Brewers Complete Sweep of Dodgers as Jonathan Lucroy Drive in Five; Alex Gordon, Royals Rule AL Central

Players of the Day for Sunday, August 17, 2014

American League

Alex Gordon

Here's a shocker: The Kansas City Royals are leading the AL Central by 1 1/2 games.

That kind of phrase hasn't been seen in print since the days of George Brett, Willie Wilson, bushy sideburns and pine tar, but, today, that is reality, whether the second-place Tigers want to believe it or not.

On Sunday, the Royals won for the 15th time in their last 18 games, taking the third game of their four-game series in Minnesota by bludgeoning the Twins, 12-6, assuring at least a split.

The middle of their lineup - batters three through six - were a combined 9-for-18, hit three homers and scored eight of the Royals' 12 runs. Alex Gordon tripled and homered, knocking his 13th long ball of the season in the fifth inning with a man aboard and scored three runs in four at-bats. Gordon has hit safely in nine of his last ten games and has had two hits in five of those.

While the Royals were raking, the Tigers were aching, losing to Seattle, 8-1, dropping two of three over the weekend.

Game four of the Twins-Royals series is slated for an 8:10 pm EDT start.

National League

Lucroy: 5 RBI

Milwaukee polished off the Dodgers Sunday, 7-2, completing the three-game sweep of the NL West leaders while maintaining a three-game edge on the Cardinals in the Central division.

Leading the assault was Jonathan Lucroy, who did all his damage early, going 2-for-5 with a two-run homer in the opening frame and a bases-clearing double in the second, for a five-RBI game.

With the big, early lead, Brewer starter, Wily Peralta, cruised through six scoreless innings, allowing five hits and fanning five, tying Adam Wainwright and Johnny Cueto for the major league lead, with 15th victories.

The Brewers have won four straight and have been equally effective on the road as at home. Their home record is 34-28, while they are 36-27 away from home.