Reeling Royals Downed by Dayan Viciedo Slam in White Sox Win; Ichiro Gets 4,000th Hit; Shin-Soo Choo Leads Reds Rout of Arizona

Players of the Day for Wednesday, August 21, 2013

American League

Dayan Viciedo

Now is not the time for a contending team to go into a funk, but it seems that is just what is happening to the Kansas City Royals, who have hung around the upper echelons of the AL most of the year, but have now lost four straight, dropping 6 1/2 games back from the second wild card.

That wild card slot is held currently by Oakland, Tampa Bay in control of the first wild card, 1 1/2 better than the A's. In front of the Royals are the Indians, Orioles and Yankees, so, it's going to be an uphill battle.

The latest loss for Kansas City came against the lowly White Sox, who have the worst record in the AL Central division. Chicago has taken the first two games of the three-game series in KC, winning Wednesday's event by a 5-2 score, fueled mainly by a grand slam homer by Dayan Viciedo. The blast came in the fifth inning, when the Sox scored all five of their runs.

Viciedo's homer was his 11th on the year. He also singled twice, going 3-for-4 on the night.

Kansas City and Chicago wrap up their series with the White Sox seeking the sweep, Thursday night at 8:10 pm EDT.

NOTABLE: "Omedetou" to Ichiro Suzuki, who had his 4,000th hit as a professional ball player with a single in the first inning off Toronto starter, R.A. Dickey. Ichiro had previously been 0-for-10 against Dickey. Pete Rose, with 4,256 hits, and Ty Cobb, with 4,191, are the only two players that have reached 4,000 hits in the major leagues. With the single, Suzuki broke a tie with Lou Gehrig for 59th all-time, his his 2,722nd major league hit coming in his 13th season. The speedy outfielder amassed 1,278 hits in Japan's Pacific League, where he played nine seasons with Orix.

National League

Shin-Soo Choo

En route to a 10-7 win over Arizona, the Reds built an 8-0 lead through the first four innings, powered by leadoff hitter, Shin-Soo Choo, who led off the game with his 16th homer of the season and proceeded to go 4-for-5, adding two singles and a double, scoring three runs and driving in three.

Choo is batting .281 on the year, with 83 runs, third in the league behind teammate Joey Votto (84) and league leader Matt Carpenter (92) of the Cardinals.

Cincinnati starter Mike Leake took the win (11-5), cruising through the first four innings, but was tagged for four runs in the fifth.

The Reds took a 2-1 lead in the four-game series with the Diamondbacks and have a secure hold on the second wild card position, six games ahead of Arizona. Cincinnati is still in the midst of the best race in the majors, trailing the Pirates by 2 1/2 games. St. Louis is in second place, a single game behind Pittsburgh.

Arizona closes out their series in Cincinnati, Thursday afternoon. Game time is 12:35 pm EDT.

Today's Trivia: With Ichiro reaching the career 4,000 milestone, which player was next-closest to that mark, Hank Aaron, Tris Speaker or Honus Wagner? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Willie Mays and Hank Aaron each led the National League in home runs four times. The two dominated from 1962 through 1967, each leading the league three times. In 1963, Aaron tied with Mays' teammate, Willie McCovey, each hitting 44 homers.

Alex Rios' 6 Hits, Dayan Viciedo's Two Homers Lead White Sox over Tigers; Wily Peralta Tosses 3-Hit Shutout for Brewers

Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 9, 2013

American League

Rios: 6-for-6

It isn't often that a player gets six hits in a game. So rare is the feat that it's only happened 32 times in the American League, or about once every three years, on average.

It also isn't very often that the Tigers lose big with Justin Verlander on the mound, but that's exactly what happened when Alex Rios knocked out a triple and five singles, leading the White Sox to an 11-4 victory.

Dayan Viciedo

Rios' big night was part of a 23-hit attack, 12 of which came off Verlander, who yielded five runs, working into the eighth. That was when the Sox exploded a 1-1 tie, scoring seven runs in the frame and three more in the ninth.

