Greg Bird's Grand Slam Leads Yankees To Sweep Of Blue Jays; Justin Turner Powers LA's 12-1 Rout Of Seattle

Players of the Day for Sunday, August 19, 2018

American League

Greg Bird: Grand Slam

Greg Bird swatted a first-inning grand slam as the Yankees rolled to a 10-2 win over Toronto, sweeping the Blue Jays in New York.

Bird has struggled to a .211 average, but is seeing more playing time as injuries mount for the Yankees. With Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez already on the DL, it appears that Didi Gregorious will also be sidelined. He collided with first baseman Kendrys Morales in the first inning and left the game in the third with a bruised left heel.

The win improved the Yankees' standing in the wild card race, as both teams from the LA West, Oakland and Seattle, lost on Sunday. New York holds the top spot in the wild card by four games over the A's and 7 1/2 over the Mariners.

The Yanks have Monday off, heading to Miami for a pair of games with the Marlins, followed by a four-game series in Baltimore.

National League

Turner: 4-for-5, 5 RBI

On the Dodgers' weekend visit to Seattle, the boys from LA took two of three, blowing out the Mariners Friday, 11-1, and Sunday, 12-1. In between, Seattle took a 5-4 win in Saturday's game. Thus, the final cumulative score, if such things mattered, would be 27-6 in favor of the Dodgers.

Doing much of the damage to Seattle's beleaguered pitching staff on Sunday was Justin Turner, who went 4-for-5 with three singles and a ninth-inning three-run homer completing the slaughter. Turner plated five and scored twice.

In real terms, the Mariners were overmatched. LA players swiped five bases in the game and Dodger starter, Clayton Kershaw, fanned seven over seven innings, allowing four hits, one run, walking one.

The result left the Dodgers two games behind Arizona in the NL West, with Colorado in second place, 1/2-game behind the Diamondbacks. All three contenders were winners on Sunday. Seattle dropped to 4 1/2 behind Houston in the AL West, as the Astros took back first place in the division, dropping the A's, 9-4. Oakland trails the Astros by one game.

The Dodgers return home Monday to open a three-game series with the Cardinals while the Mariners remain in Seattle, opening a crucial three-game series with the Astros.