Adam Wainwright, Clayton Kershaw Lead Cardinals, Dodgers to Game One Wins in NLDS

Players of the Day for Thursday, October 3, 2013

American League

There were no American league games on Thursday.

AL Divisional Series begin on Friday, as the Tampa Bay Rays play at Boston, 3:07 pm EDT, and the Oakland A's host the Detroit Tigers at 9:37 pm EDT

National League

Adam Wainwright

Adam Wainwright remained unbeaten in the post-season, limiting the Pirates to three hits and one run over seven innings while his teammates piled on multiple runs for a 9-1 victory in game one of the NLDS.

Wainwright cruised through the Pittsburgh lineup, the only hiccup a fifth-inning, leadoff homer by Pedro Alvarez after the Cardinals had plated seven runs in the third inning. A 19-game winner - tied with Washington's Jordan Zimmermann for the most in the NL - Wainwright fanned nine and walked one, throwing 71 of 105 pitches for strikes. It was Wainwright's walk, leading off the third inning, that got the Cardinals started, scoring the first St. Louis run when Carlos Beltran belted a three-run homer.

Wainwright is 3-0 with a 2.27 ERA in post-season play.

Pittsburgh starter, A.J. Burnett, didn't record an out in the third inning, officially giving up seven earned runs on six hits and four walks.

Game two of the best-of-five series continues Friday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Game time is 1:07 pm EDT.

Clayton Kershaw

In the other divisional series, Clayton Kershaw allowed three hits and one run to the Atlanta Braves over seven innings, as the visiting LA Dodgers took game one of the NLDS by a 5-1 score.

Kershaw, who led the majors with a 1.83 ERA and 232 strikeouts, fanned 12 while walking three on a night in which he clearly did not have his best stuff, needing 124 pitches to get through the seven frames.

Adrian Gonzalez touched off a two-run homer in the second inning to provide an early cushion for Los Angeles. The Dodgers takced on two more in the third and single runs in the fourth and sixth innings.

Game two of the series is slated for a 6:07 pm EDT start in Atlanta.

Today's Trivia: The World Champion New York Yankees of 1977 fielded three players that had previously won rookie of the year honors. Who were they?

Yesterday's Answer: Five LA Dodger rookies captured consecutive rookie of the year awards from 1992-1996. They were Eric Karros (1992), Mike Piazza (1993), Raul Mondesi (1993), Hideo Nomo (1994), and Todd Hollandsworth (1995)