Austin Jackson Leads Tigers Past A's; Paul Maholm Blanks Nats as Braves Complete Sweep

Players of the Day for Sunday, April 14, 2013

American League

On Saturday, the Tigers snapped Oakland's nine-game winning streak with a 7-2 victory On Sunday afternoon, they made sure the A's knew the 2012 AL champion was still the boss, hammering Oakland, 10-1, taking the series by the bay two games to one.

Austin Jackson

Detroit knocked around five Oakland pitchers for 14 hits, four of them off the bat of leadoff hitter, Austin Jackson, who got things started with a single to open the game, scoring on Torii Hunter's double. In the second, Jackson cracked his first home run of the season, a two-run blow that put the Tigers comfortably into a 4-0 lead.

In the fourth, Jackson singled and scored again, and singled home his third RBI of the game in the seventh, finishing up 4-for-6 at the plate, raising his batting average to .386; his 17 runs leads the AL.

Detroit gets a travel day Monday, heading to Seattle for a three-game series, starting Tuesday.

National League

Paul Maholm

Batting from the leadoff spot, B.J. Upton singled and doubled twice in five at-bats, scoring twice and brother Justin cracked his seventh home run of the season as the Braves completed their three-game sweep of the Nationals with a 9-0 pasting.

The Braves pounded out 12 hits while starter Paul Maholm was shredding the Washington order, allowing just four hits and one walk over 7 2/3 innings for his third win of the season without a loss. Maholm fanned seven, giving him 20 on the season, extending his scoreless string to 20 2/3 innings to start the year.

Maholm joins the Giants' Madison Bumgarner and the Mets' Matt Harvey as three-game winners. He is tied with San Fran's Barry Zito with a 0.00 ERA.

Atlanta improved to 11-1 and holds a 3 1/2 game lead over the Mets in the NL East. The Nationals are four games out.

Paul Maholm Blanks Marlins, Justin Upton Socks 6th Homer for Braves; Robinson Cano Leads Yankees over Indians

Players of the Day for Monday, April 8, 2013

American League

Cano: 3-4, 2HR

Even though the Yankees roster has been decimated by injuries (Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, A-Rod), there's still plenty of pop in the lineup, as the Cleveland indians found out on Monday in an 11-6 loss.

The Yanks cranked out 13 hits in the win, scoring three in the first inning, before Cleveland tied it in the bottom of the frame, but then New York scored a run or more in each inning from the third through the seventh.

Smack in the middle of the offensive outburts was Robinson Cano, who went 3-for-4 with a pair of solo homers, a double, two RBI and four runs.

Off to a slow start, Cano doubled his hit output from three to six, raising his batting average from .130 to .222.

The Yankees are 3-4 and tied with Baltimore and Tampa Bay in second place in the AL East. The trio trails Boston by two games.

National League

Maholm: 7IP, 1H, OER

After a failed attempt at buying its way into the playoffs in 2012, Miami unloaded most of the expensive talent it had acquired and this season is feeling the effects of self-imposed austerity.

Upton: 6 HRs

Paul Maholm blanked the Marlins on one hit over seven innings, leading the Braves to a 2-0 shutout of Miami, the third time this season the Marlins have failed to score a run.

Justin Upton went 4-for-4 with his sixth home run, a sixth-inning solo whack, after singling and scoring in the fourth inning. Upton leads the NL with six homers in seven games this season and is batting .423 with eight RBI.

Improving to 2-0, Maholm was money on the mound, fanning seven with three walks, the only hit a single off the bat of Placido Polanco in the third inning. Maholm finished strong, getting 13 of the final 14 batters he faced, plunking Juan Pierre with two down in the fifth the only break in his hitless string. Maholm has allowed just seven hits and no runs over 12 2/3 innings to start the season.

The 6-1 Braves hold a one-game lead over the Mets in the NL East.

Paul Maholm Shuts Out Astros, 9-0; Yunel Escobar Slams for Toronto

Players of the Day for Sunday, July 18, 2010 American League As has been their style in recent years, the Toronto Blue Jays fell out of the AL East race as soon as the calendar turned from Spring to Summer, and are now 11 1/2 games out, in 4th place and fading. That the Jays can't compete in the heady division is no shame, though. The top three teams - Yankees, Rays and Red Sox - have the best combined record for any 1-2-3 teams in any division and the Yanks and Rays respectively have the two best records in the majors. Toronto battles on, winning Sunday's series finale in Baltimore with a 10-1 win and a sweep of the three games in Charm City. The Blue Jays lead the majors in home runs (140) by a healthy margin (Boston is second, with 122), and they had one on Sunday, but it came off the bat of the player least likely to send one over the fence, shortstop Yunel Escobar. The shot was not only his first of the year, but it happened with the bases loaded and put the Jays up by a 5-1 count in the second inning, essentially ending the contest right there. It's not like the 6'2", 200 lb. Escobar can't hit homers. He had 14 in 2009 after going yard 10 times in 2008 with the Braves. He was traded just days ago to the Blue Jays for their own starting shortstop, Alex Gonzalez in a five-player deal. In three games with the Jays, Escobar is batting .462, has 5 RBI and now, a homer, something he failed to do in 75 games with Atlanta this year. National League At 32-59, Pittsburgh has the worst record in the National League, but over their past two games - both wins against the Astros - you wouldn't know it. On Saturday, they out-slugged Houston, 12-9, and on Sunday, took the series, 2-1 with a 9-0 win on 19 hits and the arm of Paul Maholm (6-7). Every batter except Maholm had at least one hit, led by Ronnie Cedeno, who went 4-for-4 with three doubles. Paul Maholm tossed his first complete game since 2008 and first shutout since 2007, allowing three hits and no walks. He struck out just one batter, Angel Sanchez, who, oddly enough, had two hits off Maholm. The lefty needed just 102 pitches (70 strikes) to mow down the feckless Astros.