Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford Lead Giants to 1st Place; Mike Moustakas Powers Royals over ChiSox

Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 22, 2014

American League

Moustakas: 2HR

Kansas City evened its series at Chicago at a game apiece, banging out 14 hits to top the White Sox, 7-1.

The two teams are struggling to remain relevant in the AL Central. For now, the Royals have the upper hand, trailing division-leading Detroit by seven games. The White Sox fell to nine games off the pace.

Third baseman Mike Moustakas did his best to hide the fact that he's batting under .200 (.198), going 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs - his 11th and 12th of the season - driving in three runs. Moustakas started the Royals' scoring with a solo shot in the second and finished it off with a two-run dinger in the eighth.

The Royals and White Sox square off Wednesday afternoon in the rubber game of the series at 2:10 pm EDT at Cellular Field in Chicago.

National League

Posey: hot bat

Crawford: 4RBI

Buster Posey is getting into a groove, and the San Francisco Giants are enjoying the top spot in the NL West because of it.

With the Dodgers were losing at Pittsburgh, 12-7, the Giants took a one-game lead in the division, taking their second straight in Philadelphia with a 9-6 victory over the Phillies in 14 innings.

Posey tied the game at 5-all with a solo homer in the ninth inning, and scored the go-ahead run after doubling with one out and coming home to score on Brandon Crawford's bases-loaded double later in the frame.

Posey was 4-for-7 with a pair of doubles, a single and the solo homer - his 12th - scoring twice and driving in a run. Posey's gone 11-for-28 with 11 RBI his last six games. He's at .286 for the season.

Crawford went 2-for-6 with four RBI, giving him 44 on the year.

The Giants will be looking for their third straight when they take on the Phillies Wednesday night at 7:00 pm EDT in the third leg of their four-game series.