Domingo Herman Nothes 17th Win As Yanks Down Dodgers; Dallas Keuchel, Josh Donaldson Lead Braves to 8th Straight

Players of the Day for Sunday, August 25, 2019

Herman: 17 Ws tops MLB

American League

Domingo Herman out dueled the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw en route to a 5-1 win in Los Angeles as the Yankees took the series, two games to one.

After giving up a leadoff home run on the first pitch in the first inning to Joc Pederson, Herman settled in, giving up just four more hits over six innings to earn his 17th win against a mere three loses.

Herman's 17 wins are two more than any other major league hurler. At 4.03, Herman's ERA is a little on the high side, but the results speak for themselves. He's been very efficient at keeping runs from scoring in key situations. He's fanned 136 batters in 127 1/3 innings, walking 30. While hitters are averaging .233 against him, he keeps chalking up wins. In his last 10 starts, Herman is 8-1 as the Yankees have maintained a huge lead in the AL East.

D.J. LeMahieu, Mike Ford and Aaron Judge each socked solo homers off Kershaw.

With the Rays losing, the Yankees improved to a nine-game bulge in the division. On Monday, they head to Seattle for a three-game series, wrapping up a nine-game road trip.

Keuchel: 7 scoreless

National League

Winning their eighth straight, the Atlanta Braves rode the arm of Dallas Keuchel to a 2-1 win over the Mets, completing a three-game series sweep of their NL East opponents.

Donaldson: 2 solo HRs

Keuchel (5-5, 3.78) blanked the Mets for seven innings, allowing four hits while fanning seven. Sean Newcomb worked a scoreless eighth and Mark Melancon gave up a run in the ninth but still managed the save, his sixth of the season.

Josh Donaldson's two solo homers provided the winning edge. Donaldson has 32 homers on the season.

The win left Atlanta six up on the Nationals in the NL East. The Mets are in fourth place, 12 games out, 1/2-game behind the Phillies, both struggling to keep up in the wild card race. The Nationals have won five straight and hold a four-game lead over the Cubs for the top wild card. Chicago is 1 1/2 ahead of the Phillies for the second spot.

The Braves head to Colorado on Monday for a make-up game before two in Toronto, Tuesday and Wednesday, wrapping up their road trip.

Joc Pederson's Grand Slam Leads Dodgers; Dallas Keuchel Wins Houston Opener

Players of the Day for Monday, April 3, 2017

American League

The AL West is the place to be this season, as the division looks like a battle-to-the-end throw-down between Texas, Houston, and Seattle.

Keuchel: 7 scoreless

Two of those contenders hooked up on opening day in Houston as the Astros hosted the Mariners in the first of a four-game series, featuring an aces match-up between Seattle's Felix Hernandez and Houston's Dallas Keuchel.

In 2010, Hernandez won the AL Cy Young Award; the same was captured by Keuchel in 2015, making the opening day mound meeting something special.

Houton turned out to have the better of it, getting to King Felix for two runs over five innings on a pair of solo homers by George Springer in the first inning and Carlos Correa in the fourth.

Meanwhile, Keuchel was cruising along, allowing just two hits and no runs over seven innings, as the Astros prevailed over the Mariners, 3-0.

After a leadoff single by Segura, Keuchel set down ten straight, getting into a bit of trouble in the fourth, when he gave up his only other hit, to Robinson Cano, and walked two to load the bases. A grounder by Leonys Martin ended the threat, and, except for plunking Kyle Seager to lead off the seventh, Keuchel was perfect the rest of the way, fanning three.

The Astros and Mariners renew rivalries again on Tuesday. Gane two of the four-game set is scheduled for 8:10 pm ET.

Pedereson: Slammin'

National League

In Los Angeles, center field has been generally patrolled by one Joc Pederson the last two seasons. In 2015, Pederson had 101 hits, among them, 26 homers. Last season, he racked up 100 hits (while bringing his strikeout total down to 130, from 170 in 2015) with 25 dingers.

