Boster Posey Goes 4-for-4 in Giants' Win over Cubs; Brandon McCarthy Tosses 4-Hit Shutout as Yanks Cling to Wild Card Hope

Players of the Day for Thursday, August 21, 2014

American League

McCarthy: 4-Hitter

While Detroit's David Price was holding the Tampa Bay Rays to one hit over eight innings, and losing, The Yankees' Brandon McCarthy was blanking the Astros on four hits and winning, keeping hopes alive in the Bronx.

McCarthy's complete game shutout resulted in a 3-0 win for the Yankees, who avoided the indignity of being swept at home by the second-worst team in the American League (Texas is four games behind Houston in the AL West) losing two straight before McCarthy came to the rescue.

The four-hitter included eight strikeouts and no walks. McCarthy, added to the Yanks' roster in late July, is 5-2 in New York, after going 3-10 in Arizona. It was his first complete game and first shutout of the season. McCarthy has thrown nine complete games and four shutouts in his eight-year major league career.

Posey: 4 Hits

The win left the Yankees tied with Toronto in second place in the AL East, nine games behind the Orioles. They are both four games behind Detroit in the race for the second wild card, though Seattle is just 1/2 game out. Oakland currently has a stranglehold on the #1 wild card. The A's are 5 1/2 ahead of Detroit.

National League

After winning their protest and getting Tuesday's game rescheduled for completion, the Giants ended up losing it, anyway, to the Cubs, 2-1. Following that, however, they managed to win their regularly-scheduled game, 5-3, as Buster Posey went 4-for-4, maintaining their hold on the #2 wild card spot by a game over the Atlanta Braves.

Posey singled, doubled and hit a solo homer - his 14th - but the light-hitting Giants barely took advantage of his success at the plate. The RBI from the home run was his only one of the game, and he scored just twice.

Having taken two of three from the Cubs, the Giants have been victorious in four of their last five and head to the nation's capitol, where they begin a three-game series with the red-hot Nationals on Friday at 7:05 pm EDT

The Nationals have won ten straight - including Thursday's 1-0, walk-off win over Arizona - and lead the NL East by seven games over the Braves.