Marcell Ozuna's Grand Slam Lifts Cardinals Over Cubs; Joey Rickard Drives In 5 As Orioles Dump Rays

Players of the Day for Saturday, July 28, 2018

American League

Rickard: 3-4, HR, 5 RBI

The Orioles seem to be recovering from the trauma suffered by trading Manny Machado to the LA Dodgers.

Dropping four straight coming out of the all star break and the transfer of Machado to the West coast, Baltimore has taken three of the last four and two straight over the retooling Rays.

Baltimore's 11-2 victory over Tampa Bay was spearheaded by Joey Rickard, who doubled twice and socked a solo home run, driving in five runs, scoring three.

Rickard, who figures to be getting some more playing time in Baltimore's reshuffled lineup, mashed his sixth homer of the season in the third inning, cleared the bases with a fourth-inning double and ripped another RBI double in the sixth.

Still holding the distinction of having the worst record in the majors, the Orioles will be eyeing a sweep of the Rays Sunday at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Game time is 1:05 pm EDT.

National League

Ozuna: Grand Slam

Marcell Ozuna's first inning grand slam propelled St. Louis to a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs.

Ozuna's blast came off Chicago starter, Jose Quintana, who lasted just three innings after giving up all six Cardinal runs in the opening frame.

The home run was Ozuna's 11th of the year and the four RBI upped his total for the season to 55. The 27-year-old's numbers are well short of last season's total when Ozuna batted .312 with 37 homers and 124 RBI for Miami.

Exiting the all star break by losing five of eight, the Cardinals have taken two straight from the Cubs and reduced the Chicago lead in the NL Central to just 1/2 game over Milwaukee. Pittsburgh is in third place, seven games out. The Cardinals, follow, eight games off the pace.

St Louis will be seeking a sweep of the three-game series when the teams take the field Sunday, at 8:00 pm ET. The contest is the ESPN national broadcast of Sunday Night Baseball.