Andy Dirks, Miguel Cabrera Drive Detroit Past A's; Stephen Strasburg fans 13 in Washington Win

Players of the Day for Thursday, May 10, 2012

American League

With their minds set on repeating as champions of the Central division, the Detroit Tigers remained two games behind Cleveland with a 10-6 win at Oakland in the opener of a four game series, while the Indians took care of business with an 8-3 victory over the bumbling Boston Red Sox.

Andy Dirks

Miguel Cabrera went 4-for-5 with a double, three singles, three RBI and a run scored, driving in a pair as part of an eight-run third inning, in which the Tigers sent 13 batters to the plate.

Miguel Cabrera

Andy Dirks got the Tigers off to a fast start with a solo homer in the first, one of four hits in four at-bats on the night for the second-year outfielder. His other three hits all singles, Dirks scored twice and leads the Tigers with a .383 batting average and is hitting .455 with three homers and nine RBI over his last 10 games.

The eight hits by Dirks and Cabrera were part of a 17-hit barrage by the bat-happy Tigers.

At 16-15, Detroit hasn't exactly dominated the division, though they are 7-6 as a road team. They'll have three more opportunities to improve their road record in Oakland over the weekend.


National League

Stephen Strasburg

In the only National League game of the day, the Washington Nationals regained sole possession of first place in the East division with a 4-2 victory at Pittsburgh.

Stephen Strasburg worked his magic from the mound, fanning 13 over six innings, while allowing one earned run off five hits and three walks. Having to battle with men on in four of his six innings of work, Strasburg, the NL strikeout leader (51), baffled hitters with teammates on the bases with strikeouts, and, at one point fanned seven straight Pirates.

Improving to 3-0 on the season, Strasburg helped the Nats avoid a sweep in the three-game series and back to a 1/2 game lead over idle Atlanta in the division, with the surprising Mets - winners of five straight - a game back and resurgent Miami three out. Philadelphia remained in the cellar, 5 1/2 back.

The Nationals head straight to Cincinnati for a three game weekend set, starting on Friday.

Tigers Sweep White Sox with 18-2 win; Marcum, Braun Lead Brewers Past Houston

Players of the Day for Sunday, September 4, 2011

American League

Miguel Cabrera

There were some big scores put up by some of the leading teams in the American League on Sunday - like Cleveland's 9-6 win at Kansas City, the Yankees' 9-3 win over Toronto, and the 11-4 beating Texas put on Boston - but none were more impressive than Detroit's 24-hit, 18-2 slaughter of the Chicago White Sox.

Alex Avila

While Matt Scherzer was picking up his 14th win against eight losses, allowing five hits and no walks while striking out six over seven innings, the Tigers were galloping around the bases, scoring multiple runs in four different innings. The big bats belonged to Miguel Cabrera, Alex Avila and rookie Andy Dirks, who only came on as a pinch-hitter in the 6th inning, smacking a two-run single, and later socked a two-run bomb in the 8th inning, going 2--for-2 with a home run and four RBI.

Cabrera went 2-for-4, with a 4th inning double that plated two runs and a 6th inning homer with Dirks aboard. The home run was Cabrera's 26th of the season. He had four RBI to up his total to 92.

Andy Dirks

Avila, who caught the whole game, was 4-for-6, with a pair of ribbies and two runs.

The Tigers swept the weekend series from the White Sox, winning the first two games, 8-1 and 9-8, sending Chicago back down to third place in the AL Central, 8 1/2 games back, while increasing their lead over second-place Cleveland to 6 1/2 games.

Milestones: Toronto's Jose Bautista hit his 40th home run of the season to lead the majors. Adrian Beltre collected his 2000th hit in the Rangers' win over Boston.

Ryan Braun

National League

It was a little different story over in the NL, where Shaun Marcum walked one and allowed just one hit over seven innings as the Brewers continued to demolish the competition with a 4-0 win over Houston.

Shaun Marcum

Marcum (12-5) struck out eight and had a no-hitter spoiled by Houston center fielder Jordan Schafer, who singled with one out in the 6th inning.

Ryan Braun provided the bulk of the offense with a solo homer in the 1st, a bases-loaded walk in the 4th and a run-scoring single in the 7th inning. He went 3-for-3 with three RBI. Braun is having an MVP-like year, batting .325 with 26 home runs and 94 RBI.

The win dropped Milwaukee's magic number for clinching the division to 13. They have a 9 1/2-game lead on St. Louis.