Cardinals Down Cubs on Yaider Molina, Paul DeJong HRs; Marcus Semien Leads A's Past Rangers

Players of the Day for Saturday, September 21, 2019

Semien: 3-3, HR, 3BB

American League

The Oakland A's are serious about making the playoffs.

Winning their fourth straight and 15th in their last 18 games, the A's pounded the Rangers, 12-3, maintaining a two-game lead in the wild card race over Tampa Bay.

Oakland belted out 14 hits and worked nine walks against eight Texas hurlers. Leadoff hitter, Marcus Semien, led the assault, going 3-for-3 with two singles and a home run. He was on base six times, as he walked in his other three plate appearances.

Semien led off the A's first with a single and scored on Matt Olson's single to right. He also walked later in the inning as the A's piled seven runs on the visiting Rangers.

In the second, Semien walked, forcing in a run, then socked his 32nd homer of the year in the fifth inning, a solo shot that put the A's up 10-0. He scored twice and drove in two runs.

Over his last 15 games, as the A's have gone 12-3, Semien has been sensational, batting .371, with six homers and 15 RBI. He's driven in 90 runs this season and scored 119 runs. His totals for batting average, runs, home runs and RBI all all career highs for the seven-year veteran.

Tampa Bay kept pace with the A's winning, 5-4 over Boston. Cleveland dropped a game behind the Rays, losing, 9-4, to the visiting Phillies. Each of the three wild card contenders have seven games remaining.

National League

Molina's HR tied game.

Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong socked back-to-back 9th inning home runs off Chicago closer, Craig Kimbrel, and the Cardinals took their third straight over the Cubs at Wrigley Field with a 9-8 victory Saturday.

On the wrong end of an 8-7 score after eight innings, St. Louis struck quickly against Kimbrel and the Cubs. Molina led off the inning with his ninth homer of the season, tying the game. DeJong followed with his 28th, a towering 440-foot blast that stood up as the game-winner when Carlos Martinez got the final three outs in the bottom of the frame.

DeJong's HR won game.

The win left the Cubs stunned with their fifth straight defeat and third straight at the hands of the Cardinals. Chicago fell six games back in the NL Central, and are in danger of being eliminated not just from the division race, but from the wild card as well.

Washington, holder of the top wild card, kept a one-game lead over Milwaukee with a 10-4 win over the Marlins. The Brewers won their fifth straight, dropping the Pirates, 10-1. Chicago trails the Brewers in the wild card race by three games with seven left to play.

The Cardinals, winners of four straight, will be looking for a four-game sweep of the Cubs when the two meet in the series finale, Sunday, 2:20 pm ET.

On the verge of clinching a post-season spot after a three-year playoff absence, St. Louis plays three games in Arizona next week before returning home for a final, three-game series with the Cubs.

Marcus Semien Drives in 7, A's Rout Royals; Cardinals Rip Brewers, 12-2, Marcell Ozuna Has 3 RBI

Players of the Day for Monday, August 26, 2019

Semien: 3B, HR, 7 RBI

American League

Embroiled in a heated wild card race with Cleveland and Tampa Bay, the Oakland A's tore up the lower-tier Kansas City Royals, banging out 22 hits in a 19-4 romp.

Shortstop and leadoff hitter, Marcus Semien, was outstanding at the plate, racking his a three-run homer in the fourth inning after clearing the bases in the second with a triple. For good measure, Semien grounded into a force play, driving in his seventh run of the game in the eighth inning.

The 28-year-old is having an exceptional season, averaging .273 while smacking 23 home runs with 69 RBI and 93 runs scored. He's on pace for career marks in all of those categories.

With the win, Oakland is one game behind Tampa Bay for the #1 wild card with Cleveland sandwiched in between, 1/2-game behind the Rays. The A's also trail Houston in the AL West by nine games, but, with 32 games remaining, there's scant hope of catching the defending division champs.

The Athletics should be able to rack up some wins this week, as they have three more games in Kansas City before heading to New York for a return engagement with the Yankees. The A's recently swept three games from the Yanks in Oakland.

National League

Ozuna's hot bat helps Cards

With a 12-2 win at NL Central rival Milwaukee, the St. Louis Cardinals won their fifth straight and eighth of their last nine.

St. Louis has gotten hot at the optimum point of the season and has wedged out a 2 1/2-game lead over the Cubs in the division. Their win over the Brewers sent Milwaukee back to five games off the pace and in danger of losing touch in not just the division, but the wild card as well. The Brewers trail the Cubs by 2 1/2 games for the second wild card.

The Cardinals' rise in the standings has coincided roughly with the return of Marcell Ozuna, who spent the entire month of July on the IL. After five losses from August 3rd through 7th, St. Louis has been binging on wins, going 14-3 through Monday's contest.

From the ninth through Mondays game, Ozuna has gone 22-for-61 (.360) with three homers and 14 RBI, including a 2-for-5 effort Monday, highlighted by a three-run double in the second inning which put the Cards up, 6-0.

Milwaukee has dropped three of its last four games against St. Louis, and the two match up again Tuesday at 7:40 pm ET in game two of the series in Milwaukee.

