A's Bartolo Colon Shuts Down Rangers in 1-0 Win; Hunter Pence, Brandon Belt Smash Dodgers in 19-3 Giants' Win

Players of the Day for Saturday, September 14, 2013

American League

Colon: 16-9, 2.73

The demise of the Texas Rangers continues. Earlier this season, the Rangers seemed on their way to running off with the AL West. In August the surging A's caught them, and this month flew past them in the standings. Meanwhile, the Rangers had a grip on the first wild card slot, but after losing their fifth straight, and second straight to the A's, Texas is now tied with Tampa Bay for the two wild card spots, with identical, 81-66 records.

Bartolo Colon stifled Texas bats Saturday, scattering seven hits and one walk over eight innings in a 1-0 A's victory, Oakland's fourth straight win. Colon struck out seven and threw 77 of 108 pitches for strikes before turning the ball over to closer, Grant Balfour, who walked one in the ninth, but picked up save #38. At 16-9, Colon is tied for second in wins and his 2.73 is second-best among starters in the AL. Balfour is fifth in the league in saves.

Oakland scored the only run of the game in the first inning, when Brandon Moss doubled home Josh Donaldson off Texas starter Yu Darvish, who pitched exceptionally-well, but still was saddled with the loss. Darvish gave up only four hits, walked one and fanned 10, leading the AL with 256 Ks.

The A's will be seeking the three-game sweep of the Rangers when the two teams take the field at Rangers Ballpark at Arlington, Texas, Sunday at 3:05 pm EDT. Oakland leads the AL West by a commanding 5 1/2 games.

AL Wild Card Standings (through 9/14)

Team	GB
Texas	--
Tampa Bay	--
Cleveland	-1 1/2
NY Yankees	-3
Baltimore	-3 1/2
Kansas City	-3 1/2

National League

Brandon Belt

The Giants won't be heading into the post-season, but they at least took out a little bit of their angst against NL West-leading Los Angeles when they bombed the Dodgers, 19-3, Saturday.

Hunter Pence

Brandon Belt was 5-for-6, with a double, home run, three singles, four runs and six RBI, while teammate Hunter Pence scratched out a pair of singles and a grand slam homer in five at-bats, scoring twice while driving in seven.

The pair combined to drive in 13 of San Francisco's 19 runs. The Dodgers used starter Ricky Nolasco - who was hammered for seven hits and five earned runs, lasting just an inning and a third - and five relievers in the loss.

Of course, the Dodgers will get the last laugh. They are cruising toward the NL West pennant with an 11 1/2 game lead over second place Arizona. With the largest lead in any major league division, the Dodgers need just four more wins to clinch the division outright.

San Francisco has taken two of three in LA, the four-game series concluding Sunday at 4:10 pm EDT.

Today's Trivia: Who is the all-time career leader in on-base percentage? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Barry Bonds holds the single-season record for on-base percentage. In 2004, he reached .609 percent of the time.

Eric Hosmer's Two Homers Lead Royals to DH Sweep of Tigers; Brandon Belt, Hunter Pence Power Giants to 14-10 Win over Marlins

Players of the Day for Friday, August 16, 2013

American League

Eric Hosmer

Combine exceptional pitching with a couple of home runs from Eric Hosmer and you get a double-header sweep of the Detroit Tigers by the unflappable Kansas City Royals.

Hosmer's solo rome run in the fourth inning of game one staked KC starter, Danny Duffy, to an early lead in his duel with Detroit's Justin Verlander. Duffy, a third year pro recalled this week from AAA affiliate Omaha, allowed just one hit over six innings to pick up his first win of the 2013 campaign.

Verlander gave up another run in the seventh that proved the game-winner. Ramon Santiago socked a pinch-hit home run off Royal reliever Aaron Crow to cut the lead in half, but closer Greg Holland slammed the door on the Tigers in the ninth for his 33rd save and a 2-1 Royals win.

In the nightcap, Hosmer homered early again, this time in the third inning, launching a two-run homer into the right field stands of Comerica Park in support of James Shields' seven innings of shutout ball. Shields allowed three hits, walked four and fanned one, evening his record at 8-8 as the Royals produced a 3-0 victory and a double-header sweep of first place Detroit.

