Wilmer Flores Leads Mets' Eight-Homer Barrage; Kansas City Soars Past Orioles on Omar Infante Triple

Players of the Day for Monday, August 24, 2015

American League

Flores: 2B, 2HR, 5RBI

Infante: Key Triple

Kansas City continues to roll on towards the AL Central title with the best record in the American League after dumping the Orioles Monday night, 8-3.

Baltimore led, 3-1, until the Royals erupted for seven run in the sixth inning, highlighted by Omar Infante's triple which plated two runs. Infante continued homeward bound on a bad relay throw from Orioles' second baseman Jonathan Shoop.

With the lead at 6-3, the Royals weren't done, getting another couple of runs on Lorenzo Cain's single, completing the scoring for the game.

Infante tripled again to lead off the KC eighth, but was stranded 90 feet from home.

The loss was the fifth straight for the O's, after being swept at Camden Yards by the Twins over the weekend. Kansas City won their third straight and lead the AL Central by a whopping 13 games.

Game two of the four-game series in Kansas City is slated for an 8:10 pm EDT start.

National League

With their fourth straight win - a 16-7 thumping of the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia - the Mets increased their NL East lead over the idle Nationals to 5 1/2 games.

The Mets pounded out 20 hits, including seven doubles and eight home runs (a franchise record). Second baseman Wilmer Flores was all over it, socking a double and two homers in six at-bats, driving in five runs and scoring three times. A solid hitter in the heart of the Mets' order, Flores is batting .265, with 14 home runs and 54 RBI.

The slaughter was the first of a four-game series in Philadelphia with the first-place Mets meeting the last place Phillies (tied with Miami at 50-75). Game two is schedule for 7:05 pm EDT Tuesday night.

Tigers Crush Royals 16-2, Omar Infante, 5-for-5, 6 RBI; Giants Top Arizona, 3-0, as Yusmeiro Petit Just Misses Perfect Game

Players of the Day for Friday, September 6, 2013

American League

The Tigers got Miguel Cabrera back in the lineup after a one-day absence, but they really didn't need him as they mangled four Kansas City pitchers for 26 hits in a 16-2 rout.

Omar Infante

Second baseman, Omar Infante, went 5-for-5 (four singles and a double), drove in six runs and scored twice, helping the Tigers maintain their lead at 6 1/2 games over second place Cleveland, winners of three straight, after an 8-1 win against the Mets.

Kansas City actually had a 1-0 lead after one, but the Tigers scored five in the second, five more in the fourth and three runs in the fifth, turning the first game of the three-game series in KC into a laugher.

The loss left the Royals nine games behind the Tigers in the division and 4 1/2 games back of Tampa Bay for the final wild card position, though the Orioles, Indians and Yankees are all closer in the race.

The Royals will try to even the series Saturday at 7:10 pm EDT.

National League

Yusmeiro Petit

Arizona's Eric Chavez spoiled a perfect game by San Francisco's Yusmeiro Petit, singling with two out in the ninth inning as the Giants topped the Diamondbacks, 3-0.

Petit, a 28-year-old right-hander from Maracaibo, Venezuela, actually pitched for the Diamondbacks in 2008 and 2009, compiling a 6-15 record from 25 starts, but on Friday, he showed his former team what they were missing, setting down the first 26 batters in order, striking out seven, before Chavez ruined the perfecto as a pinch-hitter for Arizona starter, Paul Corbin.

Chavez worked the count to 3-2, before lining the next pitch into right field, just a few feet in front of Hunter Pence, who made a diving effort but could not make the play. Disappointed, but not defeated, Petit retired the next batter, A.J. Pollock, on a ground ball to third.

Petit needed only 95 pitches for the win, his first career complete game and shutout. It was just his third start of the season for the Giants, who called him up after he went 6-6 in the minors. Filling in the rotation, Petit is 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA, though he's thrown just 26 1/3 innings.

Today's Trivia: Who threw more shutouts, Roger Clemens or Don Drysdale? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: The last time there wasn't a hitter with 200 hits in either league was 1995. Tony Gwynn and Dante Bichette tied for the NL lead at 197. Lance Johnson led the AL with 186 hits.

Rookie A.J. Pollock Leads Arizona over Rockies; Omar Infante Drives Detroit to 7-4 Win over Braves

Players of the Day for Saturday, April 27, 2013

American League

With all the power in the middle of Detroit's lineup, one wouldn't expect the team to be carried to victory by the guy all the way down at the bottom, but that's exactly what happened when #9 hitter Omar Infante took over the game in in the fourth inning.

Omar Infante

The Braves and Tigers forged a 3-3 tie until Infante came to the plate in the fourth and smacked a two-run homer - his first of the year - off Atlanta starter, Kevin Medlen, putting the Tigers up by a pair and ahead to stay as Rick Porcello steadied after a shaky beginning and closed the door on the Braves, working into the seventh.

