Andy Pettitte, Russell Martin Lead 7-0 Win over Rays; Atlanta's Tim Hudson, Dan Uggla Top Marlins, 11-0

Players of the Day for Tuesday, June 5, 2012

American League

Andy Pettitte

It's all tied up again atop the AL East as Baltimore took an 8-6, 10-inning win at Boston and Andy Pettitte shut out the Rays over 7 1/3 innings, propelling the Yankees to a 7-0 win over Tampa Bay.

Russell Martin

The O's and Rays share the lead, with the Yanks one half back, Toronto two out and Boston back in last place, but only three games from the lead.

Pettitte allowed just two hits, fanned 10 and walked a pair en route to his third win against two losses since joining the Yanks in mid-May.

Pettitte's battery mate, Russell Martin, went 3-for-4 with a grand slam homer in the fourth inning against Rays' stater James Shields, pacing the offense.

Game two of the three-game set is scheduled for 7:05 pm EDT, Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.


National League

Uggla: 4-5 2HR 5 RBI

Bryce Harper singled home Jose Flores with the winning run in the bottom of the 12th innings, as Washington held onto first place in the NL East with a 7-6 win over the Mets.

Earlier in the evening, Atlanta did themselves and the Nats a favor, knocking off the Marlins, 11-0, in Miami. The results left Washington with a one game lead over Miami, with the Mets 1 1/2 back, Atlanta two behind and Philadelphia, the only team in the division under .500, five down.

Tim Hudson

Second baseman Dan Uggla socked a pair of home runs, singled, doubled, scored three times and drove in five runs for the Braves, who took the opener of their three-game series with the Marlins. Uggla went 4-for-5, raising his RBI total to 37 on the season, good for fifth in the NL, behind LA's Andre Ethier, who leads with 46. Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez has 45.

Tim Hudson pitched a complete game, five-hitter for the Braves, his fourth win vs. two losses. His 25th career complete game and 13th shutout, Hudson walked three and struck out the same number.

The Braves and Marlins square off Wednesday night in Miami at 7:10 pm EDT.

Floyd, Lillibridge Lead White Sox over Rangers; Red-Hot Braves Sweep Arizona

Players of the Day for Sunday, August 22, 2011

American League

Floyd has 5 Wins
in last 7 starts.

The Detroit Tigers spent the weekend solidifying their lead in the AL Central by taking three straight from second place Cleveland to establish a 4 1/2 game working margin while the White Sox became a viable contender, taking two of three from Texas - including Sunday's smashing 10-0 victory - to close to within five games of the lead.

Lillibridge: 11 HRs

Chicago starter Gavin Floyd (11-10, 4.45) has come alive at the right time for the charging Sox, earning decisions in six of his last seven starts - five of them wins. His latest trip to the mound resulted in seven innings of shutout work, allowing the Rangers just three hits and a walk, fanning six.

Brent Lillibridge, who, since 2009, has played every position except catcher and pitcher for the White Sox, went 3-for-5 with his 11th home run, driving in two runs and scoring twice to pace the Chicago offense.

Listed at 5'11", 185 pounds, one would not expect Lillibridge to offer much in the way of power, but this season's homers have come off of 159 at-bats. He's having a banner year statistically, with a .346 on base percentage, .509 slugging percentage and an .856 OPS.

The White Sox don't face the Tigers until September 2nd, when they open a three game series in Detroit. Chicago hosts Detroit in another three game set, September 12-14.

National League

Gonzalez: Solo HR

Hudson: 7 scoreless

Milwaukee continued to be the hottest team in the majors, completing a three game sweep of the Mets with a 6-2 win in New York - the 22nd win their last 25 games - but the Atlanta Braves have been putting together a nice run of their own, completing a weekend, three game sweep of the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, sending the Arizonans to their fifth straight loss, in a 1-0 nail-biter.

Tim Hudson scattered three hits and three walks over seven scoreless innings, striking out seven for his 13th win against seven losses. Jonny Venters gave up a hit in the eighth, but kept the lead for his 27th hold, and Craig Kimbrel earned his MLB-Best 39th save, giving up a hit and a walk in the ninth, but striking out the three other batters he faced. Kimbrel's three Ks gave him 101 on the season, in 62 2/3 innings.

Kimbrel: 39 Saves

The Braves' exceptional pitching made the third inning, solo homer off the bat of Alex Gonzalez stand up for Atlanta's fourth straight win and 11th in their last 14 outings.

Venters: 27 Holds

Atlanta has cut slightly into Philadelphia's NL East lead, closing to within 5 1/2 games and maintaining a nearly insurmountable eight-game lead over the Giants and 8 1/2 over the Cardinals in the wild card race.

The Diamondback loss cut the lead over the Giants to just 1 1/2 games, but the Giants haven't exactly helped themselves, losing three of their last five and five of their last seven.

