Lance Lynn Blanks White Sox As Yankees Rebound; Rockies' Kyle Freeland Stops Pirates In 2-0 Win

Players of the Day for Monday, August 6, 2018

Lynn: 7 1/3IP, 2H, 0ER, 9K

American League

After losing four straight in Boston, the Yankees were in dire need of a win and a solid pitching performance. They got both thanks to recently-acquired Lance Lynn, who is likely to replace the underperforming Sonny Gray in the New York rotation.

In his first start in pinstripes, Lynn worked a gem, allowing just two hits over 7 1/3 innings, blanking the White Sox in a 7-0 romp.

Lynn, who's had a .500 season or better every year since 2011, struck out nine and walked one. At one point, he set down 19 straight White Sox batters. The Yankees struck for two in the fourth, two in the fifth and three in the eighth inning. A.J. Cole mopped up the final 1 2/3 innings.

Lynn played for the Cardinals through 2017 and was traded to the Twins during the off-season. The Yankees picked him up prior to the trading deadline. In two appearances, Lynn has pitched 11 2/3 innings, allowed seven hits, no runs, one walk and fanned 14.

The win left the Yankees nine games behind the Red Sox in the East division, but hold the top spot in the wild card, three up on Oakland and five better than Seattle. The Yanks, A's, and Mariners are the only teams with a legitimate wild card chance.

Game two in Chicago is Tuesday at 8:10 pm EDT.

Freeland: 7 IP, 2H, 0 ER

National League

The National League is where it's at this season.

Eight teams are within 7 1/2 games of each other in the wild card race, four within 3 1/2, and that does not include the three division leaders - the Phillies, Cubs, and Diamondbacks.

As far as those division leaders are concerned, they each could become a wild card contestant or be completely eliminated from post-season contention over the next eight weeks. The Phillies are a game up on the Braves in the East. The Cubs lead Milwaukee by 1 1/2 in the Central, and the Dodgers, in the West, are just 1/2-game better than Arizona.

Which brings us to the Rockies, two games behind in the West and two behind Atlanta in the race for the second wild card.

The Pirates - also one of the wild card contenders - opened a series in Denver with the Rockies and got blanked, 2-0, at the hand of Kyle Freeland, who shut the swashbucklers down on two hits over seven innings.

Freeland (10-7) threw 102 pitches, walked three, fanned five, and didn't allow a hit after the third inning. The Rockies scratched out two runs in the fifth, more than enough for the Colorado lefty. Seughwan Oh and Wade Davis worked perfect eighth and ninth innings for the win.

Pittsburgh will try to even the series when they take the field on Tuesday. Game time is 8:40 pm EDT.

Kyle Freeland Just Misses No-Hitter, Rockies Win, 10-0; Carlos Correa Homers Twice In 19-1 Win At Toronto

Correa: 4-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI

Players of the Day for Sunday, July 9, 2017

American League

In their last outing prior to the all-star break, the Houston Astros sent a reminder to the rest of the league that they are the team to beat on the road to the World Series.

Houston battered a total of seven Toronto pitchers in their 19-1 victory, splitting the four game series in Toronto, two games apiece, though the Astros dominated in their wins, taking Friday's game two, 12-2.

Hammering out 17 hits, four of them belonged to this year's AL all-star selection at shortstop, Carlos Correa.

Going 4-for-5, Correa drove in five runs with his 19th and 20th home runs, the latter a three-run delivery to center field in the seventh inning, the first a solo shot in the second. His other two hits were singles, bringing his average to a solid .325, fourth league-wide. His 65 RBI are third in the league behind Seattle's Nelson Cruz (70) and the Yankees' Aaron Judge (66).

Only 22, Correa isn't exactly new to the majors. In fact, he's in his third season, but has really broken out this year, his batting average more than 50 points higher than his 2016 mark of .274

The victory left the AL West much as it was prior to the game, with the Angels, Rangers, Mariners and A's looking up at runaway, 60-29, Houston, with a 16 1/2 game division lead. None of the other teams in the division have a winning record.

National League

Freeland misses no-hitter

Late June and early July haven't been a picnic for the Colorado Rockies. A combined 4-13 since June 21, the Rockies slipped to third place in the NL West as the Dodgers took off to lead the division.

In the final game before the all-star break, the Rockies got a much-needed shot of optimism in the form of a near no-hitter thrown by rookie left-hander, Kyle Freeland.

Not allowing a hit until Melky Cabrera spoiled the show with a clean single to left field with one out in the ninth, Freeland was within two outs of the record books as the Rockies routed the visiting White Sox, 10-0.

At the very least, the Rockies can take some comfort that their rookie hurler is 9-7 and that they took the series with Chicago, two games to one.

Having thrown 126 pitches, Freeland was taken out right after Cabrera's hit, receiving a warm ovation from the partisan crowd. Jordan Lyles got the final two outs in order in the ninth.

Freeland's grand outing came somewhat out of the blue. Suffering losses in his last three outings, he had allowed 14 earned runs in those games, in a total of 17 1/3 innings.

The Rockies go into the break 52-39, 9 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the division. Arizona is in second place, 7 1/2 out.