Corey Kluber Silences Angels in 3-0 Cleveland Shutout; Nick Ahmed Drives Diamondbacks Past Giants

Players of the Day for Saturday, August 4, 2018

American League

Practically without notice, the Cleveland Indians have consistently held the largest advantage of any of the division leaders across the American and National leagues.

Kluber: 3-hit shutout

Cleveland's nine game edge over Minnesota in the AL Central was bolstered by the three-hit shutout tossed by Corey Kluber in a 3-0 win over the visiting LA Angels.

Struggling 16 games off the pace in the AL West, Angel hitters mostly flailed away without success at Kluber's offerings as the Indian ace tied Rick Porcello and Luis Severino as 14-game winners in the American League. Kluber is 14-6. He threw 68 of 94 pitches for strikes and finished his seventh career shutout with seven strikeouts.

Despite the lowest winning percentage of any division leader (.550, 60-49) the Indians have been on cruise control since mid-May. No other team in their division has a winning record.

Having split the first two games, the Angels and Indians will close out the series, Sunday in Cleveland, at 1:10 pm EDT.

National League

Ahmed: 3-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI

Arizona whipped the Giants, 9-3, taking control of the NL West by a game over the Dodgers, when LA was smothered by Houston, 14-0.

Driving the offense was Nick Ahmed, who went 3-for-3 with a single and a pair of home runs. Ahmed plated Steven Souza, Jr. with his single in the opening inning, socked a two-run homer in the fifth inning and launched a solo shot in the eighth, driving in four runs and scoring three.

Ahmed's homers were his 13th and 14th of the season. He has 57 RBI and a .247 batting average.

The Diamondbacks lost the opener of the four-game series with San Francisco, but have bounced back to take the last two straight.

Arizona will be looking to close out the series on a winning note when they host the Giants in game four, Sunday, 4:00 pm EDT.