Atlanta will have every opportunity to catch the Phillies over the next two weeks, as they play their next 13 games against the Cubs, Mets, Nationals and Dodgers prior to a three game series with the Phillies beginning September 5th.

Longoria Provides Power for Rays; Kershaw, Hudson Are Mound Kings

Players of the Day for Monday, June 20, 2011

American League

Evan Longoria

Even though they've won four straight, Tampa Bay can't seem to pick up any ground on the Yankees or Red Sox, remaining 4 1/2 behind the front-running Sox and three games back of their New York rivals.

Still, Tampa has gotten itself into a contending position since the return of their all-star thrid baseman, Evan Longoria, who missed much of April, and has struggled to regain his award-winning form.

In Monday's 8-4 win at Milwaukee, some of that old spark showed up, as Longoria singled in a run and scored in the 7th inning, then proceeded to belt a three-run homer that completed Tampa's scoring and put the game out of reach.

The homer was only Longoria's 6th of the season and just his second in June. The power outage has been a concern for the Rays, because Longoria average 27 homers in his first three seasons.

National League

Kershaw's 2-hitter
tamed Tigers

Clayton Kershaw notched his seventh win against three losses, hurling a masterful 2-hit shutout in a 4-0 win over Detroit.

Kershaw didn't allow a hit after the 4th inning, setting down 17 of the last 18 batters he faced, walking one. He ended the game with a flourish, striking out the side in the 9th. Kershaw fanned 11 for the game, giving him the NL lead in Ks, with 117, leading Roy Halladay (114) and Cliff Lee (111), but his was only one of two impressive performances by National League starters.

Hudson's 2-run
homer won the game

In Atlanta, Tim Hudson shut out the Toronto Blue Jays for eight innings, allowing only two hits, walking one and striking out eight.

While Hudson's mound heroics were worthy of note, his plate appearance in the bottom of the 7th inning provided the winning runs for the Braves, as he blasted a two-run homer for the 2-0 Atlanta win.

Hudson retired 20 straight batters from the 2nd inning through the 8th, but walked the leadoff hitter, Mike McCoy, in the 9th and then gave up his second hit of the game, a single by Yunel Escobar. That's when closer Craig Kimbrel was summoned from the bullpen. He promptly struck out the next three batters, getting his 20th save of the season, tying him with Brian Wilson of the Giants for the second most in the league. Colorado's Huston Street leads with 21.

INTERLEAGUE TALLY: The National League managed to pick up four wins on Monday, but fell further behind as the AL teams won six, expanding their lead to 54-40.

Tim Hudson 1-Hits Brewers; Max Scherzer Shuts Out Yankees over Eight

Players of the Day for Wednesday, May 4, 2011

American League

Max Scherzer

Max Scherzer shut down the Yankee bats as he improved to 5-0 on the season, tossing eight innings of shutout ball in Detroit's 4-0 home win.

Fanning nine, Scherzer struck out every batter in New York's starting lineup except Curtis Granderson, including getting Mark Teixeira twice. Scherzer limited the Yankees to just four hits and walked two batters, and was never in trouble as the Tigers scored once in the second inning and packed on three more runs in the third.

Mixing his pitches well enough to keep opposing batters off-balance, Scherzer threw 69 of 109 pitches for strikes.

Detroit took firm command of third place in the AL Central, but still trail Cleveland - whose 12-game home winning streak was snapped by Oakland, 3-1 - by a full seven games. The Yankees still control the AL East by two games, as second place Tampa Bay lost to Toronto, 3-2.

Scherzer's 46 Ks have him tied with Dan Haren for third in the American League.

National League

Tim Hudson

With the focus in the NL East on the battle for first place between the Phillies and Marlins, the Atlanta Braves have been lurking in third place, 4 1/2 back after Tim Hudson's near-perfect performance on Wednesday.

Hudson set down the first nine Milwaukee batters in order before giving up the Brewers' only hit of the game, a double by Ricky Weeks to lead off the 4th inning. After that, Hudson set down 16 straight before a one-out walk in the 9th inning to Weeks, his only free pass of the game. Going the distance, Hudson fanned 6 batters.

While Hudson was twirling his one-hitter, Atlanta batters went to town, getting 12 hits and 8 runs off four Milwaukee pitchers for the 8-0 win.

The shutout was the first this season for Hudson, who has thrown 12. It was Hudson's 24th complete game in a career which stretches back to 1999. Hudson is 4-2.

