Salvador Perez Grand Slam Propels Royals Past Red Sox; Brandon Drury's 6 RBI Lead Arizona's 16-5 Romp At Colorado

Players of the Day for Wednesday, June 21, 2017

American League

Perez: Grand Slam

Boston's hold on first place in the AL East didn't last very long. In fact, it was just one day.

When the Red Sox topped Kansas City, 8-3, on Tuesday, the Yankees were losing their seventh straight, in an 8-3 loss to the Angels. That put Boston in first place by 1/2 game. Wednesday night's results were the opposite, with the Yankees ending their skein with an 8-4 win over LA, while Boston was losing to the Royals, 6-4, giving the Yankees a 12 game edge.

What turned out to be the biggest issue for the Red Sox in their road loss to KC was the inability to successfully retire Royals' catcher Salvador Perez.

Perez was 3-for-3, but really didn't do much damage until the eighth inning. In the second, he singled, moving Eric Hosmer to third, but was thrown out at second base on a double play as Hosmer scored. Perez walked and was left stranded at first in the fourth inning, and singled again in the seventh, eventually advancing to third, but the Royals ended the inning with the bases loaded, failing to cut into a 4-2 Boston lead.

After three consecutive walks to open the bottom of the eighth, Perez came to the plate with the bases full. Perez made a huge impact, launching his 15th home run of the season, a 412-foot left field grand slam that put the Royals ahead for good, 6-4.

The leading vote-getter at catcher in the American League all star balloting, Perez will likely be the starter. He has more than a 400,000 vote lead over Houston's Brian McCann and the Yankees' Gary Sanchez and will be making his fifth straight all star appearance when the two leagues meet July 11 at Marlins Park in Miami.

Kansas City's win kept them in third place, 3 1/2 behind the Indians in the AL Central. Minnesota is second, 1 1/2 back. The Royals took the series, two games to one. Since their 10-20 start, the Royals have gone 25-16 and will have a chance to reach .500 when they host Toronto Friday at 8:15 pm ET in the opener of a three game series.

Boston heads home for a seven game home stand, beginning Friday against the Angels.

National League

Drury: 4-for-6, 6 RBI

The Dodgers won their sixth straight game to take over first place in the torrid NL West as Arizona did the LA boys a favor, ending Colorado's six-game win streak in a 16-5 rout.

Coupled with LA's 8-2 win over the Mets, LA has a 1/2 game lead over Colorado. Arizona is 1 1/2 back.

What made the difference for the Diamondbacks in the second game of the three-game series in Denver was, significantly, Colorado's pitching. Arizona hammered four Rockies' hurlers for 20 hits, a relentless attack spearheaded by second baseman Brandon Drury who was 4-for-6 and drove in six runs.

After Mark Reynolds gave the Rockies a 1-0 lead in the second, the Diamondbacks responded, putting up a 10-spot in the fourth inning. Drury got the scoring started with a two-run double and ended the inning's tally with an RBI single. 14 players went to the plate in the frame, which included nine hits (three doubles) and a pair of walks.

Drury was far from done. however, singling home a run in the sixth and two more in the ninth.

In his third year with Arizona, Drury is on pace for a solid season, batting .304 with eight homers and 36 RBI.

Arizona and Colorado meet in the rubber game of the three-game series, Thursday, 3:10 pm ET. Later, the Dodgers will be going for a sweep of the Mets in their four-game series. Game time is 10:10 pm ET.

Ervin Santana, Miguel Sano Lead Twins To 1st Place; Brandon Drury Powers Arizona Past Pirates, 11-4

Santana: 6-1

Players of the Day for Friday, May 12, 2017

American League

The Twins are in first place.

Yes, you read that right. After winning at Cleveland, 1-0, in the opener of a three-game series by Lake Erie, the Twins hold a one game edge over the reigning AL champions in the Central division.

Ervin Santana notched his sixth win against one loss, hurling seven innings of two-hit shutout ball at the Tribe. Santana clearly didn't have his nastiest stuff, throwing just 56 of 99 pitches for strikes, walking five and fanning four, but, looking like an elite pitcher, he worked out of self-made jams, worked the lineup and managed masterfully.

Sano: HR sinks Indians

His six wins tied him with Houston's Dallas Keuchel for the AL lead and with LA's Clayton Kershaw for the major league lead. Santana's effort was backed by Miguel Sano's 10th home run of the year, a first-inning solo shot off Cleveland starter, Josh Tomlin, who also pitched a whale of a game (six hits, seven Ks), but was tagged with the loss.

Minnesota's top slugger, Sano registered his 30th RBI, second in the AL to Seattle's Nelson Cruz (31).

Taylor Rogers and Matt Belisle got the Twins through the eighth and Brandon Kintzler pitched a perfect ninth inning preserving the win with his ninth save. The win was the 10th on the road for the Twins, against just four road losses.

The teams resume heir battle for the top spot in the division Saturday, 4:10 pm ET, at Progressive Field.

National League

At the start of the season, some baseball experts were saying that the Giants and Dodgers would fight it out in the NL West.

Drury: 3-5, 3-run HR

Well, while it's still early, the Giants are in last place, 10 games behind Colorado. The Dodgers evened their series with the Rockies at 1-1 Friday with a 6-2 win and are 1 1/2 games back, but, the Arizona Diamondbacks are lurking, just two games off the pace after swamping the Pirates, 11-4.

The win was Arizona's third straight and second straight in the four-game series with visiting Pittsburgh. Banging out 16 hits, the Diamondbacks scored all of their runs in the second and third innings, hammering Pittsburgh starter, Tyler Glasnow, for seven runs on seven hits and pasting reliever, Josh Lindblom, for four runs in the third.

Going 3-for-5 was second baseman Brandon Drury, whose three-run homer capped the big third inning assault. He also doubled and singled in the game.

Following his first full season as a starter in 2016, Drury has become an integral part of the Arizona attack. Last season, he was solid, with a .282 batting average, 16 homers and 53 RBI. This year, in 32 games, he's batting .325, with three homers and 14 RBI.

The Diamondbacks are second in runs (182) and fifth in batting (.261) in the National League. Their 44 home runs and 172 RBI are among the leaders in the majors.

Arizona seeks its fourth straight win when they host the Pirates in game three, Saturday, 8:10 pm ET.