Brandon Crawford Drives in 8 in 19-2 Giants' triumph; Rays Down Yanks, 5-4, with 3 HRs by Travis d'Arnaud

Players of the Day for Monday, July 15, 2019

American League

Trailing the Yankees by six games in the race for the AL East crown, the Tampa Bay Rays opened a crucial four-game series in New York on Monday.

d'Arnaud: 3-3, 3HR, 5RBI

Thanks to the efforts of catcher Travis d'Arnaud, the Rays managed a 5-4 win, all of their runs coming off three homers by d'Arnaud.

The Rays' backstop mashed solo shots in the first and third innings, giving the Rays a lead, but, two homers by Edwin Encarnacion and one by Urshela, left the Rays down 4-2 heading into the ninth.

d'Arnaud stepped into the spotlight with two aboard in the ninth, cracking his third homer of the game into the right field stands for a 5-4 edge that Rays relievers made stand, completing a perfect night with three homers, a pair of walks and five RBI in three official at-bats.

The win left the Rays five behind the Yankees. Game two of the series is Tuesday at 7:05 pm ET in New York.

National League

Crawford: 5-6, 2HR, 8RBI

San Francisco may be in last place in the NL West, but they sure didn't look the part Monday, walloping the Rockies, 19-2 in the opener of a four-game set in Denver.

Of their 21 hits, the Giants banged out 10 for extra bases, including a pair of homers by Brandon Crawford, who went 5-for-6, driving in eight runs, scoring three times.

Crawford also helped the Giants take both ends of the day-night double-header, socking a solo shot in San Fran's 2-1 win over the Rockies in the nightcap.

The power performance has come suddenly for the 32-year-old Crawford, of his nine homers this year, six of them have come in his last 30 games.

If the Giants continue beating the Rockies, they won't remain in last place for long. With the Dodgers running off with a 15-game lead over Arizona in the division, San Francisco is 17 games back, Colorado 16 games back. In between them, the Padres are 16 1/2 out.

The Giants and Rockies resume their rivalry on Tuesday. Game three is slated for an 8:40 start, ET.

Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford Lead Giants to 1st Place; Mike Moustakas Powers Royals over ChiSox

Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 22, 2014

American League

Moustakas: 2HR

Kansas City evened its series at Chicago at a game apiece, banging out 14 hits to top the White Sox, 7-1.

The two teams are struggling to remain relevant in the AL Central. For now, the Royals have the upper hand, trailing division-leading Detroit by seven games. The White Sox fell to nine games off the pace.

Third baseman Mike Moustakas did his best to hide the fact that he's batting under .200 (.198), going 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs - his 11th and 12th of the season - driving in three runs. Moustakas started the Royals' scoring with a solo shot in the second and finished it off with a two-run dinger in the eighth.

The Royals and White Sox square off Wednesday afternoon in the rubber game of the series at 2:10 pm EDT at Cellular Field in Chicago.

National League

Posey: hot bat

Crawford: 4RBI

Buster Posey is getting into a groove, and the San Francisco Giants are enjoying the top spot in the NL West because of it.

With the Dodgers were losing at Pittsburgh, 12-7, the Giants took a one-game lead in the division, taking their second straight in Philadelphia with a 9-6 victory over the Phillies in 14 innings.

Posey tied the game at 5-all with a solo homer in the ninth inning, and scored the go-ahead run after doubling with one out and coming home to score on Brandon Crawford's bases-loaded double later in the frame.

Posey was 4-for-7 with a pair of doubles, a single and the solo homer - his 12th - scoring twice and driving in a run. Posey's gone 11-for-28 with 11 RBI his last six games. He's at .286 for the season.

Crawford went 2-for-6 with four RBI, giving him 44 on the year.

The Giants will be looking for their third straight when they take on the Phillies Wednesday night at 7:00 pm EDT in the third leg of their four-game series.

Jered Weaver Wins 7th Straight; Brandon Crawford Dives in Five for Giants

Players of the Day for Friday, July 20, 2012

American League

Jered Weaver improved to 12-1 as the LA Angels opened their three game home series with rival Texas with a 6-1 victory, slicing a full game off the Rangers' division lead, which now stands at five.

Weaver: 12-1

Weaver was in complete control for most of the seven innings he worked, allowing six hits and a walk while striking out five. The lanky hurler kept the top of the Texas batting order in check, limiting the first seven batters to a 2-for-27 output.

Only Elvis Andrus did any damage, belting a solo homer in the top of the first inning. After that, Weaver was pretty much lights out.

Weaver won his seventh straight decision, not having lost since being belted around by the Rangers, in Texas, on May 13, a 13-6 Texas win in which Weaver lasted only 3 1/3 innings. It was his only loss of the season.


National League

Crawford: Slammin'

Brandon Crawford untied a 1-1 score with a sixth inning grand slam, propelling the Giants to a 7-2 win over the home-standing Phillies.

Crawford, a second year shortstop, knocked his third homer of the season off Philly starter Vince Worley and followed that up with a run-scoring single in the eighth, giving him five RBI for the game.

Tim Lincecum allowed five hits and two earned runs while fanning six over seven innings to pick up his fourth win of the season against 10 losses.

With the win, the Giants maintained their 2 1/2 game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West, and will look to make it two in a row over the Phillies, Saturday afternoon, with the series concluding Sunday.