Yandy Diaz Leads Cleveland Rout Of Red Sox; Giancarlo Stanton, J.T. Realmuto Power Marlins Past Phils

Players of the Day for Thursday, August 24, 2017

Diaz: 4-4, 2 2B, 3B, 4R

American League

With the Yankees and Tigers brawling in Detroit and the Twins losing again in Chicago - dropping three of five to the White Sox - the Indians took the opportunity to rough up Boston's ace, Chris Sale, taking the finale of their four-game series in Cleveland, 13-6.

Sale suffered one of his most-forgettable outings of the season, lasting just three innings, allowing seven hits, three walks and seven runs (six earned). The Indians leapt to a 7-1 lead after three, and didn't let up, stroking 11 more hits against four Boston relievers.

Yandy Diaz led the assault, going 4-for-4, scoring four times with two RBI on a single, two doubles and a triple.

Diaz, the starting DH, was called up, for the third time this season, on August 22nd. The four hits bumped his average from .186 to .230 in 74 at-bats.

The series ended in a 2-2 tie, as Boston heads home for a three-game series with the Orioles beginning Friday, while the Indians, having improved their lead in the division to 5 1/2 over the Twins, hosts third place Kansas City (six back) for three games over the weekend. With the Yankees and Red Sox both on the losing end Thursday, the Red Sox lead remains at 4 1/2 games in the East division.

National League

Stanton: 47 HR, 100 RBI

Giancarlo Stanton socked his major league best 47th home run, became the third player to reach 100 RBI this season, and J.T. Realmuto ripped an inside-the-park homer as Miami overcame a five-run deficit, outlasting Philadelphia, 9-8.

Realmuto: HR, 3 RBI

Stanton 47th home run put him 10 ahead of Aaron Judge, who leads the American League, and even further in front of LA's Cody Bellinger, who is in second place in the NL home run category with 34. Stanton joins Colorado's Nolan Arenado (108) and Seattle's Nelson Cruz (100) in the 100-RBI club this season.

Stanton is batting .345 in August, with 14 home runs and 27 RBI. He has seven more games to attempt to tie or surpass the National League record of 17 home runs in the month of August, held jointly by Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa.

Entering the fifth inning, the Marlins trailed the homesteading Phillies, 8-3, but scored two on an A.J. Ellis homer, added another in the sixth on Christian Yellis' solo shot, and tallied two more in the seventh on Realmuto's inside-the-park belt. Realmuto finished the Miami scoring with a sac fly in the eighth, breaking the 8-8 tie.

Miami took the series three games to one, reached .500 (63-63) and are now a clear threat for the wild card. The Marlins have picked it up recently, going 13-8 in August and 10-3 over their last 13, taking series from Colorado, San Francisco, the Mets and Phillies. They are 5 1/2 out of the second wild card, but Arizona is currently in the top spot, a mere 1/2 game ahead of the Rockies. Milwaukee is 3 1/2 back of Colorado and St. Louis five out.

Miami heads home for a quick three-game set with San Diego, starting Friday.

Hisashi Iwakuma Throws No-Hitter over O's for Mariners; J.T. Realmuto Slams Red Sox in Marlins Rout

Players of the Day for Wednesday, August 12, 2015

American League

Realmuto: Slam, 6RBI

Iwakuma: No-Hitter

The Orioles are fading fast in the AL East, while the Blue Jays suddenly have erased what once was an 8-game Yankee division lead.

On Wednesday, the Orioles were struck a serious blow as Hisashi Iwakuma tossed a no-hitter in the final game of the series in Seattle, with the Mariners taking a 2-1 series edge with the 3-0 victory.

Iwakuma (4-2) was perfect through the first three innings, but walked Manny Machado leading off the fourth inning to end the perfect game bid. He also issued a pass to Chris Davis with two outs, but got Jimmy Paredes on strikes to end the inning.

Iwakuma didn't allow another baserunner until the eighth inning when Jonathan Schoop led off with a base on balls, but Iwakuma once more was up to the task, getting another strikeout - one of seven on the night - before inducing an inning-ending double play.

The Orioles' ninth was as uneventful as the previous eight innings, the O's going down in order as Iwakuma completed the no-hitter.

The win was the first complete game, shutout and no-hitter for the fourth year pro out of Tokyo, Japan. Iwakuma threw 116 pitches, 77 of them for strikes.

While the loss sent the O's five games back of the Jays in the AL East, the win was perhaps less important to the Mariners, who are 54-61, trailing the Astros by eight games in the West.

National League

J.T. Realmuto led a 17-hit assault on Boston pitching, as the Marlins dumped the Red Sox, 14-6, completing a sweep of the two-game series in Miami.

A rookie with the Marlins, Realmuto stroked a sixth inning grand slam, capping a 10-run outburst by Miami. It was his seventh homer of the season. He also singled and tripled, driving in six runs total, in five at-bats.

In 87 games, Realmuto has 35 RBI and is batting .255.