Leonys Martin's Grand Slam Helps Tigers Bash Orioles; Kurt Suzuki, Preston Tucker Lead Braves Over Mets

Players of the Day for Thursday, April 19, 2018

American League

Martin: 3-for-5, GS, 4RBI

Detroit finished off a sweep of the visiting Baltimore Orioles with a 13-8 win, as both teams took some batting practice, banging out 32 hits between them.

Leonys Martin, Detroit's leadoff hitter, made sure to get his licks in, singling and scoring in the first inning and scoring after blistering a triple in the fourth prior to smacking a grand slam in the fifth. Martin finished 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBI.

The result left the Orioles in last place in the AL East, 11 1/2 games off the pace and the Tigers just a shade under .500, at 7-9, but just 2 1/2 games behind front-running Minnesota in the Central.

Baltimore heads home to open a series with Cleveland on Friday while the Tigers stay home. The host Kansas City at 1:10 pm EDT on Friday.

National League

Suzuki: 3-4, HR, 3R 3RBI

The NL East's first place Mets arrived in Atlanta for the opener of a four game series with Matt Harvey taking the mound to face the second place Braves, who had Matt Wisler on the bump.

As it turned out, Wisler, who was making just his second start since 2016, had the better stuff, holding the Mets to one earned run on three hits over seven innings.

Tucker: 2-for-5, 5 RBI

Meanwhile Kurt Suzuki and Preston Tucker were making life miserable for Harvey. Suzuki socked a two-run, first inning homer off Harvey, then proceeded to double twice, going 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBI.

Batting right behind Suzuki, Tucker victimized Harvey with a two-run, third inning double and came up again with the bases loaded in the seventh, delivering his second double of the game, racking up a total of five RBI.

Suddenly, first place wasn't looking so secure as the Braves slugged their way to a 12-4 win, reducing the Mets' lead to just two games over themselves and the Phillies, 7-0 winners over the Pirates.

Game two of the series is 7:35 pm EDT, Friday night.