Blue Jays Win 11th Straight, Edwin Encarnacion Leads 13-5 Rout of Orioles; Anthony Rizzo, Ryan Sweeney Pace 14-6 Cubs Win

Players of the Day for Sunday, June 23, 2013

American League

Edwin Encarnacion

Toronto completed their three-game sweep of the visiting Orioles and won their 11th straight - the longest winning streak in the majors this season - with a 13-5 blowout, roughing up Baltimore starter, Freddie Garcia, for seven runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings.

Edwin Encarnacion had another fantastic game, going 3-for-5 with a single, double, home run, three runs and four RBI. Those totals move him into second place in the AL home run category (21) and third in RBI, with 63. Encarnacion has gone 12-for-36 (.333) over his last ten games, with three homrs, 10 runs and 10 RBI.

Combined with Boston's 7-5 loss to the Tigers, Toronto is now just five games off the pace in the AL East, tied with Tampa Bay. The Yankees are 2 1/2 back, with Baltimore in second place, two down to the Red Sox.

The Blue Jays have shaved seven games off Boston's lead during their winning streak, remarkable in that they were left for dead less than two weeks ago, but suddenly are right back in the mix, even though the calendar says there's more than three months of baseball left to play.

Having tied the franchise record, the Blue Jays will look to break it when they seek win #12 in a row, Monday night at Tampa Bay, where they open a three-game series with the Rays, starting at 7:10 pm EDT. The Jays close out the month with four games at Boston before returning home to host the Tigers for three.

National League

Ryan Sweeney

The Chicago Cubs took advantage of some very suspect Houston hurlers en route to a 14-6 rout of the Astros, taking the three-game series at Wrigley Field, two games to one.

Anthony Rizzo

Ryan Sweeney and Anthony Rizzo accounted for six of the Cubs' 16 hits and between them drove in 10 runs. Sweeney was 3-for-5 with two doubles and a home run, scoring twice while driving in a season-high six. Rizzo went 3-for-3 - two singles and a homer - scored four times and drove in four runs.

The win got the Cubs into a tie for last place in the NL Central with the Brewers, 7-4 losers to Atlanta. Houston, likewise in last place, though in the AL West, has the AL's worst record, at 29-48.

NOTABLE: David Wright could have hit for the cycle in Sunday's 8-0 win over the Phillies, if he had just stopped at first on one of his two doubles - one each in the fourth and fifth innings. Of course, Wright had no reason to believe that he'd triple in the seventh inning and sock a solo homer in the top of the ninth. The hard-hitting third baseman finished the day 4-for-5 with two runs, two RBI and 11 total bases.

Today's Trivia: From 1956 to 1966, the Cy Young Award went to the best pitcher in the majors, not the individual leagues. During those years, who won the award three times? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: With the Expos in 1997, Pedro Martinez won the Cy Young Award before winning back-to-back AL Cy Young's with Boston in 1999 and 2000.

Ryan Sweeney Helps A's to 6th Straight; Seth Smith Powers Rockies to 4-3 Win

Players of the Day for Tuesday, June 21, 2011

American League

The hottest team in the American League right now is Minnesota, who won their eighth straight by blasting the Giants, 9-2, but right next to them on the heat map are the Oakland A's, who took their sixth straight with a 6-2 win in New York over the up-and-down Mets.

Among the reasons for the A's recent success is Ryan Sweeney, who probably isn't getting all the playing time he deserves. Sweeney went 4-for-5 and drove in only one run, but he was right in the middle of the A's big innings, leading to their victory.

Sweeney's key RBI single in the 3rd put the A's up 4-0, and another single, in the 5th, set the stage for two more Oakland runs, effectively putting the game out of reach, at 6-1.

Batting .291, Sweeney has been used primarily in right field and he has had some key pinch-hits. While his stats aren't anything close to mind-boggling, he's only had 117 at-bats this season.

The A's, in last place in the AL West but only 5 1/2 games back, hope to keep their win streak running in New York on Wednesday and Thursday.

National League

Seth Smith crunched a pair of home runs to lead the Colorado Rockies to a second straight one-run win at Cleveland, 4-3, Tuesday night.

Smith hit his seventh home run in the 6th inning, putting the Rockies up, 3-0, but the Indians battled back to tie the game heading into the 9th. His second homer of the contest turned out to be the game-winner, as Smith led off the inning with a solo bomb to right-center off Cleveland closer, Chris Perez.

Huston Street slammed the door shut on the Indians in the bottom of the frame, earning his NL-leading 22nd save.

Batting .316, Smith has been a large part of the Rockies' winning four of their last five. In the four wins, he's gone 8-for-18, including his 3-for-4 effort on Tuesday. The Rockies remain in the hunt for the NL West title, trailing Arizona by 2 1/2 games and just two back of second place San Francisco.

INTERLEAGUE TALLY: The National Leaguers made a bit of a comeback on Tuesday, winning nine of the 13 games played. Those wins cut the AL lead to 58-49.

Ryan Sweeney 5 RBI Dumps Rangers; Ryan Braun Powers Brewers Past Dodgers

Players of the Day for Tuesday, May 4, 2010 American League Life in the AL West is confusing, for now. The only team with a record above .500 is the Texas Rangers, though they are just 14-13 after dropping a 7-6 decision to the A's Tuesday in Oakland. The A's are hot on their heels, just 1/2 game back, at 14-14. The two teams play the rubber game of their three-game series on Wednesday. Tuesday's fracas was as close as the final score indicates, as the A's tried their best to give away an early 5-0 lead when the Rangers scored 4 runs in the third inning. Oakland responded with 2 more in the 4th to complete their scoring, and the bullpen managed to hold the Rangers to just 2 more runs for the duration. Keying the Oakland offense was Ryan Sweeney, who drove in 5 of the 7 A's runs with a two-run homer in the 1st, a two-run single in the 2nd and another run-scoring single in the 4th. Sweeney finished 3-for-4, bumping his average to .303. The homer was his first of the season, not unusual for him, as he's hit only 13 in 1047 major league at-bats. Sweeney does have 16 RBI thus far, putting him on pace for 90 or more, depending on how many games he plays. National League At 18-9, the St. Louis Cardinals have not only the best record in the NL Central division, but the best in the league. Their hot start has afforded them a 5-game lead on Cincinnati and Chicago (both 13-14). Another game and a half back are the Milwaukee Brewers, who took the first of their three-game series in LA with an 11-6 win over the Dodgers. The win was just the third for the Brewers in their last 8 outings, keyed by an 8-run 2nd inning. Ryan Braun provided the key bases-loaded double that plated 3 runs, then scored when Prince Fielder socked his third homer of the season. That caused LA starter Clayton Kershaw to be relieved of his duty, allowing 7 runs on 5 hits in just 1 1/3 innings. Braun tripled and scored again in the 4th, and reached on a fielder's choice in the 8th before scoring for the third time. Both times, Braun was driven home by Casey McGehee, who is having an awesome start to his first full season as the Brewers' full-time 3rd baseman (.304, 5, 21). Braun leads the Brewers with 23 RBI and a .356 batting average. The Brewers improved to 11-15.