Jonathan Lucroy Powers A's Past Jays; Yasmani Grandal Walks Dodgers Off Over Brewers

Players of the Day for Wednesday, August 1, 2018

American League

Lucroy: 3-for-4, 4 RBI

Winning their third straight over the visiting Blue Jays for a series sweep, the Oakland A's tied Seattle for second place in the AL West with an 8-3 win.

Jonathan Lucroy let his bat do the talking, going 3-for-4 with two singles, a double, four RBI and two runs as the Athletics built a 7-0 lead through six innings.

Lucroy was acquired from Colorado during the off-season and has been a solid contributor as the A's catcher.

While Seattle was taking an 8-3 beating by the Astros, the A's caught them in the division. Both teams trail the Astros by five games, but the A's have been steaming, winning nine of 13 since the all star break.

Oakland gets a day off on Thursday, their home stand continuing on Friday with the opener of a three-game series against Detroit.

National League

Grandal: 2 HR, 3 RBI

With both teams vying for their respective division titles or a potential wild card spot, the series in Los Angeles between the Brewers and Dodgers figured to offer plenty of pennant race excitement.

The series has not disappointed, as the visitors took the first two games, 5-2, and 1-0. Game three would not be decided until the 10th inning, when Yasmai Grandal stroked a game-winning home run down the right field line, providing the Dodgers with a 6-4 victory.

Grandal, the regular catcher for the Dodgers, had a heck of a night, socking a solo homer in the fifth and singling, going 3-for-5 with three RBI. On the season, Grandal has 19 home runs and 53 RBI.

At the end of the day, the Dodgers remained tied for first place with Arizona in the NL West, the Brewers trailed the Cubs by a game in the NL Central, and LA trailed Milwaukee by two games for the top wild card spot.

Thursday's game four promises to be delightful. The teams take the field at 6:00 pm PDT.

Brewers Complete Sweep of Dodgers as Jonathan Lucroy Drive in Five; Alex Gordon, Royals Rule AL Central

Players of the Day for Sunday, August 17, 2014

American League

Alex Gordon

Here's a shocker: The Kansas City Royals are leading the AL Central by 1 1/2 games.

That kind of phrase hasn't been seen in print since the days of George Brett, Willie Wilson, bushy sideburns and pine tar, but, today, that is reality, whether the second-place Tigers want to believe it or not.

On Sunday, the Royals won for the 15th time in their last 18 games, taking the third game of their four-game series in Minnesota by bludgeoning the Twins, 12-6, assuring at least a split.

The middle of their lineup - batters three through six - were a combined 9-for-18, hit three homers and scored eight of the Royals' 12 runs. Alex Gordon tripled and homered, knocking his 13th long ball of the season in the fifth inning with a man aboard and scored three runs in four at-bats. Gordon has hit safely in nine of his last ten games and has had two hits in five of those.

While the Royals were raking, the Tigers were aching, losing to Seattle, 8-1, dropping two of three over the weekend.

Game four of the Twins-Royals series is slated for an 8:10 pm EDT start.

National League

Lucroy: 5 RBI

Milwaukee polished off the Dodgers Sunday, 7-2, completing the three-game sweep of the NL West leaders while maintaining a three-game edge on the Cardinals in the Central division.

Leading the assault was Jonathan Lucroy, who did all his damage early, going 2-for-5 with a two-run homer in the opening frame and a bases-clearing double in the second, for a five-RBI game.

With the big, early lead, Brewer starter, Wily Peralta, cruised through six scoreless innings, allowing five hits and fanning five, tying Adam Wainwright and Johnny Cueto for the major league lead, with 15th victories.

The Brewers have won four straight and have been equally effective on the road as at home. Their home record is 34-28, while they are 36-27 away from home.

