Vernon Wells Has 5 RBI in 20-Hit Angels Attack; Jeff Niemann, Chris Gimenez Lead Rays to Win

Players of the Day for Sunday, March 11, 2012

Niemann: 3 IP, 0 H

Grapefruit League

Jeff Niemann threw three perfect innings and Chris Gimenez drove in the game-winner with a single in the bottom of the ninth as Tampa Bay downed Pittsburgh, 4-3, in exhibition action.

Chris Gimenez

Niemann struck out three in his second Spring start. Entering his 4th full year in the bigs, Niemann has a career record of 38-23 and was 11-7 last season.

Primarily a catcher, Gimenez carries a .171 batting average over 97 games in a three year career.

The win was just the third of the Spring for the Rays, against six losses. Detroit leads the Grapefruit League with a 6-1 record.

Wells: HR, 5 RBI

Cactus League

The Angels offense seems to be in good early form, banging out 20 hits in a 17-2 romp over Cleveland.

Vernon Wells and Mark Trumbo hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning. Wells also singled in four at-bats, driving in five runs, scoring twice.

Wells hit 25 home runs for the Angels last year, but batted only .211 and drove in 66 runs.

Niemann Whiffs 11 in Tampa Win; Kemp Has Five RBI, Overtakes Howard for NL Lead

Players of the Day for Friday, July 29, 2011

American League

Niemann: 11 Ks

Tampa Bay scored all eight of its runs in the second inning and Jeff Niemann fanned 11 in 6 2/3 innings as the Rays topped the lowly Mariners, 8-0.

Improving to 5-4, Niemann allowed three hits and surrendered three walks without allowing a run for this third win of July without a loss. Niemann came off the DL on June 20, and has won four of his last seven starts. In his five July starts, the 6'9" hurler has allowed only four earned runs for an ERA of 1.06. His 11 Ks were a career high.

The victory was much-needed for the Rays, who have fallen 9 1/2 behind Boston in the AL East and trail the Yankees - the current wild card leader - by 7 games. Seattle, which ended its 17-game losing streak with a win over the Yankees on Wednesday, returned home Friday only to begin losing again.

National League

Kemp: 80 RBI

Even though the Dodgers are playing sub-.500 ball (48-57) and are 12 1/2 games back in the NL West, Matt Kemp keeps knocking balls out of the park and driving in runs.

Kemp hit his 25th home run of the season and drove in five runs as the Dodgers out-slugged the Diamondbacks, 9-5.

Kemp's three-run home in the 2nd inning put the Dodgers up 3-1, and even though Arizona notched single runs in the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th innings, they could not catch the Dodgers. Kemp added two more RBI in the 3rd inning with a bases-loaded single that gave him the outright NL lead in RBI with 80, two better than Philadelphia's Ryan Howard.

His 25 home runs are second in the league only to Lance Berkman's 27. Kemp is batting .313 on the year.

STREAKS: Emilio Bonifacio's 26-game hitting streak was ended as he went 0-for-4 in Florida's 5-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves. In Chicago, Dustin Pedroia's 25-game streak came to an abrupt end as the Red Sox fell to the White Sox, 3-1. Pedroia went 0-for-4.

The Mets currently have the longest winning streak in the majors, winning their fifth straight by topping Washington, 8-5. The Nationals have the longest current losing streak in the majors, having lost six in a row.

