Adam Jones Drives In 5 As O's Top Yanks, 10-4; Max Scherzer Tosses Complete Game in 3-1 Nats' Win Over SF

Players of the Day for Wednesday, May 31, 2017

American League

Returning to action after nursing a sore hip that sidelined him for four games, Adam Jones drove in five runs with a single, double, and three-run homer, helping the Orioles get back on the winning track, topping the Yankees, 10-4.

Jones: HR, 5 RBI

Jones got the Orioles on the board in the third inning, touching off a double against Yankee starter, Masahiro Tanaka, plating J.J. Hardy for a 1-0 lead. Mark Trumbo followed, driving in Jones and Seth Smith, who was held up at third on Jones' double.

An inning later, Jones broke the game wide open, blasting a three-run shot to right center. The Orioles didn't go easy on the Yankee ace. Tanaka was pounded, allowing nine hits and seven earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Finishing 3-for-5 with five RBI, Jones topped off the O's scoring in the eighth, beating out an infield single to drive in another run. Apparently, his hip was felling OK.

The win gave the Orioles the series win, two games to one, and may have quelled some of Baltimore's recent woes. Prior to the series with New York, the O's were 3-13 since May 10 and had lost seven straight. Wednesday's result left them 3 1/2 behind the Yankees, leaders of the AL East. The division has recently tightened substantially. Last place Toronto is just 5 12 out and the Yankees open a four game series there on Thursday, while the Orioles head to Boston for a four-game series with the Red Sox.

National League

Scherzer: CG, 11 Ks

Max Scherzer reared back and uncorked his 100th pitch, whizzing it by a flailing Buster Posey to complete Washington's 3-1 win at San Francisco. Posey had earlier doubled in the only run for the Giants in the third, but Scherzer (6-3, 2.56) was unfazed, allowing five hits, striking out 11 for his first complete game of the season and Washington's third straight victory over the Giants, sweeping the series.

The Nationals got three runs off Matt Cain in the bottom of the first on Ryan Zimmerman's 15th home run of the season, and with Scherzer on the mound, it proved too much to overcome. The Giants dropped to 22-33, tied with San Diego for last place in the NL West, 11 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.

Meanwhile, Scherzer and Washington have surged to a 9 1/2 game bulge in the East division with a 33-19 record.

Scherzer leads the league in strikeouts with 100. Over 77 1/3 innings, he's walked 18 and opposing batters are hitting just .186.

The Nationals are fourth in team ERA at 4.00, and lead the league in batting with a combined .275 average. They also lead in runs (286), hits (501, tied with Arizona), home runs (77) and RBI (279).

Washington remains on the West coast for the next six games, playing three with the A's in Oakland over the weekend, then heading down the pike to LA for a three-game series with the Dodgers, Monday through Wednesday.