Hudson, Prado Lift Braves; Braden Shuts Out Rangers

Players of the Day for August 28, 2010 American League If the Oakland A's are going to run down the Texas Rangers in the AL West, they're probably going to need the kind of pitching provided by Dallas Braden in Saturday's 5-0 blanking of the division leaders. Braden, who tossed a perfect game against Tampa earlier in the year, evened his record at 9-9 with a powerful performance from the mound, throwing 86 of 120 pitches for strikes, allowing just four hits without walking a batter and striking out one. It was Braden's fifth complete game of the season and second shutout. The Rangers were never able to put more than one runner aboard in any inning and went down in order in five of the nine frames, From the 4th through 7th innings, Braden set down 13 straight potential hitters. The win evened the series at Texas at a game apiece. The two will settle their score on Sunday. With the win, Oakland moved back to 8 1/2 games behind, but time is slipping away. Texas hasn't played well of late, going 9-9 since August 10, but the Athletics have not taken advantage, going 8-9 over the same span. National League In the NL East, the race has boiled down to two teams, the Braves and the Phillies. After both teams notched wins on Saturday, it's still Atlanta in the driver's seat, two games to the good over Philly. Atlanta continues to get timely hitting and outstanding pitching. In beating the Marlins brains out, 14-3, Tim Hudson (left) did the hurling, while Martin Prado (right) did the hurting. Making his own case for Cy Young consideration, Hudson improved to 15-5 with seven powerful innings, silencing the Florida bats on six hits and a walk, fanning a season-high 13 batters. He allowed just one earned run. The Braves gave Hudson more support than he needed, scoring six times in the second inning, including a walk to Prado which forced in a run. Prado singled in two more in the 3rd and socked his 15th home run of the season in the 7th. Overall, Prodo went 2-for-5 with five RBI. The Phillies gutted out a 3-1 win in San Diego to keep pace.

Arencibia Smacks Two Homers in MLB Debut; Tim Hudson Shuts Down Giants

Players of the Day for Saturday, August 7, 2010 American League Normally, the Tampa Bay Rays rely on solid starting pitching to keep games close, but they're not having much success with the normal script against the homer-happy Toronto Blue Jays. After losing the first of their three-game series, 2-1, on Friday, the Jays got back to slugging their way to wins on Saturday in a 17-11 mash-fest which saw a total of eight Blue Jay round-trippers, six of them hit off Tampa starter James Shields, who lasted just four innings. Toronto banged out 20 hits total and scored at least one run in each of the first seven innings. Jose Bautista hit his 34th of the season to lead the majors, Aaron Hill blasted two, driving in four runs, but the show belonged to rookie catcher, J.P. Arencibia, who, playing in his first major league game, went 4-for-5 with a pair of homers, a single and a double, three RBI and three runs. Arencibia homered in his first at-bat in the second inning, doubled in the 3rd, singled and scored in the 5th, and capped off his debut with a solo homer in the 6th. The rookie was called up from AAA Las Vegas on Wednesday. Toronto may not make the post-season, but they're having a blast leading the majors with 175 home runs. Their second straight win over the Rays, dropped Tampa Bay 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the AL East. Toronto is 10 1/2 back. National League The Braves continue to hold onto first place in the NL East through a combination of good pitching, timely hitting and general scrappiness. Since it's manager Bobby Cox's final year, the players have a commitment to give him 100% effort and make the 2010 season a memorable one. Exemplifying the Atlanta attitude is pitcher Tim Hudson, who is having his best season since coming over to the Braves from Oakland in 2005. Hudson shut out the Giants over 8 innings Saturday on 3 hits and a walk, striking out 6, in a 3-0 win, allowing the Braves to double their precarious lead over the Phillies in the division to two games. Improving to 13-5 for the season, Hudson's ERA dipped to 2.24 and his WHIP is a very solid 1.10. Billy Wagner came on in the 9th and struck out the side for his 27th save.

Pena Blasts Rays Past O's; Hudson is Lights Out for Braves

Players of the Day for Friday, April 11, 2008 American League If you're looking for action, look no further than the AL East. While the Yankees and Red Sox squared off in Beantown, the division-leading Orioles were visiting Tampa Bay, where Carlos Pena was making life difficult for Baltimore pitchers. Pena homered in the first and the seventh innings, a two-run and a three-run shot, respectively, drawing the Rays and O's even at 5-5. But, when the slugger came up with the bases loaded in the 8th, he walked, forcing in the game-winning run. Tampa tacked on four more for a 10-5 win, but clearly Pena was a force with which the O's could not reckon. In five plate appearances, Pena homered twice and walked twice. The two dingers gave him the AL lead, at 5, and his 6 RBI also tied him for AL top honors with Toronto's Vernon Wells, at 12. Notes: Chien-Ming Wang became the first AL pitcher to record 3 wins, hurling the Yankees past Boston, 4-1, with a complete-game, two-hit effort. Wang didn't walk a batter and the only run came on a J.D. Drew 5th inning bomb. National League Known for its versatile and successful pitching staff, Tim Hudson is making Bobby Cox and Leo Mazzoni proud these days. On Friday night, the veteran pitched one of his best games ever, allowing just 3 hits and 2 walks over 8 innings in a 3-0 blanking of the Washington Nationals. Hudson stuck out 5 and got 12 more outs on ground balls, needing only 96 pitches (64 for strikes) to get his 2nd win of the season against no losses. Hudson's 2.14 ERA is nice, but the 0.67 WHIP over 21 innings thus far in the season, is eye-catching. Notes: Still streaking. Hudson's shutout over Washington was the Nats' 8th straight loss. Out West, Arizona improved to 8-2 and a 2 1/2-game lead in the division with their 7th straight win, an 8-2 romp over Colorado.

