Four Phillies Combine for No-Hitter in Atlanta; Miguel Cabrera Homers Twice as Tigers Down Indians

Players of the Day for Monday, September 1, 2013

American League

Miguel Cabrera

While the Detroit Tigers continue to do battle with the Royals for first place in the AL Central, in deference to the excitement of the divisional pennant race, they're doing their level best to make the wild card a non-event.

Their latest effort was to quell the recent uprising by the Indians, who had drawn to within three games of the Tigers after taking two from the Royals and having the final game of that series suspended by rain.

Detroit batters took little time to let their opponents know what they thought of Cleveland starter, Cory Kluber, hammering him for seven hits and five earned runs in just 2 2/3 innings, en route to a 20-hit, 12-1 victory.

Miguel Cabrera rapped out a pair of singles and a pair of homers in five at-bats, driving in three runs and scoring four times. Cabrera popped his 18th homer of the season in the first inning with a man aboard, then added his 19th with a solo shot in the eighth. The three RBI gives Cabrera 94 on the year, fourth in the AL behind rookie Jose Abreu, who leads the league with 99.

The result left the Tigers 1/2 game behind Kansas City in the divisional standings, but four games up on both the Yankees and Indians in the race for the second wild card spot. The Tigers are just 1 1/2 up on Seattle, however. The Oakland A's have the first spot in hand, for now, with a four-game edge over Detroit.

Ken Giles

Cole Hamels

The Tigers and Indians resume hostilities Tuesday night at 7:05 pm EDT in game two of the four-game set at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

National League

ESPN delivered a holiday treat as the nationally-televised game between the Phillies and Braves on Monday turned into the fourth no-hitter of the season in the majors, as Cole Hamels shared the workload with three relievers in a 7-0 whitewash.

While quite effective, the no-hitter was hardly a thing of spectacular beauty. Hamels, who worked the first six innings, struggled with his control throughout, walking five batters and plunking Atlanta second baseman Phil Gosselin, but managed to keep the Braves' bats silent as he fanned seven but was spent after throwing 108 pitches.

Jonathan Papelbon

Jake Diekman

Along came the Phillies' bullpen to the rescue.

Jake Diekman fanned two of the three batters he faced in the seventh and Ken Giles struck out the side in the Atlanta eighth. Jonathan Papelbon retired the final three batters in the ninth in order, completing the no-hit effort, the first combined no-hitter in Phillies history.

Ben Revere drove in five runs for Philadelphia with a sac fly in the third inning, a bases-clearing triple in the seventh and a run-scoring single in the ninth.

The victory did not lift the Phillies out of last place in the NL East, where they trail the Mets at the bottom by 1/2 game, but it did damage to Atlanta's post-season hopes, keeping them three games behind San Francisco and 1 1/2 back of Milwaukee in the race for the two wild cards. The Brewers and Giants were both losers on Monday, the Brewers falling, 4-2, at the Cubs, while the Giants came up short in a 10-9 shootout in Colorado.

Game two of the four-game series in Atlanta starts at 7:10 pm EDT at Turner Field.

That's a Wrap: Red Sox Sweep Series

Boston 4 Colorado 3 - The Boston Red Sox completed their second World Series sweep in 4 years, topping the Colorado Rockies, 4 games to none, to capture the 2007 Championship. Boston, in their last trip to the World Series in 2004, bested the St. Louis Cardinals by the same margin. Outside of Boston, the remainder of the baseball universe hopes sweeping the fall classic doesn't become a habit. Sunday night's affair went along the same lines as the previous three games, with Colorado failing to generate any offense against Boston's starter, Jon Lester, who cruised through 5 2/3 innings without allowing a Colorado run. Lester (right) allowed three hits, walked three and struck out three in a commanding performance, similar to the other three Boston starters, Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka, each of whom worked into at least the 6th inning and earned a win. By the time Lester left the game, the Red Sox had established a 2-0 lead, and expanded it to 3-0 on Mike Lowell's solo homer in the 7th. Lowell, who batted .375 over the course of the four games, was named MVP of the series. Colorado got one back in the bottom of the 7th on Brad Hawpe's solo shot to right, but Bobby Kielty homered in Boston's half of the 8th to make it 4-1.

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Mike Timlin got the last out in the seventh and the first out in the bottom of the 8th inning, but after Garrett Atkins tightened the score to 4-3 with a 2-run blast off Hideki Okajima, closer Jonathan Papelbon came on to get the final five outs and clinch the sweep and send the title back to Boston. Papelbon was magnificent in his closer role, earning saves in games 2, 3, and 4, while allowing no earned runs and only 2 hits and no walks, while fanning 3 in 4 1/3 innings overall. Though the Rockies didn't win a game, they came close in games 2 and 4, losing both of them by a single run, but Boston's starters were much better and their bullpen a lot more effective than Colorado's. In the hitting department it was no contest. Boston batted a cumulative 47-141 (.333) in the four games, while the Rockies managed only 29 hits in 133 at-bats for a disappointing .218 batting average. Colorado led the National League with a .280 team batting average during the regular season. Boston's starters were the story, however, allowing just 4 earned runs in 23 1/3 innings for a combined ERA of 1.55 in their four starts. Series MVP Lowell (right), was the ultimate hitting star in the middle of Boston's potent lineup going 6-for-16 with 3 doubles, a home run, 4 RBI and 6 runs scored. He was the only player from either squad to score at least one run in each game. Boston has now won 8 straight World Series games and finished 2007 by winning seven straight through the playoffs and series. Their post-season record for 2007 was 11-3, having swept the Angels in the ALDS and taking 4 of 7 from the Indians in the ALCS. Boston outscored Colorado 29-10. In the AL Championship Series they scored 51 runs to Cleveland's 32, and outscored the Angels 19-4 in the ALDS, for a cumulative post-season score of 94-46. Spring training begins in just over four months.