Rios led off the eighth inning with a single, stole second and scored on Adam Dunn's two-run homer. Later in the inning he singled again, driving in a run, and singled again in the ninth, for another RBI. Riios also stole second in the fifth inning, making his line for the night, 6-for-6, a run, two RBI, two steals.

Dayan Viciedo also had a huge effort, with a single and two homers in four at-bats, four RBI and two runs.

The result left the White Sox still in last place, 13 games out, and Detroit in first, with a 2 1/2 game lead over Cleveland.

Game two of the series is 7:08 pm EDT, Wednesday night.

National League

Wily Peralta

There hasn't been a heck of a lot to cheer about in Milwaukee this season, but starting pitcher, Wily Peralta, gave the home town fans a treat with a three-hit shutout in the Brewers' 2-0 win over the Reds.

Peralta (6-9), a 24-year-old rookie out of the Dominican Republic, notched his first complete game and first shutout of his brief, but promising, major league career, fanning six and walking four.

Shin-Soo Choo led off the game with a single, but was doubled up on a liner. After that, the Reds didn't get another hit until Derrick Robinson tripled in the seventh, but was gunned down at home, trying to stretch the hit into a score.

The Brewers got their two runs on Logan Shafer's home run in the fifth inning, which proved to be all Peralta needed to get the win.

Cincinnati's loss dropped them four back of St. Louis - winners of four straight - in the Central division. The Brewers continue in last place, 17 1/2 games out.

Milwaukee will be looking for the series sweep when they host the Reds at 2:10 pm EDT on Wednesday.

Today's Trivia: Who had a higher lifetime batting average, Lou Brock or Maury Wills? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Tom (Flash) Gordon converted 54 straight save opportunities for the Boston Red Sox in 1998 and 1999. After blowing his first opportunity of the 1998 season, Gordon saved 43 straight, then added 11 in a row to start the 1999 campaign.

Adam Wainwright Goes Six in Cardinal Win; Jordan Danks, Dayan Viciedo Power 15-3 White Sox Victory

Players of the Day for Friday, March 15, 2013

Grapefruit League

Adam Wainwright

While it appears that the Cardinals won't have Chris Carpenter for the 2013 season, they can pin their pitching hopes on veteran hurler Adam Wainwright, who improved to 3-1 with his longest outing of the Spring in a 5-1 win over the Nationals.

Wainwright got the win by going six solid innings, giving up three hits and a walk while fanning two, not giving up the nationals' only run of the game until his final inning of work, by which time the Cards had established a comfortable lead.

In 2009, Wainwright led the league in starts (34), innings (233) and wins (19), and is expected to give the Cardinals plenty of innings this season.

10-8 St. Louis moved into a tie for fourth with Boston in the Grapefruit standings while the Nats dropped to 9-9.

National League

Viciedo: GS, 6 RBI

Judging by the 15-3 beatdown it would appear that the White Sox are the team to beat in Chicago this year, as they topped the crosstown rival Cubs for the second time in exhibition play.

Danks: 3-4, 5 RBI

The Sox hammered out 15 hits - eight of them for extra bases. Left fielder, Dayan Viciedo, nicknamed "the Tank," socked an opposite field grand slam in the fourth inning and drove in two more with a double to give him a game-high six RBI.

Fellow outfielder Jordan Danks also doubled and homered, and added a single in four at-bats, driving in five runs in the rout. Danks has spent the majority of the past three years with Charlotte in the International Leauge (AAA), while Viciedo - also a product of the White Sox farm system - smashed 25 homers and drove in 83 runs for Chicago in 147 games last season.

The 9-7 White Sox have outscored opponents by 26 runs this Spring and are looking to challenge the Tigers in the AL Central throughout the regular season.

