Carlos Santana, Michael Bourn Lead Indians into Playoffs; Pittsburgh gets Top Wild Card as Neil Walker, Marlon Byrd Lead Six HR Attack

Players of the Day for Saturday, September 28, 2013

American League

Michael Bourn

Michael Bourn and Carlos Santana each delivered clutch, two-out hits to drive Cleveland to their ninth straight victory and secure at least a tie for a playoff spot with a 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins.

Carlos Santana

While Scott Kazmir was fanning 11 and holding the Twins to one run over six innings, Santana socked a two-run homer in the fourth inning, followed by Bourne's two-out triple in the fifth that drove in a pair. Bourne later scored on a jason Kipnis single to complete the scoring for the Indians.

The win, coupled with Tampa Bay's 7-2 loss at Toronto and Texas' 7-4 win over the Angels put Cleveland in the driver's seat entering the last day of the regular season. Cleveland has a one-game lead over both the Rays and Rangers, who are now tied for the second wild card spot.

All three teams close out their seasons on Sunday. Tampa Bay takes the field in Toronto at 1:07 pm EDT, the Indians go for their 10th straight win and the sweep of the Twins at 2:10 pm EDT and the Rangers and Angels mix it up at 3:05 pm EDT in Arlington, Texas.

AL Wild Card Standings (through 9/28)

Team	GB
Cleveland	+1
Tampa Bay	--
Texas	--

National League

The Pittsburgh Pirates rocked Cincinnati's Bronson Arroyo, socked six home runs and grabbed the top wild card spot in the National League with an 8-3 victory over the Reds.

Neil Walker

Marlon Byrd

Marlon Byrd homered and singled twice in four at-bats, drove in two runs and scored twice; Neil Walker mashed a pair of solo home runs - his 15th and 16th - as the Pirates hammered Arroyo for eight hits (five of them homers) and six runs over 4 2/3 innings.

Winning their second straight in their season-ending series at Cincinnati, the Pirates earned the right to host the one-game wild card playoff on Tuesday, October 1. Despite the loss, the Reds are still in the playoffs, taking the second wild card spot.

The series - and the season - wraps up today for both teams at 1:10 pm EDT at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

Today's Trivia: Who was the last Cincinnati player to win either the Cy Young or MVP Award? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: The Pirates were last seen in the playoffs in 1992, when they won what was then the NL East.

Unhittable Haren Stymies Tribe; Bourn, Pence Lead Astros Past Cubs

Players of the Day for Tuesday, April 11, 2011

American League

Dan Haren

When the LA Angels plucked Dan Haren from the Diamondbacks prior to the trade deadline last season, he was supposed to help them catch the Rangers and win the AL West division. The plan didn't quite work out, though it was hardly Haren's fault, as he went 5-4 in 14 starts for the Halos.

Finding themselves in a similar situation to begin the 2011 campaign - chasing the Rangers - Haren is doing everything in his power to keep LA close to the top. On Tuesday, he won his third straight without a loss, tossing a one-hitter at the Cleveland Indians en route to a 2-0 win.

It was Haren's 12th complete game and third shutout of his 9-year major league career, and it was a doozy, the only hit coming in the 4th inning when Shin-Soo Choo lifted a single to center field. After that, Haren set down 17 of the next 18 batters he faced, allowing only a 7th inning walk to Carlos Santana and finishing up by retiring the last eight batters he faced.

Haren walked two and struck out eight, giving him 21 on the year, good for third in the AL, behind teammate Jared Weaver (27) and Edwin Jackson (24) of the White Sox. Incidentally, Haren and Weaver have accounted for all six of the Angel wins.

The numbers for Haren are off-the-charts. In 24 2/3 innings, he's allowed 11 hits and just 2 earned runs, for an ERA of 0.73 and a 0.53 WHIP. Opposing batters are hitting .131 against him.

The Angles trail Texas by three games in the division.

National League

Hunter Pence

Michael Bourn

Michael Bourn went 2-for-5, stole two bases and scored four runs and Hunter Pence went 3-for-5 with four RBI to pace the Astros in just their third win of the season, an 11-2 scorching of the Chicago Cubs.

That the Astros are already five games back in the NL Central is hardly surprising. Beyond leadoff hitter Bourne and #3 man, Pence, Houston doesn't offer much in the way of punch on offense. Bourn leads the team in runs and steals, while Pence is Houston's RBI king, with 9. The Astros have the distinction of being last in the majors in home runs, with only one to their credit.

Making matters worse, their best starting pitcher appears to be Brett Myers, who earned the his first win of the season with seven innings of 1-run ball. The Astros could very well supplant the Pirates as this season's NL Central cellar dweller.

