Shane Bieber Goes Distance As Indians Keep Pace; Dodgers Rally Past Padres On Max Muncy's 4-for-5 Effort

Players of the Day for Sunday, August 4, 2019

American League

Bieber: Complete game W

The best race in the AL is clearly in the Central division, where the Minnesota Twins are clinging to a three-game lead over the streaking Cleveland Indians.

Over the weekend, the two front-runners each swept their series on home turf. The Twins took three from Kansas City while the Indians were busy taking down the visiting Angles, winning by scores of 7-3, 7-2, and Sunday, 6-2.

It's obvious that the Indians are getting timely hitting and quality pitching. Sunday's conquest was engineered from the mound by Shane Bieber, who went the distance, allowing two runs on five hits, with no walks and eight strikeouts.

Bieber improved to 11-4, and has been one of the top throwers in the league since before the all-star break. In his last seven starts, the 24-year-old righty is 5-1 with a 2.38 ERA, allowing 34 hits and 14 earned runs in 53 innings. During that span he's averaging more than seven innings per start and is a big reason the Indians are well paving a way to the post-season, whether they catch the Twins or not.

Cleveland leads the wild card race by two games over Tampa Bay and three over the Oakland A's.

Next up for the Indians are three games with the Rangers, starting Monday, after which they head to Minnesota for a crucial four-game series with the Twins, beginning Thursday.

National League

Muncy: 4-5, HR, 3R, 3RBI

Why are the Dodgers running away with the NL West?

Cody Bellinger? Clayton Kershaw?

How about Max Muncy?

Muncy's 4-for-5 effort in Sunday's comeback 11-10 win over the Padres was further evidence that he has been the unsung hero of 2019 for Los Angeles.

Not only did Muncy sock his 27th home run of the season with a second inning solo shot that got the Dodgers on the board, but he added a pair of doubles and a single, scored three times, drove in three runs, the last two in the bottom of the ninth, when he doubled home the game-tying and winning runs.

The Dodgers rallied from deficits of 6-3 and 10-7 to take the third of their four-game home series against San Diego, sending the Padres reeling into last place in the division, 21 1/2 games off the pace.

The scrappy 28-year-old infielder is on track to better his outstanding 2018 campaign in which he batted .263 with 35 home runs and 79 RBI. This season, he's batting .265 with 27 long balls and 74 ribbies and the Dodgers are looking to clinch the division by mid-September, if not sooner.

LA is clearly the class of the National League. Their 74-40 record is the best in the majors and far ahead of the pack in the NL. Atlanta has the second-best mark, at 66-47.

With San Diego put away, the Dodgers host St. Louis for three games beginning Monday at 7:10 pm PT.

Cleveland's Shane Bieber Tosses One-Hitter at Jays; Paul DeJong Belts 3 HRs as Cardinals Top Pirates

Players of the Day for Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Bieber throws 1-hitter

American League

Shane Bieber took a no=hitter into the seventh inning and finished with a one-hit, complete game shutout in Cleveland's 4-0 win at Toronto.

Bieber gave up a ground rule double to Eric Sogard to open Toronto's seventh, but, other than plunking Lourdes Guriel Jr., set down the final batters without incident or hits, striking out four of the final eight Blue Jay batters.

Bieber issued just one walk, to Vlad Guerrero Jr., in the second inning. Guerrero was erased on a double play, after which Bieber set down the next 12 batters in order prior to Sogard spoiling the no-hit bid.

Throwing 68 of 102 pitches for strikes, Bieber fanned 10 and improved his record to 10-3 with a 3.44 ERA in 21 starts.

Cleveland's win, combined with Minnesota's 10-7 loss to the Yankees, boosted the Indians to within two games of the AL Central leader.

Winners of nine of their last 11, the Indians head to Kansas City on Thursday for a four-game series. First pitch for game one is slated for 8:10 pm ET.

DeJong socks 3 homers

National League

All of a sudden, the St. Louis Cardinals are contending for first place in the NL Central.

The Cardinals won their fourth straight and seventh in their last eight games with a 14-9 victory at Pittsburgh that included a nine-run second inning and three homers by shortstop, Paul DeJong.

Down 2-0 as they opened the second, DeJong knotted the score with a two-run homer and sparked a huge rally. Later in the frame, he doubled and scored as the Cardinals sent 13 batters to the plate.

DeJong socked another two-run homer in the fourth and homered again to lead off the eighth inning. He finished 4-for-4 with five RBI and four runs.

The win kept the Cardinals 1/2-game behind the Cubs in the division. Chicago was a 4-1 winner at San Francisco Wednesday. Milwaukee is also in the division mix, just two games out of first place.

St. Louis will be seeking a four-game sweep of the Pirates when they meet on field Thursday, at 12:35 pm ET.