Johnny Cueto Wins 4th Straight as Reds Retain First Place; Dayan Viciedo Powers White Sox Win

Players of the Day for Saturday, June 23, 2012

American League

Dayan Viciedo

Keeping the AL Central race tight, the Chicago White Sox crept to within 1/2 game of division-leading Cleveland with an 8-6 home win over Milwaukee on Saturday.

Leading the charge was Dayan Viciedo, who went 3-for-4 with his 14th home run, a two-run belt off Brewer starter, Randy Wolf. Viciedo also singled twice, each tie driving home a teammate for a score and scored the tying run in the bottom of the sixth, knotting the game at 6-6. The White Sox added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings for the victory.

Milwaukee and Chicago have split the first two games of the series and play the rubber game Sunday afternoon.


National League

Cueto: 7 scoreless

How good was Johnny Cueto in the Reds' 6-0 win over the Twins?

Well, he did go 0-2 at the plate, but managed to drive in a pair of runs, first on a squeeze bunt that got Scott Rolen across the plate in the bottom of the fourth, to put Cincinnati up 4-0, and then delivered a ground ball with one out and the bases loaded in the sixth to again get Rolen home.

Oh, and besides helping his own cause at the plate, Cueto won his fourth straight start, limiting Minnesota batters to three hits over seven full innings, striking out nine and walking one.

He fanned the last three batters he faced before being lifted to open the eighth after throwing 118 pitches.

Improving to 9-3, Cueto ended the Reds' four-game losing streak and kept them a game up on Pittsburgh, who knocked off Detroit, 4-1.

Cueto is almost a certain lock to make the all star roster for the NL. His 2.21 ERA is the fifth best in the league, his 101.2 innings pitched is tied for second and the nine wins are tied for fourth.

The Twins and Reds split the first two games of the series at Great American Ball Park and finish up interleague play Sunday afternoon.

INTERLEAGUE SCOREBOARD: The National League made up a little ground on the AL, winning seven of 13 games on Friday and going 10-4 on Saturday, though they still trail, 129-106 with one day of interleague games remaining.

Mets' Miguel Batista Shuts Down Brewers Over Seven; Dayan Viciedo Leads White Sox Past Tigers

Players of the Day for Monday, May 14, 2012

American League

Dayan Viciedo

It's been a steady start to the season for the White Sox, thanks in part to a resurgent Adam Dunn, who socked his 12th home run in Chicago's 7-5 win over Detroit, but also because of key contributions from new starters, like outfielder Dayan Viciedo, who drove in four key runs.

With the Sox down 5-2, Viciedo launched his fourth home run of the season in the fifth inning, a two-run job that got Chicago to within a run, and followed up in the sixth inning with a two run single that put the White Sox ahead for good.

Viciedo's 2-for-3, four RBI night was enough to keep the White Sox in the hunt, 2 1/2 games behind surprising Cleveland in the AL Central. The win also shaved Detroit's second place lead over Chicago to a slim 1/2 game.

The Tigers and White Sox will complete their two-game series in Chicago Tuesday afternoon.


National League

Miguel Batista

Keeping pace with NL East front-running Washington, the NY Mets turned to well-traveled,42-year-old Miguel Batista in the first of a two-game series with the visiting Milwaukee Brewers.

Now with his 11th major league team, Batista turned in seven scoreless innings against the Brew Crew, helping the Mets to a hard-earned 3-1 victory.

Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo gave up just two hits, but also allowed six walks and a pair of runs over six innings as the Mets played a little small ball, including a suicide squeeze play in the bottom of the sixth which provided the two-run cushion.

Batista was masterful from the hill, throwing 64 of 108 pitches for strikes in just his second start of the season. He fanned six batters and walked only one, picking up his first win of the season.

A pair of Mets relievers worked a perfect eighth innings, and closer Frank francisco made things interesting, allowing a run in the ninth while picking up his ninth save.

The Mets trail the Nationals by two games and Atlanta by 1 1/2 in the division.