Nick Blackburn Wins for Twins; Cliff Lee Hurls Two-Hitter; Jones, Schafer Lead Braves

Players of the Day for Thursday, July 16, 2011

American League

Nick Blackburn

Atop the Central division, the Tigers scored a 6-2 decision over Cleveland to take over first place by one game, while at the lower end, Minnesota topped the White Sox, 1-0, furthering the Twins' desire to get back into the race after a forgettable first two months of the season.

Starter Nick Blackburn worked out of repeated jams, allowing eight hits but no runs over eight innings for the Twins, riding Michael Cuddyer's 3rd inning solo home run to his sixth victory over four losses.

Blackburn walked one and struck out just one batter, and Matt Capps earned his ninth save, allowing a hit, but fanning two in a scoreless 9th.

The Twins remain in last place in the division, but are just nine games behind the Tigers. A game in front of them are the Royals, while the White Sox hold third place, 5 1/2 out.

National League

Cliff Lee: Two-Hitter

What's better, a two-hit shutout, five RBI or five hits in a game?

Jones: five RBI

Since the answer is a matter of subjective preference, we present all three, from an entertaining evening in the NL East.

In Philadelphia, Cliff Lee sent the Florida Marlins to their 15th loss in their last 16 games, hurling a two-hit, two-walk complete game shutout in a 3-0 Phillies' win.

Lee threw an incredible 117 pitches for his seventh career shutout, fanning four as he improved to 7-5 on the season.

The win kept the Phillies five clear of the Atlanta Braves, who survived a see-saw battle with the Mets, 9-8, eventually scoring the game-winner on a 10th-inning balk by Mets' pitcher D.J. Carrasco, sending Diory Hernandez, who had replaced Chipper Jones in the 9th inning, to the platter.

Schafer: five hits

Prior to the melodramatic ending, Jones had driven in five runs for the Braves with a first inning ground out, a third inning three-run homer and an RBI single in the 4th. Jones left the game after leaping to field a high chopped by Angel Pagan and throwing wildly to first in the 8th inning. Pagan would eventually score, putting the Mets up 8-6 at the time.

Atlanta tied the game in the bottom of the ninth on Brooks Conrad's two-run homer.

Jordan Schafer had five hits for the Braves, all singles, including his 10th-inning hit that sent Hernandez to third, setting him up to score the winning run.

Blackburn Perfect for 3; Gonzalez 3-for-3 in Win over Royals

Players of the Day for Saturday, March 5, 2011

American League

Nick Blackburn

Nick Blackburn no-hit the Tampa Bay Rays for three innings, striking out two, and six other Minnesota pitchers held the Rays to three hits for the game as the Twins won, 6-1.

Blackburn, beginning his 4th full season with the Twins, has had up-and-down seasons thus far, going 32-36 with a 4.10 ERA.

The Twins are hoping that Blackburn will become more consistent in 2011 as he has normally good control but has been streaky.

National League

Carlos Gonzalez

The Colorado Rockies outlasted Kansas City in a 10-9 exhibition game victory as Carlos Gonzalez found his groove.

Gonzlaez rapped out a pair of singles and a double in three at-bats, drove in one run and scored twice in the game. He had been in a 1-for-6 slump to start Spring training.

A big part of the Rockies' success in 2010, Gonzalez hit 34 homers and drove in 117 runs for the Rockies, a late-season surge nearly capturing the NL MVP award. He did cache some hardware, however, earning the MLB Players Choice Player of the Year and NL Most Outstanding Player in addition to the Silver Slugger award, a Rawlings Gold Glove and won MLB.com's Breakout Player of the Year.

Blackburn Buzzes ChiSox; DeRosa Hammers Astros

Players of the Day for Monday, September 20, 2009 American League The Minnesota Twins got another win and 1/2 game closer to the idle Detroit Tigers in their relentless chase for the AL Central title. Nick Blackburn (11-11) blanked the White Sox over 7 innings, scattering 8 hits while fanning 6 without issuing a walk as the Twins opened their three-game series in Chicago with a 7-0 win. Blackburn had good command, setting down the side in order in the 1st and 7th innings. In between he allowed at least one base hit in each inning, but worked out of each situation by inducing ground outs and, in one instance, was aided by his infield turning a double play. Of the 102 pitches thrown, 72 were for strikes. Blackburn got 12 batters to ground out; 5 flew out. The win pushed the Twins to within 2 1/2 games of Detroit which begins a six game road trip with three games each against Cleveland and Chicago. After that, the Twins and Tigers hook up for a pivotal 4 game series in Detroit which will likely decide the division, September 28 through October 1. National League Mark DeRosa doubled in a pair of runs in the first inning, then belted solo homers in the 3rd and 5th, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-3 win over the Houston Astros. DeRosa, acquired from Cleveland in June, has proven to be a worthwhile pick-up for the Cardinals, both for his defense and his bat. It was his second 2-homer night since joining St. Louis and his 4 RBI his best effort in a Cardinal uniform. The win shaved another digit off the Cardinals' magic number, now down to 3. St. Louis leads the Cubs by 10 games in the NL Central, the largest lead in either league.