Eric Thames Blasts Game-Winner For Brewers; Rick Porcello Tosses One-Hitter For Red Sox

Players of the Day for Friday, August 3, 2018

Porcello stymies Yankee

American League

Boston drubbed the Yankees, 15-7, in the opener of their four games at Fenway Park on Thursday, and on Friday, they came back for another win, as Rick Porcello tossed a one-hit, complete game, 4-1 win.

Facing one batter more than the minimum, Porcello was, for the most part, untouchable. The sole hit for New York came in the top of the third. Miguel Andujar connected for a solo home run, cutting into Boston's 4-0 lead, but it proved to be all the Yankees' could muster off the Boston righty, as Porcello retired the next 21 straight batters.

Nothing short of brilliant, Porcello fanned nine and needed just 86 pitches for his 10 career complete game.

Porcello tied the Yankees' Luis Severino for the AL lead in wins, with 14. Severino suffered the loss, his third straight, dropping his record to 14-5. Porcello improved to 14-5.

The victory pushed the Red Sox lead in the AL East to 7 1/2 games. The Yankees have lost three straight but remain the wild card leader, with a 4 1/2-game lead over Oakland.

Game three of the series is scheduled to begin play Saturday, 4:10 pm EDT at Fenway Park.

Thames: Game-winning HR

National League

Eric Thames' three-run homer with two down in the bottom of the ninth propelled the Brewers to a 5-3 victory over the Rockies, Friday night in Milwaukee.

Thames, who spent three years playing professional baseball in Korea, had just one hit on the night, but made it count in the most crucial of situations.

With the Rockies ahead, 3-2, Colorado closer Wade Davis got two outs in the ninth before walking Jesus Aguilar and Travis Shaw, putting the ever-dangerous Thames at the plate. Orlando Arcia had been inserted for Aguilar as a pinch runner, but he never needed his speed, trotting home in front of Shaw on Thames' 404-foot rip into the right field stands.

From late April though early June Thames was on the DL and he's still not completely on his game, with 14 homers and a mere 34 RBI in under 200 at-bats. He's recently back from a 10-day stint on the DL. Since rejoining the Brewers on July 24, he's hit two homers and driven in six runs.

Both teams are vying either for their respective division titles or a wild card spot. The Brewers trail the Cubs by a game in the NL Central and hold the top position in the wild card hunt. Colorado has lost three straight and trail the Dodgers and Diamondbacks by two games in the West.

The teams will get together again in Milwaukee for game two of the series, Saturday, 7:10 pm EDT.

James Paxton Shuts Down Houston In Seattle's 2-0 Win; Eric Thames Leads Brewers Past Dodgers

Players of the Day for Monday, July 30, 2018

American League

Paxton: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER

James Paxton tossed seven innings of shutout ball and Nelson Cruz doubled in two sixth-inning runs for a 2-0 win in the opener of a three-game series between the Astros and Mariners in Seattle.

Paxton (9-4) allowed three hits and no walks, fanning eight, needing only 82 pitches to stymie the first place Astros. Alex Colome worked the eighth, giving way to Edwin Diaz, who picked up his 40th save of the year. Diaz leads the majors in saves.

Seattle's win moved them to within three games of Houston in the AL West. The Astros have lost five straight.

Game two begins Tuesday, at 7:10 pm PDT.

National League

Thames: 3-run homer

In Los Angeles, the Brewers opened a key four-game series against the Dodgers with a 5-2 victory, creeping to within one game of the idle Cobs in the NL Central division.

Eric Thames provided the winning edge, socking a three-run homer in the third inning. Five Milwaukee pitchers held the Dodgers at bay for the duration of the contest, allowing just five hits.

Thames, who missed nearly a month and a half between April and June, has 14 homers and 32 RBI.

The loss left the Dodgers a mere 1/2-game ahead of Arizona in the hotly-contested NL West. The Rockies are one game back.

Directly out of the all star break, the Dodgers took two of three from the Brewers in Milwaukee.

Game two is slated for a 7:10 pm PDT start on Tuesday.

