DeJesus Pounds D-Backs; Casto's Pinch Hit HR Lifts Nats

Players of the Day from Sunday, June 15, 2008 American League David DeJesus was Mr. Do-It-All for the Royals in Sunday's 8-2 win over Arizona. Batting in the leadoff spot, DeJesus opened the game with a single and came around to score on a wild pitch, then hit a grand slam in the 4th inning, and followed that up with an RBI double in the 6th innings, to go 3-for-5 with 5 RBI and a pair of runs scored. DeJesus, who patrols center field for the Royals, raised his batting average to .304, just .001 behind team leader Mark Grudzielanek.

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Notes: The Detroit Tigers continue to come around, winning their 6th straight, a 5-4 squeaker of the Dodgers, and are now six games behind the White Sox in the Central. Ahead of them are Minnesota, 4 1/2 back, and Cleveland, down 5 1/2. The division, which was projected to be a hard-fought race, is shaping up for the second half of the season. National League Talk about laboring in obscurity. Rookie third baseman Kory Casto hit his first major league home run on Sunday, shattering a 2-2 tie to lead the Nationals to a 6-2 win over Seattle. Pinch-hitting for Wily Mo Pena in the 8th inning, Casto delivered with a three-run blast to right off Seattle reliever Mark Lowe for a 5-2 edge. The Nats scored another run in the inning for the final score and a three-game sweep of the Mariners. That makes Seattle easily the worst team in the majors, with a record of 24-45. Other contenders are the Nationals (29-42), Colorado (28-41) and, of course, the Kansas City Royals (28-42) Notes: Fading fast. The Houston Astros, who were challenging in the Central Division just a few weeks ago, dropped their 5th straight, a 13-0 embarrassment at the hands of the Yankees, but that only tells part of the story. Since May 27, the Astros are just 3-14 and have scored 2 runs or less in 9 of their last 17 games.

SF's Lewis Hits for Cycle; DeJesus Leads Royals to 11-1 Win

Sunday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League David DeJesus (right) doubled twice and stroked a pair of singles in 6 at-bats to help the Kansas City Royals to their most lopsided win of the season, an 11-1 decision over the White Sox in Chicago. DeJesus, one of the few bright spots for the otherwise dismal Royals, is batting .292 out of the leadoff spot. On Sunday, he drove in 2 runs and scored 3 times, more than enough needed by starter Jorge de la Rosa, who allowed just one run on 3 hits and 3 walks over 7 innings to improve his record to 4-3. The 11 runs scored by the Royals matched their season high from April 20, an 11-7 win over Minnesota. Jack Cust capped a 5-run 9th-inning rally with a 3-run homer to give the Oakland A's a 10-7 win over visiting Cleveland. The game-ending blast was his 5th home run in the last 4 games and 6th in 7 games total since joining the A's. Cust also doubled and scored in the 4th inning. Cust has 9 hits in 26 at-bats (.346), 7 of which have been for extra bases. Boston 6 Baltimore 5 - the Red Sox scored all 6 of their runs in the bottom of the 9th inning, capped off when O's reliever Chris Ray dropped the toss from Kevin Millar on Julio Lugo's grounder, which would have been the final out, but instead allowed Jason Varitek and Eric Hinske to score the tying and winning runs. The win gave Boston 2 of 3 in their home series against Baltimore and put them 8 games up on both the O's and Yankees. The Twins weren't about to let Detroit embarass them with a sweep at home, especailly not on national TV and Torii Hunter (right) made extra sure it didn't happen, leading Minnesota to a monstrous 16-4 beating of the Tigers. Hunter hit a 3-run homer in the 1st, doubled in a pair in the 4th and blasted a 2-run bomb in the 7th inning to account for a 3-5, 7 RBI night with 2 runs scored. Hunter, who had a 23-game hitting streak snapped on May 10, is batting .324 with 8 homers and 29 RBI through 35 games. Other AL Scores Tampa Bay 2 Toronto 1 - J. Seo (W, 2-3) 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K Texas 7 LA Angels 6 Seattle 2 NY Yankees 1 National League Just called up this past Thursday when Dave Roberts was put on the 15-day DL, rookie Fred Lewis (right) hit for the cycle Sunday, going 5 for 6, driving in 4 runs and scoring 3 times as the San Francisco Giants slaughtered the Rockies, 15-2, to split their 4-game series in Colorado. Lewis led off the game with a double and scored on a balk. He then homered with two aboard in the 4th inning, tripled to drive in another run in the fifth, and singled twice in the 7th, scoring once again. Each of Lewis' extra base hits were his first of the season and the triple and homer the first of his major league career. Lewis played in 13 games last season for the Giants, going 5-11. Today's totals made him 7-14 with 7 RBI and 5 runs scored. Not a bad start for a leadoff center fielder. Rafael Furcal went 4-4, including two doubles, stole a pair of bases, scored twice and drove in a run and Nomar Garcaiparra stroked 3 singles in 5 at-bats, drove in 3 runs and scored once as the LA Dodgers completed a 3-game sweep of the visiting Cincinnati Reds with a 10-5 win. NY Mets 9 Milwaukee 1 - Damion Easley went 3-5, including his 5th home run of the season (a 2-run shot), drove in 4 total and scored twice in support of the 2-hit pitching of Oliver Perez who struck out 6 over 8 1/3 innings and allowed a run on Bill Hall's 1-out homer in the 9th. Prior to that, the only hit off Perez (4-3) was by opposing pitcher Chris Capuano, who faced defeat for the first time this season (5-1). Rookie Justin Germano worked 7 innings, allowing just 3 hits as San Diego whitewashed the visiting St. Louis Cardinals, 3-0. Germano didn't allow a walk and struck out 3 in his second start of 2007. Called up to replace Clay Hensley in the Padres' rotation, Germano pitched 6 innings at Atlanta on May 8, gave up just 3 hits and a run, but did not figure in the decision as the Padres lost, 3-2. Both Perez, who came to New York via trade in 2006 from Pittsburgh, and Easley, acquired in the off-season from Arizona, have solidified the Mets and contributed to their success. Perez sports an ERA of 3.00 and has 43 Ks in 42 innings. Easley is batting a solid .283 and often bats in the pivotal #2 hole. In his last 4 games as a regular, he's 8-16 with a pair of homers. Pittsburgh's Chris Duffy went 3-4, stole his 6th base of the season, drove in 2 runs and scored 3 times as the Pirates throttled the visiting Atlanta Braves, 13-2. Other NL Scores Washington 6 Florida 4 - Nationals sweep 3-game series from Marlins Chicago Cubs 4 Philadelphia 1 - A. Soriano, 0-4, snaps 20-gm. hit streak Houston 5 Arizona 2