Shin-Soo Choo Homers as Rangers Close in on Houston; Starlin Castro Powers Cubs Past Cardinals

Players of the Day for Tuesday, September 8, 2015

American League

Shin Soo-Cho

Starlin Castro

As baseball season droned on through the summer and August turned to September, the Texas Rangers emerged as one of the hottest teams in the league.

Winners of nine of their last 12, including Tuesday's 9-6 win at Seattle, the Rangers find themselves just one game behind AL West leader, Houston, and closing fast.

A month ago, Texas had been given up for dead, but since August 12, the Rangers have gone on an 18-7 tear, while both Houston and the LA Angels have floundered.

The win at Seattle was the second straight for the Rangers, with two more games to go in the four-game series with the Mariners.

Shin-Soo Choo's third inning, three-run homer off Seattle starter, Taijuan Walker, put the Rangers ahead by a 4-0 score, a point from which they were never challenged.

Mitch Moreland, Rougned Odor and Joey Gallo also homered for the Rangers.

Choo has 17 home runs on the season, to go with a .255 batting average and 64 RBI.

Game three of the series is slated for a 7:10 pm PDT start at Safeco Field.

National League

Starlin Castro belted a three-run homer in the second inning and doubled in another run in the seventh, leading the Chicago Cubs to their fifth straight victory and second in a row against the homesteading St. Louis Cardinals.

On the heels of Monday's 9-0 blowout, the Cubs took the second of the three-game series by an 8-5 score, putting up a pair of runs in the first and four in the second inning, sending St. Louis starter, Michael Wacha to an early shower, after having been banged around for six runs on six hits over four innings.

Chicago put up two more runs in the top of the seventh before the Cardinals responded with a five-spot in the bottom of the frame.

Castro also walked in the first inning and scored on Anthony Rizzo's 29th home run giving the Cubs a 2-0 start.

Game three of the series will have the Cubs looking for the road sweep. Game time is 1:45 pm EDT at Busch Stadium.

Reeling Royals Downed by Dayan Viciedo Slam in White Sox Win; Ichiro Gets 4,000th Hit; Shin-Soo Choo Leads Reds Rout of Arizona

Players of the Day for Wednesday, August 21, 2013

American League

Dayan Viciedo

Now is not the time for a contending team to go into a funk, but it seems that is just what is happening to the Kansas City Royals, who have hung around the upper echelons of the AL most of the year, but have now lost four straight, dropping 6 1/2 games back from the second wild card.

That wild card slot is held currently by Oakland, Tampa Bay in control of the first wild card, 1 1/2 better than the A's. In front of the Royals are the Indians, Orioles and Yankees, so, it's going to be an uphill battle.

The latest loss for Kansas City came against the lowly White Sox, who have the worst record in the AL Central division. Chicago has taken the first two games of the three-game series in KC, winning Wednesday's event by a 5-2 score, fueled mainly by a grand slam homer by Dayan Viciedo. The blast came in the fifth inning, when the Sox scored all five of their runs.

Viciedo's homer was his 11th on the year. He also singled twice, going 3-for-4 on the night.

Kansas City and Chicago wrap up their series with the White Sox seeking the sweep, Thursday night at 8:10 pm EDT.

NOTABLE: "Omedetou" to Ichiro Suzuki, who had his 4,000th hit as a professional ball player with a single in the first inning off Toronto starter, R.A. Dickey. Ichiro had previously been 0-for-10 against Dickey. Pete Rose, with 4,256 hits, and Ty Cobb, with 4,191, are the only two players that have reached 4,000 hits in the major leagues. With the single, Suzuki broke a tie with Lou Gehrig for 59th all-time, his his 2,722nd major league hit coming in his 13th season. The speedy outfielder amassed 1,278 hits in Japan's Pacific League, where he played nine seasons with Orix.

National League

Shin-Soo Choo

En route to a 10-7 win over Arizona, the Reds built an 8-0 lead through the first four innings, powered by leadoff hitter, Shin-Soo Choo, who led off the game with his 16th homer of the season and proceeded to go 4-for-5, adding two singles and a double, scoring three runs and driving in three.

Choo is batting .281 on the year, with 83 runs, third in the league behind teammate Joey Votto (84) and league leader Matt Carpenter (92) of the Cardinals.

Cincinnati starter Mike Leake took the win (11-5), cruising through the first four innings, but was tagged for four runs in the fifth.

The Reds took a 2-1 lead in the four-game series with the Diamondbacks and have a secure hold on the second wild card position, six games ahead of Arizona. Cincinnati is still in the midst of the best race in the majors, trailing the Pirates by 2 1/2 games. St. Louis is in second place, a single game behind Pittsburgh.

Arizona closes out their series in Cincinnati, Thursday afternoon. Game time is 12:35 pm EDT.

Today's Trivia: With Ichiro reaching the career 4,000 milestone, which player was next-closest to that mark, Hank Aaron, Tris Speaker or Honus Wagner? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Willie Mays and Hank Aaron each led the National League in home runs four times. The two dominated from 1962 through 1967, each leading the league three times. In 1963, Aaron tied with Mays' teammate, Willie McCovey, each hitting 44 homers.

