Victor Martinez Leads Tigers to 7-2 Win over Indians; Francisco Liriano, Garrett Jones Power Pirates Past St. Louis, 5-0

Players of the Day for Friday, August 30, 2013

American League

Victor Martinez

Victor Martinez doubled in a pair of runs in the third inning and scored Detroit's final run in the seventh, as the Tigers took another step closer to the AL Central championship with a rain-shortened, 7-2 win over second-place Cleveland.

Opening the three-game series in Detroit, the Tigers took a leg up on their closest pursuer with the win, extending their lead in the division to 7 1/2 games. Cleveland has lost four in a row and has fallen five games behind Oakland in the race for the final wild card spot.

Third baseman Miguel Cabrera left the game in the second inning with an abdominal injury. His status remains day-to-day.

The Tigers will look to further their advantage when they host the Indians in game two, Saturday at 7:08 pm EDT.

Liriano: 15-6

National League

Even though Francisco Liriano didn't get his first start until May 11, his eight innings of two-hit, shutout ball against the St. Louis Cardinals was good enough for his 15th win of the season, tying him for the lead in the National League, as the Pirates downed the Cardinals, 5-0.

Garrett Jones

Liriano (15-6) was in complete control throughout, walking two and striking out six. No Cardinal runner reached second base while he was on the mound, as the lefty baffled St. Louis hitters with sliders and cut fastballs. It was Liriano's third straight win over the Cardinals in the last 30 days. on July 29, he allowed four hits and one earned run and on August 14, he tossed a complete game against them, again allowing four hits and one earned.

Friday's performance showed just how well Liriano has mastered the St. Louis lineup, the victory earning the Pirates a tie with St. Louis in the NL Central, the two teams having identical, 78-56 records.

Garrett Jones accounted for four of the five Pirate runs, doubling in two in the opening inning, socking a solo homer in the fourth and driving in the final Pittsburgh run with a single in the fifth, going 3-for-4 with four RBI.

The two teams will undo the knot atop the division when they meet for game two of the three-game series at 7:05 pm Saturday night in Pittsburgh.

Today's Trivia: True or False: Johnny Bench never led the National League in home runs for a single season. (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Mike Schmidt led the National League in home runs eight times from 1974 through 1986.

Mike Moustakas Leads KC Rout of Blue Jays; Garrett Jones, Andrew McCutchen Power Pirates

Players of the Day for Monday, July 2, 2012

American League

You'd never know it because they get so little coverage, but the Kansas City Royals are right in the middle of the hunt for the AL Central, hanging at 5 1/2 back after their 11-3 win over the Blue Jays Monday.

Mike Moustakas

At 36-42, the Royals aren't even a .500 team, but only division leader Chicago (42-37) and Cleveland (40-39) are above the break even mark in the AL's weakest division.

The Royals have patched together a contender with a combination of fair pitching and solid hitting. At .265, the Royals are tied for fourth in team batting average, though their home runs (65) and RBI (302) numbers rank near the bottom of the league.

One player who can contribute to making those power numbers better is third baseman Mike Moustakas, who doubled and socked a seventh-inning grand slam in five at-bats, driving in five runs to lead KC over Toronto.

In his second year with the Royals, Moustakas has 14 hoers and 43 RBI, to go with a .266 batting average.


National League

The Pittsburgh Pirates will not go away.

Garrett Jones

With their 11-2 win over Houston, the Pirates maintained their hold on second place in the NL Central, one game back of the Reds, who topped the Dodgers, 8-2, holding onto their slim lead.

Andrew McCutchen

The Pirates banged out 18 hits in their rout, six players having multiple-hit games, among them Andrew McCutchen, who went 4-for-5, scored three times and drove in a run, and Garrett Jones, hwo led the team with four RBI, also going 4-for-5 and scoring three runs with a double and a two-run homer in the fourth, when the Pirates broke the game open with four runs.

