Martin Maldonado Powers Houston Back Into 1st Place; Clay Buchholz, Paul Goldschmidt Lead Arizona Past Angels

Players of the Day for Wednesday, August 22, 2018

American League

Houston took back sole possession of first place in the AL West with a 10-7 win at Seattle while the A's were losing, 4-2, to Texas.

Martin Maldonado

The Astros nearly gave the game away. After leading 8-0 after four, they allowed the Mariners to score multiple runs and end the sixth inning down 9-7. Tyler White, who was 3-for-5, socked a solo homer in the ninth to finish the scoring.

Martin Maldonado, acquired from the Angels in late July, singled, doubled and homered in four at-bats, leading the Astros with three RBI. In August, Maldonado is hitting .303, with three homers, eight RBI and 11 runs.

Houston had been stumbling with two of its stars, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa, on the bench earlier in the month, but both have returned to the 2017 champs. The Astros are just 9-9 in August, but have won two straight and three of their last four. They open a three-game series at the LA Angels Friday.

National League

Paul Goldschmidt

Arizona won its third straight, knocking off the visiting LA Angels, 6-1, maintaining a 1 1/2-game lead over the Rockies in the NL West. Colorado took down the Padres, 6-2.

On the mound, Clay Buchholz was solid, hurling seven innings of shutout ball for his seventh win against two losses.

Clay Buchholz

Buchholz, who spent much of the season on the DL, won for the sixth time in his last seven starts, allowed four hits, no walks, and struck out seven.

Offensively, Paul Goldschmidt got the Diamondbacks started with his 29th homer of the season in the first inning, a two-run shot. He later added a single and double, going 3-for-3 with a walk, two runs and two RBI.

The Diamondbacks have won six of their last seven and are beginning to open some space in the contentious division race. The Dodgers, 3-1 losers to the Cardinals, are in third place, 4 1/2 games back.

Arizona has Thursday off and hosts a three-game series with Seattle over the weekend.