Orioles Extend Lead on Miguel Gonzalez Shutout; Adam LaRoche Drives in Five as Nationals Down Dodgers in 14 Innings

Players of the Day for Wednesday, September 3, 2014

American League

Gonzalez: 4H ShO

Wednesday night at Camden Yards, Baltimore reduced its magic number to clinch the AL East to 15 with a 6-0 win over the visiting Reds.

Miguel Gonzalez (8-7) tossed a four-hit, complete game shutout at the Reds, striking out eight while issues only one walk.

Gonzalez didn't allow a hit until Ryan Ludwick singled with one out in the fifth inning. In the eighth, Gonzalez worked out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam caused by an error and a pair of singles.

The win was the second straight by Baltimore over the Reds. The series concludes Thursday night at 7:05 pm EDT.

Elsewhere, Seattle inched to within 1/2 game of Detroit for the second wild card with a 2-1 win over the A's, who have seen their lead in the West division vanish and now may be in danger of losing the top wild card spot, haing lost two straight and seven of their last ten. They lead The Tigers by just three games now.

Cleveland and the Yankees are four games behind the Tigers, with Toronto 4 1/2 back.

National League

Adam LaRoche

Adam LaRoche, who didn't get off the bench until the ninth inning, had himself quite a game as the Washington Nationals topped the Dodgers, 8-5, in 14 innings, taking two of three in LA.

Pinch-hitting for Tyler Moore in the top of the ninth, LaRoche tied the game at 2-all with a two-run homer off reliever Kenley Jansen. Washington took a 3-2 lead later in the frame, but the Dodgers tied the game at three in the bottom of the ninth, when Andre Ethier scored on Jayson Werth's error.

In the 12th, LaRoche singled in two more runs only to see Carl Crawford re-tie the game at 5-all with a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning. Finally, over five hours into the game, LaRoche put the Nats up for good, grounding into a fielder's choice which sent Ian Desmond home from third. The Nationals added two more and set down the Dodgers in the bottom of the inning.

LaRoche has 20 homers and 75 RBI on the year.

The game lasted five hours and 34 minutes, both teams emptying their respective benches. Washington used 10 pitcher and 26 players in all; the Dodgers ran eight hurlers to the mound and used 25 players.

The result left Washington with a seven-game lead in the NL East and a magic number of 17. The Dodgers maintained their two-game edge over the Giants in the West.

St. Louis upped their lead in the Central to three games with a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh while the Brewers fell to the Cubs, 6-2, their eighth straight loss.