In the Dodgers' opening game of the 2017 season, Pederson got just one hit, but, as suspected, it was a home run, a thrid inning grand slam that put the Dodgers up 5-0 en route to a 14-3 slaughter of the hopeless San Diego Padres.

Played at Dodger Stadium before a crowd of 53,701, the Dodgers showed why they are considered the front-runner in the National League West, while the Padres put on a display that has many believing them to be baseball's worst team.

Pederson, who batted .246 last season, drove in the Dodgers' first run with a sac fly in the first inning, but appears to be making strides toward increasing his home run and RBI total (five on the day) and possibly reducing the number of strikeouts, though he did whiff once in three at-bats on Monday.

The Dodgers and Padres hook up again Tuesday night in the second game of their four-game series.

Dallas Keuchel, Astros Shut Down Yankees, 3-0, Advance to Face KC in AL Playoffs

Players of the Day for Tuesday, October 6, 2015

American League

Keuchel: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER

The Yankees - a disaster waiting to happen after backing into the playoffs by losing six of their final seven games - were summarily dismissed before a disappointed hometown crowd by Dallas Keuchel and the Houston Astros, as the NL West wild card triumphed, 3-0, sending the sorry Yanks home for the winter.

Houston starter, Keuchel, the AL's only 20-game winner (20-8), earned his first post-season victory, giving six innings of shutout ball on three hits, walking one and fanning seven.

While Keuchel may have been dominant, the Yankees were absolutely punchless, even after manager Joe Girardi had his players "rested" during their week-long, season-ending slump. The Yankees first playoff appearance in three years was a complete flop, with only two baserunners advancing past first base on the night.

Houston got solo homers from Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez in the second and fourth innings, respectively, both over overrated Yankee hurler, Masahiro Tanaka. The Astros added another run in the seventh, in one of the dullest wild card games in its short history.

Houston advances to the divisional round, where they will meet the Kansas City Royals in a seven-game series beginning Thursday at KC, the AL team with the best record during the regular season, at 95-67. Game time is set for 7:30 pm EDT.

National League

There were no National League games scheduled for Tuesday.

The Pirates host the Cubs in the NL wild card game Wednesday night at 8:00 pm EDT.

Carlos Correa, Dallas Keuchel Keep Houston in Playoff Race; Cubs' Jake Arrieta Improves to 22-6

Players of the Day for Friday, October 2, 2015

American League

Carlos Correa

Keuchel: 20-8

Houston remained in the running for the AL West, whipping the Arizona Diamondbacks, 21-5, while the Angels took a game from the first-place Rangers, 2-1, leaving Houston two games behind Texas with two games remaining.

Arrieta: 22-6

Houston starter, Dallas Keuchel, picked up what was probably the easiest win of the season, tossing six innings and allowing two runs on six hits, fanning three. The win made Keuchel the sole 20-game winner in the American League, at 20-8.

Carlos Correa was the hitting star for the Astros, going 3-for-4 with a single, triple, solo home run, four RBI and four runs.

The Astros will look to make it three wins in a row and two straight against Arizona when they take the field Saturday at 8:10 pm EDT. Houston is one game up on the Angles and two games better than Minnesota in the race for the second wild card.

They have a chance to be the home team for the wild card game, but the Yankees (postponed Friday) would have to lose all three of their games in Baltimore this weekend. The Yanks have a double-header in Baltimore on Saturday and close out the season at Camden Yards on Sunday.

National League

Jake Arrieta improved to 22-6, as the Chicago Cubs kept pressure on the Pirates in the wild card race with a 6-1 victory over the Brewers in Milwaukee Friday.

Arrieta worked six innings, allowed two hits and no runs, striking out seven.

Chicago remained two games back of Pittsburgh as the Pirates prevailed over the Reds, 6-4, in 12 innings, extending the Reds' losing streak to 13 games.

Both the Pirates and Cubs have two games left to play, so the Pirates, with a win or a Chicago loss, could wrap up the wild card home field on Saturday.

The Cubs go back to work Saturday night at 7:10 pm EDT when they face the Brewers in game two of their three-game series.