The win was the opener of a four-game set with the Astros, one of the league's worst teams at 32-48. Pittsburgh will host the Giants for three games following the series with Houston, leading up to the all star break.

Meanwhile, the Reds continue their three-game series at LA, and then move down the coast for four games with the Padres, another of the NL dregs, with a 31-50 record.

Jemile Weeks, Cliff Pennington Lead A's; Garrett Jones, Alex Presley Part of 19-Hit Pirate Attack

Players of the Day for Thursday, March 15, 2012

Garrett Jones

Grapefruit League

Alex Presley

Pittsburgh scored ten times in the first inning and banged out 19 hits en route to a 17-6 trampling of the Twins, at Minnesota's Springtime home in Fort Myers, Florida.

Garrett Jones was the rudest of the guests, going 3-for-4 with a single, double and his second home run of the season. Leadoff hitter Alex Presley also singled, doubled and homered in four at-bats, driving in a pair and scoring three times. A rookie, Presley is vying for the Pirates' center field position and is having a solid Spring, hitting .429 through nine games.

Jones is also off to a strong start, batting .400 with eight RBI.

Cactus League

Jemile Weeks

Cliff Pennington

Oakland second baseman Jemile Weeks socked a pair of home runs and shortstop Cliff Pennington went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles, two singles and two RBI as the A's topped the Rangers, 11-7, in exhibition action.

Both of Weeks' home runs - his second and third of the Spring - were solo shots, the first blast led off the game. He later singled and scored as the A's pounded out 14 hits against seven Texas hurlers.

The 1-2 batters in the lineup, Weeks and Pennington are batting .419 and .464, respectively.

Pennington is back for his third full season with the A's after batting .264 last year. Weeks returns following a successful rookie campaign in which he hit .303 and swiped 22 bases in 97 games.

Verlander Becomes First 18-Game Winner; Homers by McCutchen, Walker, Jones Fuel Pirate Victory

Players of the Day for Tuesday, August 16, 2011

American League

Verlander: 18 Wins

There was no shortage of runs across the American League on Tuesday, but the Minnesota Twins didn't exactly share in the bounty, as Detroit's Justin Verlander became the first 18-game winner in the majors as the Tigers retained their stranglehold on first place in the Central division with a 7-1 victory over the fading Twins.

Verlander didn't have his best stuff, but pitched well enough to hold Minnesota to one run over 7 1/3 innings of work, throwing 81 of 122 pitches for strikes as his teammates built a huge lead, scoring two in the 4th, three in the 5th and two more runs in the 6th.

The loss dropped Minnesota 11 1/2 back of Detroit and likely out of contention. The Tigers, meanwhile, increased their lead on Cleveland, losers to the White Sox, 8-7 in 14 innings, to 3 games. Chicago remained 3 1/2 out.

McCutchen: 3-run HR

Verlander struck out 8 and allowed seven hits and a walk. Looking more and more like a shoo-in for the AL Cy Young Award, he lowered his ERA to 2.31 and increased his league-leading strikeout total to 204.

National League

Walker tied it
in the 9th

Thanks in part to the Pittsburgh Pirates, life and the pursuit of the NL Central crown got a little bit easier for the first place Milwaukee Brewers.

While the Brewers were winning their fifth straight with a 2-1 win over the Dodgers, the Pirates, trying to remain relevant, took a swipe at second place St. Louis, beating them for the second time in two days, 5-4, in 11 innings.

Jones won it in 11th

Andrew McCutchen continued his impressive season for the Bucs, swatting a three-run homer - his 17th - in the 3rd inning of Cardinal starter Chris Carpenter, but, after Albert Pujols hit his 30th home run and David Freese drove in another, the game was tied at 3-3 in the 6th.

St. Louis took a 4-3 advantage in the top of the ninth, Niel Walker tied it back up with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, setting the stage for Garrett Jones' game winner in the 11th, a leadoff, walk-off solo blast that left the Pirates 13 games back, but, more importantly for the Brewers, dropped the Cardinals to seven games off the pace.