Adam Lind Belts Two Homers, Drives in six in Blue Jays' Romp; Adam Wainwright Stops Pirates with Seven Scoreless for Cardinals

Players of the Day for Saturday, September 7, 2013

American League

Lind: 2HR, 6RBI

Toronto can only play out the string this season, but the Blue Jays took their second straight over the equally-awful Twins, as Adam Lind socked a pair of three-run homers, powering an 11-2 victory.

Lind's 18th dinger on the season came in the opening inning, his 19th in the ninth.

Meanwhile, Boston reduced its magic number to 12, though winning the AL East is pretty much a foregone conclusion for the Red Sox after pounding the Yankees, 12-9, their third straight over their historic rivals. Tampa Bay, losers of three straight, already has 64 losses, compared to 57 for the Red Sox.

The Rays are also in danger of losing their grip on the second wild card, as Baltimore and Cleveland are now just one game back. The Yankees remain 2 1/2 behind. Texas has a three-game lead on Tampa Bay and is currently in line for the first wild card. The Rangers trail Oakland by 1 1/2 in the West.

National League

Adam Wainwright

St. Louis regained first place in the NL Central, whipping the Pirates for the second straight day, 5-0. The Cardinals got a super pitching performance from their ace, Adam Wainwright, who surrendered just two hits over seven scoreless innings, improving his record to 16-9.

Wainwright walked two and struck out eight, throwing 68 of an even 100 pitches for strikes.

Both of the Pirate hits were by Andrew McCutchen, who singled in the first and doubled in the fourth inning, but McCutchen's double would be the last base hit for the Pirates off the St. Louis starter. After walking Justin Morneau, Wainwright induced a double play from Marlin Byrd and then struck out Pedro Alvarez to end the threat, the shut down Pittsburgh in order in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, striking out the side in his last inning of work.

The win gave St. Louis a 1/2 game lead in the division. The Pirates will try to avoid the sweep Sunday afternoon at 2:15 pm EDT in Busch Stadium.

Today's Trivia: Not including this season, which National League team has won 100 games or more six times since 1993? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Don Drysdale threw 49 shutouts to 46 for Roger Clemens.