Anthony Rizzo Socks Grand Slam in Cubs Win; Houston Belts Twins, 8-0, on Hank Conger Grand Slam

Players of the Day for Friday, September 4, 2015

American League

Hank Conger

Anthony Rizzo

Already leading 3-0, Hank Conger uncorked a fourth-inning grand slam off Twins' starter Mike Pelfrey, blowing the game wide open en route to an 8-0 Houston win.

Batting out of the nine hole, Conger later singled in another run to complete the scoring for the Astros.

Conger has played in 58 games this season, batting .220 with 10 homers and 27 RBI.

Houston starter, Collin McHugh worked 7 1/3 scoreless innings, scattering seven hits and striking out six. He improved to 15-7 with a 3.75 ERA.

The Astros increased their lead over second-place Texas to three games, thanks to the Angels' 5-2 win over the Rangers.

Minnesota will try to even the series in game two of the three-game series in Houston on Saturday at 7:10 pm EDT.

National League

Anthony Rizzo highlighted an eight-run fifth inning with a grand slam, his 28th long ball of the season, sending the Cubs past the Diamondbacks, 14-5, in the opener of a three-game series at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Rizzo upped his RBI total to 83 on the year but the Cubs could not make up any ground on the Pirates, who are currently four games to the good in the race for the first wild card and home field for the one-game playoff.

In the opener of a three-game series in St. Louis, the Pittsburgh Pirates set off a barrage of 17 hits in a 9-3 rout of the NL Central division leaders, but still trail the Cardinals by 5 1/2 games.

In the race for the second wild card, Chicago has a healthy 7 1/2 game lead over the Washington Nationals, who have moved past the slumping Giants, losers of seven straight.

Game two of the series in Chicago is slated for a 2:20 pm EDT start.

Hank Conger May Fill Void for Angels; Billingsley Stifles Cubs over Six

 Players of the Day for Tuesday, March 22, 2011

American League

Hank Conger

With Mike Napoli no longer on the roster, the LA Angels need a catcher and the competition between veterans Jeff Mathis and Bobby Wilson and rookie Hank Conger is heating up.

As the Angels were in the process of putting a 14-6 whipping on Kansas City, Conger, the kid with the big upside, socked his first home run of the Spring and added a single and double in four at-bats, driving in three runs and scoring twice.

Hampered by injuries the past few seasons, Conger has been spending his time in the minors, but now appears ready for the big time. In limited action (31 at-bats), he's hitting just .226, but Tuesday's power display indicates better things ahead.

National League

Chad Billingsley

His fifth start of the exhibition season was exactly Chad Billingsley's most scintillating, but he did managed to keep the Cubs off the scoreboard for the first six innings of LA's 2-1, 10-inning win over Chicago.

A regular of the Dodger rotation the past five seasons, Billingsley allowed four hits and walked three in his six-inning stint, but he also managed to fan three batters and work out of situations with runners aboard in a tight contest. His Cubs' counterpart, Ryan Dempster, also went six innings, giving up six hits and striking out the same number, but the Dodgers broke through for a run in the 5th.

Billingsley, a workhorse as a starter, compiled nearly 200 innings each of the past two seasons with the Dodgers, going 12-11 in both 2009 and 2010, but his ERA and WHIP were both improved in his most recent season.