Brian Fuentes Closes Down Texas; Michael Bourn Triples in 10th for Houston Win

Players of the Day for Thursday, July 1, 2010 American League Closers don't generally earn Player of the Day honors, mostly because they only work one inning in a game, but their importance to winning teams cannot be understated. One such player is Brian Fuentes of the LA Angels. There was considerable discussion early in the season that Francisco Rodney was going to replace Fuentes as the closer, especially after Fuentes failed to get the job done on a couple of occasions, particularly when he blew save chances against Detroit on April 21 and Tampa on May 10. As the weather heated up, however, so did Fuentes, who, with his 3-out save against the Rangers in Thursday's nail-biting, 2-1 win, has now converted his last nine save opportunities and hasn't allowed a hit over his past four innings pitched, all resulting in saves. The win for the Angels allowed them to pick up a game on the front-running Rangers, winning two of their three-game series, as Fuentes picked up saves in both wins. He has 14 on the season - well below the league leaders - but mostly because the Angels have not been performing up to their usual standards. Trailing the Rangers by 3 1/2 games, nobody expects the Angels - winners of three straight AL West titles - to go away any time soon, and with Rodney and Fuentes at the back of the pitching staff, they're not likely to give up many late leads, either. Also in this game, Josh Hamilton's hitting streak ended at 23 straight, as the Texas outfielder went 0-for-3 with a walk, striking out twice. The streak stands as the best in the majors this season. National League Michael Bourn wasn't having a very good game. After going 0-for-3 with a walk over the first eight innings against the Padres, he finally got it going with a leadoff single in the 9th, with the game tied at three. After being sacrificed over to second, his Astro teammates failed to get him home, and, after the Padres also came up empty in the bottom of the 9th, the game went into extra innings. In the 10th, Bourn made the most of his chance at the plate. With runners on first and second with two outs, Bourne delivered a 2-run triple to put the Astros up 5-3, and scored on Jeff Keppinger's single to right, finalizing the score in Houston's 6-3 win over Dan Diego. Since the end of interleague play, Bourn has come on with a flourish. Over his last four games, all on the road, he's hitting .421 (8-for-19) and has 6 RBI, 3 steals and has crossed the plate 5 times. Even though the Astros are 13 games out in the NL Central, Bourn and his teammates have begun to turn things around a bit, winning 6 of their last 9.

Austin Jackson Leads Tigers Into First Place; Bourn Homers, Leads NL in Steals

Players of the Day for Monday, June 28, 2010 American League For the majority of the season, rookie Austin Jackson has been at the top of the Tiger lineup, and, from the looks of it, that's where he's going to stay. The fleet-footed center fielder is a leading candidate - along with teammate Brennan Boesch - for AL Rookie of the Year honors and there's a very good possibility that he'll be named an alternate to this year's All Star team (currently 12th among OFs, though three spots ahead of him are held by NY Yankees - Gardner, Granderson and Swisher - in an obvious vote-stuffing ploy by NY fans). Jackson's leadoff prowess was on display as the Tigers took the opener of a critical three-game series with the Minnesota Twins, 7-5, taking over first place in the Central division by 1/2 game. Jackson led off the game by being hit by a pitch from Twins' starter Francisco Liriano, and scored the first of a four-run, first inning barrage on Miguel Cabrera's double to the left center gap. He scored again in the 2nd inning when he singled, stole second, advanced to third on another single and scored on a fielder's choice. After striking out in the 4th, Jackson reached on a bunt single and scored what proved to be the winning run in the 7th inning. Jackson finished 2-for-4, with 3 runs and a stolen base. He's hitting a crisp .310, with 13 stolen bases and 44 runs, and his play in center field has been compared to Ken Griffey Jr.'s. Jackson's smooth gait and incredible speed make difficult plays appear routine. National League The Houston Astros have not been having a very good time of it this season, but occasionally a player will step up and do something special, like leadoff batter and center fielder Michael Bourn, who hit his first home run of the year in the Astros' 9-5 win over Milwaukee. Bourn homered to lead off the 3rd inning, though at the time the blast didn't seem to matter much, as the Brewers had already scored four times. The Astros added another run in the third, then scored 3 n the 6th and two runs in each of the 7th and 8th innings to complete the comeback. Bourn was on the basepaths seemingly all night, putting together a 4-for-6 effort, scoring twice, driving in a pair and stealing his league-leading 23rd base. Bourn led the NL in steals in '09 with 61 swipes. Streak Snapped: Jose Guillen's 21-game hitting streak - the longest in the majors this year, along with Josh Hamilton's current streak of the same length - came to an end in KC's 3-1 win over the White Sox Monday night. Guillen went 0-for-3. Hamilton will try to make it 22 straight when he and his Texas Rangers travel to play the LA Angels on Tuesday.