Drew Smyly Tosses Two-Hit Shutout for Rays; Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna Power Marlins over Rockies

Players of the Day for Friday, August 22, 2014

American League

Symly: 2-Hit SHO

When the Rays traded their ace, David Price, to the Tigers in late July, it may have signaled the end of their season, one which started poorly, gained a bit of momentum, but seems eventually to be headed toward the dustbin of baseball history, and out of the playoffs.

The games go on, though, and the Rays can play spoiler while looking ahead to 2015, which was exactly the script in their 8-0 win over AL East division rival, Toronto.

Drew Smyly, one of the Detroit players received in the Price trade, tossed his first major league shutout, blanking the Blue Jays on two hits, fanning four and facing just one over the minimum, thanks to a first-inning double play.

Smyly threw 105 pitches, of which 75 were strikes, and set down the final 19 batters in order. Jose Reyes led off the Toronto first with a single, but was erased one batter later on a double play. After Steve Tolleson's two-out single in the third inning, the Blue Jays went hitless while Tampa Bay piled on the runs.

The win was the first of a three-game series in Toronto. leaving the Blue Jays 4 1/2 games behind Seattle in the race for the second wild card. Tampa Bay is two games further behind. Game two is Saturday, 1:07 pm EDT at the Rogers Center.

National League

Stanton leads NL
with 32 HR, 92 RBI

Ozuna: GS, 5 RBI

Time may be running out on the Miami Marlins in their quest to reach the post-season, but they made the most of their potent offense in a 13-5 win at Colorado Friday, banging out 16 hits off six Rockies' hurlers.

Giancarlo Stanton went 3-for-4, drove in three runs and scored three times. Stanton's 92 RBI leads the National League, as do his 32 home runs.

Second-year center fielder, Marcell Ozuna had the look of a budding star, going 3-for-5 with five RBI, including a ninth inning grand slam. Ozuna has 70 RBI and 19 homers on the year.

Miami picked up a game on East division leader, Washington, but they are still nine games back. The Marlins continue to have their best hope for post-season play in the wild card, where they trail the Cardinals by 4 1/2 games, though they've got plenty of company, as the Giants, Braves and Pirates are all above them in a tight race for two spots.

Game two of the three-game series with the Rockies is set for Saturday at 8:10 pm EDT.