The twin killing left the Royals 6 1/2 games back, in third place in the AL Central, just 1/2 game behind second place Cleveland. The Royals lead the five-game series, two games to one, with the next meeting slated for Saturday evening at 7:08 pn EDT.

National League

Hunter Pence

Brandon Belt

With both teams scraping the bottom of their respective divisions, there isn't much happening for either the Giants or the Marlins, so what better way to pass through a Friday night's contest than by bruising a few pitcher's egos.

The two teams combined for 35 hits and 24 runs as the Giants prevailed at Marlins Park by a 14-10 margin.

Pablo Sandoval went 4-for-4, Brandon Belt singled twice, doubled, tripled, scored four times and drove in a run, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. Hunter Pence went 3-for-6 with two doubles and a triple, scoring three times and driving in five.

The Giants (54-67) are 1/2 game out of last place in the NL West, while the 46-74 Marlins have the worst record in the league and have last place in the NL East virtually wrapped up.

The two teams will slug out game two of their three-game series Saturday night, starting at 7:10 pm EDT.

Today's Trivia: Some guys just out to go straight. Which player led his league seven different times, for four different teams - from 2001 to 2011 - in being caught stealing? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: While Babe Ruth hit more homers than teammate Lou Gehrig, Gehrig was the leader in doubles, amassing 534 to the Bambino's 508.

Markakis Leads Orioles Past Tigers; Rookie Belt Socks Pair of Homers for Giants

Players of the Day for Sunday, August 14, 2011

American League

The race in the AL Central got a little bit tighter, thanks to the Baltimore Orioles, fueled by their stalwart right fielder, Nick Markakis, who drove in four of Baltimore's eight runs.

Markakis: 4 RBI

While the Indians were being rained out in their series finale with Minnesota and the White Sox were getting past the Royals, 6-2, Markakis and his teammates were unloading on Detroit starter Doug Fister, banging out 12 of their 14 hits against him, knocking him out with two down in the 6th inning.

Markakis, who had been 0-for-8 in the first two games of the series, put together a 3-for-5 night at the plate, with a first inning, two run homer and a pair of run-scoring singles as the Orioles built an 8-1 lead.

The Tigers scored four runs in the ninth when closer Kevin Gregg failed to get anyone out, giving up four hits, two walks and all four earned runs for the 8-5 final.

No immediate make-up date for the Indians-Twins game was announced, though the game will probably become part of a day-night double header when the two meet in late September.

Sunday's results reduced the Tigers' lead over Cleveland to 2 1/2 games and four over the White Sox.

National League

Belt: 2 HRs

Sparingly used rookie Brandon Belt notched two solo homers as the Giants hit four round-trippers to help Ryan Vogelsong improve to 10-2 and remain two games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West.

Belt connected in the 6th and 8th innings after Cody Ross's two-run shot in the 3rd and Nick Schierholtz's solo blast in the 4th put the Giants up, 3-1.

Vogelsong held the Marlins to one run until there were two down in the eighth, when Florida cut the lead to three runs. A trio of San Francisco relievers slammed the door shut the rest of the way for the final, 5-2, score.

Belt has played in just 32 games for the Giants, used primarily as a pinch-hitter and defensive replacement at first base. The pair of homers were his third and fourth of the season, as he upped his RBI total to nine.

Belt got the rare start due to injury to Carlos Beltran and a needed day off for regular first baseman Aubrey Huff. It was the third time he's been elevated from Triple A this season.

While the Giants didn't gain any ground on Arizona, they did pick up another game on Atlanta in the wild card race, trimming the Braves' lead to four games, with St. Louis five out.

STREAKS: Dan Uggla's 33-game hitting streak came to an abrupt end in Atlanta Sunday, where he went 0-for-3 with a sac fly in the Braves' 6-5 loss to the Cubs. Uggla came close to extending the streak to 34 games, but second baseman Darwin Barney's full extension diving catch in the fifth inning robbed Uggla of a bloop single.

Still streaking are the Diamondbacks and Astros, the former winning their sixth straight while Houston lost for the sixth consecutive time.