Chris Davis Grand Slam Sends O's to 9-1 Win over Twins; Buster Posey 5-for-5 in Giants' 13-2 Rout of Brewers

Players of the Day for Friday, August 29, 2014

American League

Davis: Grand Slam

Baltimore's Chris Davis isn't having the kind of season he had in 2013, when he led the league in home runs (53) and RBI (138), but he's been picking his game up lately and the Orioles are happy to see that.

Davis has hit three homers and driven in seven runs in his last five games, four of which came in Friday's 9-1 mauling of the Twins, the opener of a four-game series at Camden Yards.

With the bases full in the fourth and the O's already up, 1-0, Davis unloaded on Minnesota starter, Trevor May, launching a 415-foot bomb over the right field wall. It was Davis' 24th homer of the season and upped his RBI count to 67 on the season.

Filling in at third base frequently since Many Machado's injury, Davis has helped the Orioles remain in first place in the East, where they currently hold a seven-game edge over the Yankees, who beat Toronto, 6-3, Friday, but are looking more and more like a possible wild card, rather than contenders for the division title.

Game two of the series in Baltimore is Saturday, at 7:05 pm EDT.

National League

Posey: 5-for-5

The meeting between the Giants and Brewers in San Francisco this weekend had more than enough intrigue, but the tenseness was dispelled early by Buster Posey and the San Francisco batters, who hammered Milwaukee starter, Wily Peralta, and scored all of their runs in the first five innings of a 13-2 rout.

Peralta lasted only three innings, giving up the first six runs on nine hits and a pair of walks. The Giants weren't exactly hospitable to the next Brewer hurler either, hammering Marco Estrada for seven more runs over the next two innings.

Buster Posey went 5-for-5 with four singles and a triple, scoring three times and driving in three before heading for the bench after six innings. As a team, the Giants were 19-for-42. Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence each collected three hits. Joe Panik went 4-for-6.

Recently, Posey's been on fire, hitting safely in eight of his last nine games, with multiple hits in six of them. Over that span, he's 20-for-40, with four homers and 13 RBI. Winners of four straight and seven of their last ten, the Giants have moved past St. Louis to claim the #1 wild card position, as the Cardinals fell to the Cubs, 7-2, Friday, their third straight loss.

The NL wild card race is still incredibly tight. St. Louis is 1/2 game behind the Giants, Atlanta, 1/2 back and the Pirates are just two games off the pace.

Game two of the Brewers-Giants three-game series is slated for a 6:05 pm PDT start, Saturday in San Francisco.