Chris Dickerson, Adam Jones Power O's to Comeback Win over Tigers; Jonathan Lucroy Helps Snap Brewers' Skid with 5-for-5 Effort

Players of the Day for Friday, May 31, 2013

American League

Adam Jones

As the Yankees snapped out of a five-game losing streak - their longest of the season - with a 4-1 win over the first place Red Sox, right behind them, the AL East was getting even tighter.

Chris Dickerson

New York's victory in the first of a three-game, weekend series at Yankee Stadium, moved them to within one game of the Sox, but Tampa Bay and Baltimore also won - the Rays, 9-2 over Cleveland, Baltimore a 7-5 victor over Detroit, moving the Orioles to 1 1/2 back with the Rays another 1/2 game behind them.

While the Rays sixth straight win was assured early on, Baltimore's had all the appearances of a defeat before the O's rallied for four runs in the ninth, overcoming a 5-3 Detroit lead, as they wrecked closer Jose Valverde with four hits in 2/3rds of an inning, two of them homers, one of them a walk-off, three-run shot by DH Chris Dickerson.

The finishing blast was Dickerson's only hit of the night, in four at-bats, after Nick Markakis led off the inning with a solo homer - his seventh - and Adam Jones and Chris Davis each singled. Jones was instrumental in keeping the Orioles in the game, socking his 11th of the season in the third inning with a man aboard, after getting the Orioles on the board in the second, singling and scoring on Matt Weiters' sac fly. Jones finished 3-for-4 with three runs and a apir of RBI, giving him 37 on the year.

Boston meets New York in the second game of their series, Saturday at 7:15 pm, but before that, the Rays play at Cleveland at 1:05 pm and the O's host the Tigers with a 4:05 pm start, all games EDT.

If the Yankees, Orioles and Rays all win, there would be four teams within a game of each other in the division.

National League

Jonathan Lucroy drove in four runs with a pair of homers, a double and two singles in a perfect, 5-for-5 night, helping the Milwaukee Brewers end a six-game losing streak that sent them to the basement of the NL Central division.

Lucroy: 5-5, 2HR, 4RBI

Opening a three-game series in Philadelphia with an 8-5 victory, the Brewers remain in last place, as the Cubs remained three games better with their fifth straight win, topping the Diamondbacks by a 7-2 score.

Lucroy entered the game in a .229 season-long funk, but emerged with a .253 average after hitting safely in his sixth straight game, the swing evidently coming around, as the Milwaukee catcher has batted a rocking .424 (14-for-33) over his last nine games.

Philly hosts the Brewers in game two of the series, Saturday at 4:05 pm EDT.

Today's Trivia: Who holds the dubious distinction of holding the career mark for losses by a pitcher? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Then with the Boston Red Sox, Roger Clemens tossed eight shutouts in 1988.

Josh Reddick Helps A's Win 6th Straight; Jonathan Lucroy Drives in 7, Rickie Weeks, 5-for-5 in Brewer Loss

Players of the Day for Thursday, August 30, 2011

American League

The Oakland A's won their sixth straight, to remain one game up on Baltimore for the first wild card position, but, more surprisingly, only four back of Texas in the AL West race.

Oakland banged out 13 hits in a 12-7 win at Cleveland, sweeping the four-game series as Cleveland's tailspin continued. The Indians, once leaders in the Central division, have dropped five straight and 14 of their last 15 and are now hopelessly out of contention for any post-season play.

Josh Reddick

Leading the A's assault was Josh Reddick, acquired by the A's in an off-season deal with the Red Sox. Reddick went 3-for-5 with his 27 homer of the season, a two-run, fifth inning blast and drove in three runs.

Reddick is riding a five game hit streak, with multiple knocks in four of those games and has 69 RBI for the A's.

Oakland outscored Cleveland 30-12 in the four game series and now head home to host the Red Sox in a three game set starting Friday.


National League

Lucroy: GS, 7 RBI

Weeks: 5-for-5, 4 R

For Milwaukee, it's been a season of disappointments, so much so that even when a player has a big game the Brewers can't do enough to take advantage of it.

