6 1/2 games out after Mat Latos shut out the visiting Athletics over 7 1/3 innings, en route to a 3-1 Cincinnati victory.

Latos fanned three, and walked the same number, but allowed only four hits for his 11th win against just three losses.

After throwing 108 pitches, Latos gave up the rock to the the relievers with one down in the seventh inning and Jed Lowrie on second after a one-out double. J.J. Hoover got the final two outs of the inning, preserving Latos' 3-0 lead.

Oakland finally pushed a run across in the ninth on Derek Norris' solo homer off Aroldis Chapman, but that was all the closer allowed.

The second and final game of the brief, two-game series is Wednesday afternoon at Great American Ball Park.

Today's Trivia: The only time the NL MVP Award was a tie was 1979. What two players shared the award? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Alex Rodriguez won the AL MVP award three times: 2003, 2005 and 2007.