A's Khris Davis Bangs Two Homers, Walks Off Twins In 10; Yuli Gurriel Pounds 7 RBI For Houston; Matt Adams Delivers For Cardinals

Players of the Day for Friday, September 21, 2018

Davis: 45 HR leads majors

American League

Relentless in their pursuit of both the Yankees in the wild card and the Astros in the West division, the Oakland A's have won 12 of 18 September games, the latest triumph a 7-6, 10th-inning victory over Minnesota in the opener of a three-game series at the Oakland Coliseum.

Leading off the 10th, Khris Davis cracked his league-leading 45th home run to end the game in the bottom frame. Hours earlier, Davis launched his 44th, a two-run shot in the first with Jed Lowrie aboard.

Davis has 119 RBI on the year and is closing the gap on Boston's J.D. Martinez, who leads the majors with 124. Martinez trails Davis in the HR department, with 41.

Gurriel: 2 HR, 7 RBI

The win kept Oakland on pace with the Yankees in the wild card hunt. New York holds a 1 1/2-game edge after slipping by the Orioles, 10-8, Friday night. Oakland also kept pace in the division, as the Astros got a pair of home runs and seven RBI from Yuli Gurriel in their 11-3 stomping of the Angels.

Gurriel got Houston started with a first-inning grand slam, followed by a two-run belt in the third. In the fifth, he singled home another run, which put the Astros up, 7-0, all of the runs delivered by the Houston first baseman.

On the season, Gurriel has 12 homers, 83 RBI and a .283 batting average.

The A's host Minnesota Saturday night in game two of their three-game series. Game time is set for 9:05 pm EDT.

National League

With Matt Carpenter a regular at first base, Matt Adams doesn't get much playing time for St. Louis since being acquired from the Nationals earlier this season, but he was ready when called upon in the Cardinals' 5-3 victory over the visiting Giants.

Adams: clutch double

Pinch-hitting for reliever John Brebbia in the eighth inning with the scored tied 3-all, Adams lashed a two-out double down the left field line, plating Harrison Bader from second and Yairo Munoz all the way around from first with the go-ahead runs.

Carlos Martinez gave up a hit in the Giants' ninth but struck out two, earning his fourth save. Martinez has only recently become the Cards' closer, after a recent spate of blown save opportunities by Bud Norris.

Adams has had just nine hits in 54 at-bats (.167) since joining St. Louis, but his clutch double kept the Cardinals 1 1/2 games ahead of Colorado in the race for the second wild card. The Rockies were 6-2 winners at Arizona. St. Louis trails Milwaukee - holder of the top wild card - by three games. The teams have either eight or nine games left in the regular season and the division races are far from being decided. The Dodgers lead Colorado by 1 1/2 in the West and the Cubs hold the same margin over the Brewers in the Central.

Winners of four of their last five, the Cardinals host the Giants in game two of their their three-game series Saturday at 1:05 pm EDT.