Such was the case in Milwaukee's 12-11 loss to the even-more-despondent Chicago Cubs, as Jonathan Lucroy delivered a monster game, going 3-for-5 with seven RBI.

Lucroy began his batting attack with a grand slam in the third inning that put the Brewers up by a 5-3 score. In the sixth, he singled in a pair of runs and singled again in the eighth, completing the Mulwaukee scoring with another RBI. That put the Brewers up, 11-9, but, the bullpen was unable to hold the lead, allowing the Cubs to plate three in the ninth for the walk-off win.

Lucroy's seven RBI were a career high. On base each time he drove in a run was Rickie Weeks, who went 5-for-5 and scored four times.

Jake Peavy Dominates Cubs; Jonathan Lucroy Leads Brewers' 16-4 Rout of Twins

Players of the Day for Sunday, May 20, 2012

American League

Jake Peavy

The Chicago White Sox have had their ups and downs this season, obviously, since the Windy City boys evened their record at 21 up and 21 down after starter Jake Peavy (who's been more consistent, at 5-1) shut out the crosstown Cubs over 6 1/2 innings on three hits in a 6-0 Whit Sox win.

Though the outing was one of Peavy's shortest of the season, he was able to keep the Cubs off the board while his teammates forged a lead. He also helped by scoring on a sac fly in the top of the seventh inning to make it a 5-0 score. Walking two and striking out seven, Peavy upped his seasonal total to 55 Ks, among the top ten in the league.

While the White Sox have won four straight - three at the Cubs' expense as they swept the three-game, in-city weekend series - they sent the Cubs to their sixth consecutive defeat, currently the longest such streak in the majors.

Chicago trails the Indians by 2 1/2 games in the AL Central.


National League

Jonathan Lucroy

The the Central division-leading Cardinals losing four straight, the Brewers haven't done much to improve their position, until they blasted Minnesota, 16-4, on Sunday.

Jonathan Lucroy led the offensive assault with a pair of homers, a single and seven RBI, socking a three-run job in the first inning, singling and scoring in the second and finishing off the Brewers' scoring with a grand slam in the seventh.

His seven RBI were a career high, coming in his first ever start as the cleanup hitter, giving the Milwaukee catcher 27 on the year.

Even with the victory, the Brewers are still in fifth place in the division, at 17-24, five games out. They snapped a string of four straight losses and defeats in six of their last seven games.

The Twins remain the worst team in the majors with a record of 14-27

Jonathan Lucroy Homers as Brewers Bash Indians; Eric Patterson Goes 4-for-5 with 4 RBI for Tigers

Players of the Day for Friday, March 9, 2012

Grapefruit League

Eric Patterson

In the unlikely case that the Detroit Tigers might need an extra bat in their lineup, they can look to journeyman Eric Patterson as their go-to guy.

Patterson smashed a pair of bombs and rapped out a couple of singles, going 4-for-5 with four RBI and two runs scored in Detroit's losing, 7-5, effort against Philadelphia.

Having played for the Cubs, A's Red Sox and Padres from 2007 through last season, Patterson can handle right field and center field, making him a possible replacement for Detroit's regular center fielder, Austin Jackson, who has been criticized for striking out too much in his leadoff spot (181 Ks in 591 at-bats last season).

Patterson's limited career stats (508 at-bats) have yielded just a .217 batting average, but he's swiped 35 bases in 40 attempts.

Jonathan Lucroy

Cactus League

Milwaukee catcher Jonathan Lucroy singled, doubled and homered as the Brewers pounded out 16 hits in a 12-2 battering of the Cleveland Indians.

It was Lucroy's first long ball of the season and he drove in a pair of runs and scored twice as the Brewers went yard four times on the Indians.

Lucroy socked 12 homers in 2011, with 59 RBI, 45 runs and a .265 batting average. As the Brewers' regular backstop, Lucroy played in 138 games last season, his second in the majors.