Justin Uptin's MLB-leading 12th homer brought the Braves back to within one, but Infante appeared again, doubling home a run and later scoring, putting the finishing touch on a 7-4 victory, the second straight in the three-game series with Atlanta.

Infante finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and a pair of runs. The Braves and Tigers finish up Sunday night at 8:00 pm EDT, the game to be televised nationally by ESPN.


National League

A.J. Pollock

While San Francisco was losing their second straight to the Padres - 8-7 in 12 innings - the Arizona Diamondbacks took over sole possession of second place in the NL West with a 3-2 win over the first place Rockies, closing to within one game, with the finale of their four-game series set for Sunday afternoon in Phoenix.

Arizona got off to a quick start, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning off Colorado starter, Jeff Francis, on rookie A.J. Pollock's solo jack and a Cody Ross triple which plated Miguel Montero.

The Rockies eventually tied the score at 2-2 with single runs in the sixth and seventh, the game eventually headed to an extra inning as the two teams combined to use 11 pitchers.

In the bottom of the tenth, Pollock led off with a clean single and stole second with one out, moving to third on catcher Wilin Rosario's throwing error. After an intentional walk to Montero, Cody Ross cooly delivered the game-winning blow, drilling a sac fly to center which plated Pollock with the deciding run.

Pollock, who played in 31 games for the D'Backs in 2012, finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs, the first and last for Arizona.

A win Sunday by the Diamondbacks would result in a tie for first with the Rockies. Game time is 4:00 pm EDT.

Beckett Goes 7-0; Tigers Win 8th Straight; Glavine Wins #294

Tuesday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League Normally, the Detroit Tigers get most of their offense from guys like Ivan Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen, but last night, seldom used Omar Infante provided some spark at the bottom of the lineup. Filling in at center field, Infante singled, doubled, tripled, drove in 4 runs and scored twice, helping the Tigers outlast the visiting Mariners, 9-7. The Tigers continued their relentless pursuit of Cleveland with their 8th straight win and stand just 1/2 game behind the Indians in the AL Central. Josh Beckett (right) gave up a leadoff home run to Alex Rios, but shut the door after that and his teammates scored 8 runs in the first three innings as Boston beat Toronto, 9-2 and Beckett earned his 7th victory without a loss, working 7 innings of 5-hit ball, walking 1 while striking out 5. Rios' homer was the only earned run off the Boston ace. The Sox goosed their AL East lead to 6, as the Blue Jays lost their 7th straight. The teams will complete a three-game set Wednesday and Thursday in Toronto. Cleveland starter Cliff Lee, who spent April on the DL, delivered a complete game 3-hitter as the Indians stayed just ahead of the streaking Tigers with a 3-1 win at the LA Angels. Lee didn't allow a hit until the 6th inning, and threw 102 pitches.

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It was win #50 in his 4-year career, all of which has been with Cleveland Justin Morneau.banged a pair of homers, the second a 3-run shot in the 10th inning which provided the winning margin as the Twins outlasted the White Sox, 7-4. Morneau drove in 4 and scored twice, and now has 8 dingers on the season. Other AL Scores Baltimore 8 Tampa Bay 3 NY Yankees 8 Texas 2 - A. Rodriguez, HR (15) Oakland 6 Kansas City 1 - C. Gaudin (W, 2-1), 8 Ks National League Tom Glavine took another step closer to Cooperstown with a smooth 7-hit, 7-inning performance, leading the NY Mets to a 4-1 win at San Francisco. Glavine (4-1) won the 294th game of his stellar career despite allowing Barry Bonds to swat his 11th home run of the season and 745th career home run, just 10 short of Hank Aaron's all-time record. Glavine gave up just the lone homer, walking 1 and striking out 5. Billy Wagner worked the 9th for his 7th save. The win kept the Mets and Braves deadlocked atop the NL East at 20-12. Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee extended their hitting streaks to 16 and 15 games respectively, but the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates got the last laugh, winning 4-3 in 15 innings. Soriano went 3-6 and Lee had just 1 hit in 7 at-bats, dropping his batting average to a relatively pedestrian (.398). Other NL Scores Florida 6 LA Dodgers 5 - M. Cabrera, HR (8), 3 RBI, .351 Houston 7 Cincinnati 6 - C. Lee, HR (6), 2 RBI (31) leads NL Atlanta 3 San Diego 2 Milwaukee 6 Washington 4 - Brewers, 4 straight wins, lead NL Cent. by 6 1/2 Arizona 3 Philadelphia 2 St. Louis 4 Colorado 1 - J. Isringhausen, S (9)