Stephen Strasburg Magnificent in Majors Debut; Pena, Neimann Lead 1st-Place Rays

Players of the Day for Tuesday, June 8, 2010 American League With the Yankees and Red Sox right behind them, there will be no rest maintaining a lead in the AL East for the Tampa Bay Rays, so they have to get their best from both the pitching staff and their regular players. That's exactly what they got in Tuesday's 9-0 win over Toronto - also in the AL East mix - as starter Jeff Niemann (left) went the distance with a 2-hit shutout and Carlos Pena (right) broke out of his season-long slump just long enough to blast two homers - one a grand slam - and drive in five of the Rays' ten runs. Facing a Toronto team that leads the majors in home runs, Niemann was undaunted, tossing a no-hitter until Mike McCoy singled with one out in the 6th inning. Niemann gave up another single to Adam Lind, leading off the 7th, but finished strong, retiring the last nine batters in order. The win was his first complete game shutout of the season, a trick he turned twice in 2009. Neimann is 6-0, with a 2.48 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. At the plate, Carlos Pena did his damage with two swings of the bat. After belting a solo homer in the 4th inning, he finished off a 7-run Rays' 5th with a towering grand slam to right field. The homers were his 10th and 11th of the season, and, despite batting just .187, Pena's five RBI gave him 39 on the year. Tampa Bay's win kept them 2 games ahead of the Yankees and 4 up on Boston. Toronto dropped 5 1/2 off the pace, but will look to draw closer in the final two games of the series in Tampa. National League Having spent the first two months of the season laboring in the minor leagues, Stephen Strasburg has been the recipient of more press and hype than any rookie of recent vintage. In his first major league start, he lived up to all of it, turning in a stunning, dominating performance as the Washington Nationals downed the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-2. The 6'4" righty from San Diego overmatched the Pirate batters with 100 MPH fastballs and wicked, unhittable curves. Strasburg gave up four hits and two earned runs over 7 complete innings, but he struck out 14 - including the last 7 he faced - without issuing a single walk. Lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 7th with the Nats holding a 4-2 lead, Strasburg wowed the sellout crowd in the nation's capitol. The Nats' bullpen, which has been among the best in the majors at closing out opponents, kept the lead safe as Ty Clippard gave up a lonely single in the 8th for his 13th hold and Matt Capps worked a perfect 9th for his major league-leading 19th save. Both runs came on Delwyn Young's 4th inning homer, giving Pittsburgh a temporary 2-1 lead. With Strasburg solidifying the rotation and Clippard and Capps providing stellar back-end relief, the Nationals may be a force with which to reckon as the season progresses. Still under .500 (28-31), the Nats trail NL East leader Atlanta by six games, but there's still plenty of baseball to be played. In the currently wide-open division, any team that can string together wins has a chance to stay close or establish a lead into September.

Reds' Nix Kicks Cards; Rays' Niemann Blanks Royals

Players of the Day for Wednesday, June 3, 2009 American League The defending AL champs, Tampa Bay, hasn't come back in 2008 looking very much like the team to beat. Though they are just 5 games behind the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East, they have yet to get past the Blue Jays, who are themselves still 3 games in front of the Rays. In Wednesday's 9-0 win over the Royals there may be signs that the Rays are going to begin coming around, especially if starter Jeff Niemann can replicate his complete game, 2-hit, 9 K performance - his first career complete game shutout - against future opponents. At 5-4, Niemann has had an up-and-down season thus far, but, for a rookie, his 3.77 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 39 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings is a respectable beginning. If he can remain in good form, the young Tampa staff may yet have something to say about the outcomes in the division and the league. National League The Cincinnati Reds continue as contenders in the wide open NL Central, just 2 1/2 behind division leading Milwaukee, and, after last night's 9-3 thumping of St. Louis, just 1 1/2 back of the second place Cardinals. The Reds got started early on the Cards, as Laynce Nix opened the scoring with a solo homer in the second, and the Reds piled on additional runs in the 3rd, 4th, 8th and 9th, including Nix's second homer of the night, a 3-run blast in the 8th inning which put the game out of reach. Nix, who has bounced between Milwaukee and Texas for most of his 7 seasons in the majors, is getting more playing time with the Reds and has responded well, with 6 homers and 17 RBI in 101 at-bats. The Reds are 4-2 against the Cardinals in 2008, and have taken two of three in their current series, which wraps up Thursday in St. Louis. NOTES: Randy Johnson's first attempt at his 300th career win was rained out Wednesday in Washington, but the Big Unit is slated to be on the mound at 4:35 pm in Washington for the first game of a double-header between the Giants and Nationals.