Shin-Soo Choo, Jose Lopez Lead 19-Hit Indian Win; John Santana Continues LA's Pain

Players of the Day for Saturday, June 30, 2012

American League

Jose Lopez stroked five singles and drove in three runs and Shin-Soo Choo scored four times to lead the Cleveland Indians to an 11-5 victory at Baltimore.

Lopez: 5-for-6

Choo: 4-for-5

Lopez singled home Choo with the game's first run in the first inning, then Choo, batting in his usual leadoff spot, socked his eighth home run of the year in the second inning, putting the Indians up 2-0.

The Indians scored three runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings, and the rout was on. Choo finished 4-for-5 with three RBI; Lopez went 5-for-6.

Having taken two of three from the O's, the Indians find themselves 2 1/2 games behind the White Sox in the AL Central, after the Yankees took down Chicago, 4-0, on Saturday.

Cleveland wraps up their four-game series in Baltimore Sunday afternoon.


National League

Johan Santana blanked the Dodgers on three hits over eight full innings en route to a 5-0 Mets' win as Los Angeles lost their seventh straight game and were shut out for the fifth time in the last six outings.

Santana: 8IP 3H 0ER

Santana struck out three and walked two, notching his sixth win against four losses. The Mets, winners of four straight, trail Washington in the NL East by 2 1/2 games after the Braves dumped the Nationals, 7-5. Bobby Parnell mopped up in the ninth, setting the Dodgers down in order.

While the Mets continue to contend in their division, Los Angeles players are likely happy to see the month of June come to an end. They began the month with a large lead in the NL West, and through the 17th were 10-6, but since then lost 11 of 12 and saw their lead not only evaporate, but vanish, as the Giants overtook them for a one game edge in the division.

LA has scored just two runs in their last six games and will be looking to avoid being swept four straight by the Mets when they play in a nationally-televised game (ESPN) Sunday night.

Choo, Tribe Hammers A's; SF Rookie Sadowski Goes to 2-0

Players of the Day for Friday, July 3, 2009 American League Anchored at the bottom of the AL Central division, the Cleveland Indians are probably not headed for the post-season, but every now and then they like to remind the rest of the league that they still have a potent lineup, capable of putting up double figures in runs at any time. Friday was one of those times, as the Indians banged out 15 hits (8 for extra bases) in a 15-3 throttling of the Oakland A's. Of all those hits, 4 of them came off the bat of Shin-Soo Choo, who belted a pair of homers, a double and a single, stole a base, scored 4 times and drove in 7 runs. Whew! Choo had a heck of a night, the homers being the 3-run and solo variety, his 11th and 12th of the season. He has 53 RBI on the year and the 4-for-5 effort boosted his average to .301. The Indians are hopelessly 13 games out of the division lead, and are 17 games under .500. Their record of 32-49 is the worst in the American League. National League With Tim Lincecum on the staff, the San Francisco Giants hardly need another ace starter, but they may have one in the making in Ryan Sadowski, who turned in his second straight scoreless performance, improving to 2-0, in a 13-0 laugher over the Houston Astros. Sadowski, who threw a 3-hitter over 6 innings in his previous start at Milwaukee, followed up with an even more impressive 7-inning stint, allowing just 4 hits and one walk while fanning 4. His scoreless streak is now 13 innings, and the rest of the numbers are dazzling. 0.87 WHIP, .159 opposing BA, and yeah, that 0.00 ERA isn't bad either.

Choo Leads Indians Past White Sox; Reds' Taveras Goes 5-for-5

Players of the Day for Monday, May 11, 2009 American League Just one game in the AL on Monday, so the POTD comes from the Cleveland Indians, who pounded the White Sox, 9-4. The guy who got things going for the Indians was Shin-Soo Choo, who singled in a run in the first inning and knocked home two more with a single in the Indians' 4-run 4th inning. With a six-run lead, all the Sox could do was chip away, but it wasn't nearly enough. Choo, Cleveland's regular right fielder this season, is batting .278 with 17 RBI. National League Cincinnati trounced Arizona, 11-5, on Monday, putting the Reds into a second place tie with Milwaukee, 2 games behind the NL Central-leading Cardinals. The Reds have been a pleasant surprise in 2008, with an 18-14 record thus far. In Monday's mashing, the offense was led by leadoff hitter Willy Taveras, who came to the Reds in the off-season after spending a couple of years with the Rockies. Taveras went 5-for-5 (all singles), scored four runs and drove in a pair. He also stole his 8th base of the season and extended his hitting streak to 12 games. NOTES: Speaking of hitting streaks, Washington's Ryan Zimmerman extended the season's longest streak to 28 games with a pair of homers and two singles. Zimmerman's 4 RBI wasn't enough for the Nats, however, as they dropped an 11-7 decision at San Francisco.