Ryan Zimmerman's 2 HR, 6 RBI Lift Nats Over Cubs; Marcus Semien Goes Yard Twice As A's Rout Angels, 7-0

Players of the Day for Saturday, August 12, 2018

American League

Semien: 3-5, 2HR, 4RBI

The Oakland A's are charging hard in the AL West and they're getting help from the Seattle Mariners.

Seattle dumped worst-place Houston for the third straight time, winning, 3-2, at Houston. Meanwhile, the A's were making the Angels pray for help in a 7-0 win, and are 3 1/2 back of the Astros in the division. Seattle is five out.

With starter Edwin Jackson blanking the Halos on three hits over 7 1/3 innings, leadoff hitter Marcus Semien was sending balls toward the heavens, socking a pair of homers and driving in four runs.

Semien got things started right away, singling and scoring in the first inning before smashing a three-run homer in the second and a solo shot in the fourth.

Batting .259 on the year, Semien's homers were his eighth and ninth. He has 43 RBI and has scored 65 runs.

Winners of eight of their last 10, the Athletics wrap up their series in Anaheim on Sunday, 4:07 pm EDT. The Angels won the first of the three-game set. On Monday, the A's return to Oakland for a nine-game home stand with three each against division rivals Seattle, Houston, and Texas.

National League

Zimmerman: 2HR, 6RBI

One of the reasons that the Washington Nationals are 5 1/2 behind the Phillies and trail Atlanta by 4 1/2 in the NL East might be attributed to the mid-season absence of Ryan ZimmermanRyan Zimmerman, who was on the DL from May 9 until July 20 and has only recently been playing regularly.

Facing the Cubs Saturday in Chicago, Zimmerman displayed his ability, smacking a pair of home runs and driving in six, powering the Nationals to a 9-3 victory.

The Cubs took the first game of the series, 3-2, on Friday, but the Nationals came back with a vengeance, scoring all of their runs in the first four innings, rocking Chicago starter, Jon Lester, for eight earned runs on 10 hits over 3 2/3 innings.

Zimmerman's blasts came in the first with one aboard and in the fourth, with two runners on base. Both homers were hit with two outs in the frame. In between, Zimmerman knocked in another run with a sac fly in the third.

The homers were just the eighth and ninth of the season for the Washington third baseman, but he's hit three this month, along with 11 RBI off a .409 August batting average (9-for-22).

The series with the Cubs is the first meeting between Chicago and Washington. The rubber game is Sunday night, 8:00 pm EDT, and will be televised nationally by ESPN. The two meet again in Washington for four games, September 6-9.

Marcus Semian, A's End Houston Win Streak at 7; Michael Taylor Slams As Nats Down Phils, 11-10

Players of the Day for Friday, September 8, 2017

American League

Semien: Grand Slam

Spoiler alert: If the Houston Astros don't finish the regular season with the best record in the American League, it will be due to one of a variety of factors. One, the Cleveland Indians won their 16th straight, downing the Orioles on Friday, 5-0; two, the Houston bullpen hasn't been effective nearly all season; three, Marcus Semien and the last place Oakland A's are letting off some steam.

All of these came into play Friday night in Oakland, as the A's rallied past the Astros for a 9-8 win. Houston's Josh Reddick did his best to get the win for the Astros, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and a homer, driving in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth, putting Houston up, 8-7.

In the bottom half of the inning, Houston closer, Ken Giles, who had registered saves in six of the last eight Houston wins, couldn't get anybody out, giving up a leadoff home run to rookie Boog Powell (no relation to the legendary Baltimore slugger), a single to Semien, a walk to Matt Joyce, and a single by Jed Lowrie which sent Semian home with the game-winner.

Earlier, in the sixth, Semien tied the score at seven when Luke Gregerson served up a gopher ball with the bases full for a grand slam. For Semian, it was his sixth home run of the season and his first since August 16th. Semien spent nearly three months on the DL earlier in the season, but returned in mid-July as the A's regular shortstop and leadoff hitter.

Houston's loss ended a seven-game winning streak, but left them just 1 1/2 ahead of Cleveland for the best record in the league. Winning the division is not a problem for Houston; they lead the Angels by 14 1/2 games.

Game two of the four-game series in Oakland commences Saturday at 1:05 pm PT.

National League

Taylor: 4-5, Slam, 5 RBI

The path to the post-season is speckled with oddities and single-game heroes. On the verge of clinching the NL East division crown, the Washington Nationals can add the name of Michael Taylor to the hero list.

Taylor drove in five runs in the Nationals' 11-10 victory over Philadelphia, going 4-for-5 with two singles, a triple and a grand slam, scoring twice. Taylor's homer came in the third inning with the Nationals down 3-2. After his 15th home run of the season, Washington would not trail again, though the Phillies didn't lack for trying, scoring three times in each of the seventh and ninth innings, both on three-run homers. Taylor tripled in Washington's final run in the bottom of the eighth.

The win put the Nationals a game closer to clinching. With a 19-game lead over Miami and 21 games to play, their magic number is down to three. With the largest lead of any division leader, Washington is likely to be the first to clinch, possibly as early as Sunday.

Winners of five straight, the Nationals will look to extend their streak Saturday at 7:05 pm ET in Washington, DC.