Evan Longoria, Logan Morrison Power Rays Past O's; Justin Turner 3-for-5 In Dodger Win Over Rockies

Longoria: 4 RBI

Players of the Day for Friday, June 23, 2017

American League

Persistence is a word best describing the Tampa Bay Rays. While the Red Sox and Yankees battle for the lead in the AL East, Tampa Bay has managed to claw their way to within 2 1/2 games of the division co-leaders.

While the Rays' record of 40-36 is not outstanding, the AL East is highly competitive, so 90 wins could take the division. Tampa took another step in that direction Friday night, working 176 pitches from Baltimore hurlers into a 15-5 victory at Tropicana Park.

Morrison: 22 HR, 54 RBI

The Rays only had 11 hits overall, but took advantage of eight walks and two Oriole errors. Evan Longoria was 1-for-3 and drove in four runs, singling in two in the first, knocking a sac fly in the second and drawing a bases-loaded walk in the fourth.

Logan Morrison homered (22), tripled, scored three times and drove in three runs as the Rays piled on the Baltimore pitching staff, the worst in the majors, with a cumulative 5.20 ERA. Starter Ubaldo Jimenez was touched up for nine earned runs on seven hits and four walks in 2 1/3 innings.

Morrison's 54 RBI ranks third in the AL; he's second in homers behind New York's Aaron Judge (25).

The win was the third straight for the Rays, Tampa will be looking to send Baltimore to its fourth straight loss when the teams meet for game two of the three-game series, Saturday, 4:10 pm ET.

National League

Turner: .392 BA

Justin Turner keeps getting his reps and the LA Dodgers keep churning out wins.

Turner was 3-for-5 (two singles and a double), raising his batting average to .392, driving in a run and scoring one in support of Alex Wood, who allowed one run on three hits over six innings for his eighth win without a loss as the Dodgers won their eighth straight in a 6-1 win over Colorado.

Turner's impressive average won't show up atop the NL leader board because he's shy of the needed plate appearances for qualification. He needs 233 (3.1 per team game) and currently has 215. He keeps getting closer every day.

LA's home win increased their lead over the Rockies and Diamondbacks (6-1 losers to the Phillies) to 2 1/2 games. LA has the best home record in the majors, at 30-10.

Game two of the showdown series in LA is set for Saturday night, 7:10 pm ET.