Yadier Molina Helps Cards Hand Brewers Ninth Straight Loss; Robinson Cano Leads Mariners Past Rangers, 10-2

Players of the Day for Thursday, September 4, 2013

American League

Cano: 4 RBI

Robinson Cano went 2-for-4 and drove in four runs as the Seattle Mariners opened a four game series in Texas with a 10-2 win over the Rangers.

Cano was right in the middle of a six-run Mariner uprising in the second inning, stroking a bases-loaded single up the middle, bringing home two runs. In the third, Cano drove in another pair of runs with a double, his 32nd of the season.

Having his usual solid season, Cano is tied for fourth in batting with Jose Abreu at .322. Cano has 12 homers and 75 RBI.

The victory kept Seattle 1/2 game behind Detroit for the second wild card, though the Mariners find themselves just three behind Oakland for the first wild card, which, until just a few weeks ago, was considered to be already sewn up.

Having just taken two of three from the A's in Oakland, the Mariners look forward to a three-game home series against the A's on September 12, 13 and 14. Of interest to the Mariners are also the seven remaining games they have against the Angels, who have a five-game lead in the division and are eight in front of Seattle. The Mariners begin an 11-game road trip with four games in Anaheim, but get the Angels in Seattle for three games to close out the regular season, a scenario which could benefit them should LA have clinched the division by then.

National League

Yadier Molina

There were only two games played in National League parks On Thursday, and only one of those was meaningful, but it was big, as the St. Louis Cardinals sent the Milwaukee Brewers to their ninth straight defeat, opening a crucial four-game series in Milwaukee with a 3-2 victory.

The Cardinals scored all of their runs in the first three innings, and used seven pitchers to keep Brewer bats at bay. Michael Wacha allowed a run in the first inning and Marco Gonzales gave up one in the sixth, but the St. Louis bullpen came up with the needed outs over the final three innings to seal the win. Trevor Rosenthal made it interesting by issuing two walks in the ninth, but did not give up a hit for his 42nd save of the year, tying him with Atlanta's Craig Kimbrel for the league lead.

Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday each had three hits and scored a run for the Cardinals. Yadier Molina drove in two runs with a single in the first inning.

The win put St. Louis up by four games in the NL Central, a division that was led by Milwaukee for almost he entirety of the season until last week, when the Brewers started a nine-game road trip with a win at San Diego, but followed up with eight straight losses - two to San Deigo, then three each to the Giants and Cubs.

Thursday's loss dropped the Brewers into a tie with Atlanta for the second wild card spot. Both teams trail San Francisco in the wild card standings by three games.