Matt Davidson, Miguel Gonzalez Boost White Sox; Eric Thames Continues Home Run Barrage For Brewers

Players of the Day for Monday, April 24, 2017

American League

Rookie slugger Davidson

Matt Davidson hasn't had many at-bats this season (38), but he's making people stand up and take notice.

In an eight-run sixth inning, Davidson had two hits and three RBI. The White Sox DH set a career high with three hits and tied his single-game best with four RBI. Davidson started the scoring in the big inning with an RBI double and ended it with a two run single. Earlier, he launched a solo shot in the second, his fourth home run of the season, to give Milwauke a short-lived 1-0 lead. He's batting a solid .368 with 14 RBI after yesterday's show.

The decisive inning in the White Sox's 12-1 rout of Kansas City was Chicago's highest-scoring inning in five years.

Gonzalez: 3-0

Starter Miguel Gonzalez had more than enough support to get to 3-0. He threw eight innings of two-hit ball, giving up a sole unearned run in the third, on a booted ground ball by third baseman, Todd Frazier.

Gonzalez was cruising, at one point setting down 12 straight Royal would-be hitters. He struck out five and issued one walk.

The Sox evened their record at 9-9 and are just a game behind AL Central co-leaders, Detroit and Cleveland. Chicago hosts the Royals for game two of their three-game series at 8:10 pm ET Tuesday night.

National League

Eric Thames is absolutely crushing it this season for the Brewers.

Thames: 10 HRs leads majors

Thames socked a pair of home runs, improving upon his major league lead in the dinger category. Thames has ten. Nobody else has more than seven. He's batting .373 and has 17 RBI since returning from a two year stint in Korea where he had 105 homers in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Previously, the slugger played two seasons (2011, 2012) in the majors, with Toronto and Settle.

While the Brewers were piling up 10 runs over the first four innings, Thames was doing his part with a solo shot in the first and a two-run blast in the second as the Brewers went on to whip the Reds, 11-7, in the first game of their three-game set in Milwaukee.

The two squads will be back at it again Tuesday night for game two of the series. Game time is 8:40 pm ET.

Aaron Judge Powers Yankees to 8th Straight; Eric Thams Homers In 5th Striaght As Brewers Top Cubs

Aaron Judge

Players of the Day for Monday, April 17, 2017

American League

Undertaking a thorough house-cleaning in 2016, the Yankees brought up some young players in their farm system and recruited a couple of thoroughbred free agents in the off-season. The moves by the front office must have been on the right track because the Yanks won their eighth straight Monday night, ripping the visiting White Sox, 7-4.

One of those free agents, Matt Holliday - acquired from St. Louis - got things going for the Yanks in the third inning, belting a mammoth (459 feet) three-run homer off Chicago starter Derek Holland, and one of those youths - rookie Aaron Judge - completed the five-run inning by legging out an infield single, scoring Chase Headley from third.

After showing off his legs, Judge showed off his prodigious power, smacking a two-run homer in the fifth to complete the scoring for the home team, driving the ball 405 feet to left center. It was Judge's 4th home run of the season and his three RBI in the game gave him 11 for the year.

The Yankees will be looking for their ninth straight when they host the White Sox Tuesday night in game two of their three-game series at 7:05 pm ET.

Eric Thames

National League

30-year-old Eric Thames is a thumper. He has always been a thumper, and will likely always be a thumper.

Thames, who strikes out far too often for most teams to take him seriously as an everyday player, tied a team record Monday by homering in his fifth straight game, a third-inning solo blast that gave the Brewers a 4-3 lead en route to a 6-4 victory over the Cubs.

The shot gave Thames seven homers on the season, which leads the majors. The journeyman also has 12 RBI and a .405 average as he also singled, doubled and scored three times in the win over the Cubs.

Milwaukee's win left the Brewers with an 8-6 record, 1/2 game behind NL Central leader, Cincinnati.

The Brewers and Cubs play game two of their three-game set at Wrigely Field at 8:05 pm ET Tuesday.