Carmona tames Tigers; Hudson wins 14th for Braves

American League Detroit 2 Cleveland 5 - The Indians took back 1st place in the AL Central, getting even with Detroit in their brief 2-game series as rookie sensation Fausto Carmona (right) kept the Tigers caged, allowing 1 earned run off 4 hits over 8 innings while striking out 10. Carmona improved to 14-7 with a 3.16 ERA Each of the AL contenders - the Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners and Angels - lost on Wednesday, keeping the standings in the same order as when the day started. Daisuke Matsuzaka took his 9th loss (14 wins) for Boston and Mariano Rivera took his 4th loss, just two nights after blowing a save and getting his 3rd win in New York's 7-6 win on Monday. Torii Hunter's 9th inning grand slam took care of Seattle. Other AL Scores Tampa Bay 6 Boston 5 Baltimore 6 NY Yankees 3, 10 innings Minnesota 6 Seattle 1 LA Angels 1 Toronto 2 Kansas City 3 Texas 4 Chi White Sox 2 Oakland 3 National League San Francisco 3 Atlanta 6 - Tim Hudson (right) gave up a home run to Barry Bonds (#759), but lasted eight innings, allowing just 3 earned runs, to improve to 14-5 and vault the Braves over Philly into 2nd place in the NL East. Bonds' 6th-inning blast tied the game at 2-2, but Atlanta responded with a 4-spot in the bottom of the inning and Hudson continued. Hudson won his 8th straight and kept his ERA in a quality area at 3.02. Manager Bobby Cox, who set a major league record for being ejected the night before, was tossed for the 133rd time in the 3rd inning for arguing a balk called on Hudson. The Braves and Giants play the rubber game of the series tonight. NY Mets 10 Pittsburgh 8 - The Mets won their 3rd straight, and with their lineup intact, they look like heavy favorites to win the NL East title for the second straight year. The win maintained their 3 1/2-game lead over Atlanta, and 4 better than Philadephia. The two teams chasing them have flip-flopped 2nd and 3rd places over the past weeks and months, though neither has been able to catch the Mets. Moises Alou proved his worth again on Wednesday, driving in 3 runs with a 2-run homer in the first inning and an insurance-run single in the 9th to complete the Mets' scoring. Colorado 3 San Diego 0 - The Rockies continue to hang around, evening their series at San Diego. They are 2 games behind the Padres and 5 back of division-leading Arizona. St. Louis 8 Milwaukee 3 - The Cardinals continue to surge in the Central division. Besting the Brewers for the second straight night, St. Louis is now just 3 1/2 off the pace. Scott Rolen (right) doubled, homered and singled twice in 5 at-bats, driving in 2 and scoring 3 times to spearhead the attack. Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds also homered for the Cardinals, who look to sweep the 3-game set tonight in Milwaukee before heading to Chicago for four games with the 2nd-place Cubs. Other NL Scores Arizona 9 Florida 6 Philadelphia 2 Washington 4 Cincinnati 11 Chi Cubs 9 - 4th straight loss for Chicago Houston 3 LA Dodgers 6

A-Rod Blasts 6th Homer; Francoeur, Hudson Pace Braves

Tuesday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League New York Yankees' third baseman Alex Rodriguez (right) walloped his 6th home run of the season - a 2-run shot - in the 1st inning to start the Yankees' 10-1 rout of the Twins at Minnesota. Rodriguez' 6 homers and 13 RBI lead the majors. Starter Andy Pettitte earned his first win of the season, blanking the Twins on 4 hits over six innings. Pettitte struck out 3 and issued just 1 walk. Boston's Jason Varitek rapped a fifth inning double and stroked a pair of singles to drive in 3 runs and score another in the Red Sox' 14-3 pounding of visiting Seattle. The Sox scored in each of the first 5 innings and banged out 14 hits against the Mariners. Nate Robertson improved to 2-0 and the Tigers won their third road game of the season with a 3-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Robertson worked 7 1/3 innings, allowing just 4 hits, 1 walk and 0 earned runs while striking out 5. Closer Todd Jones pitched a perfect 9th inning for his 4th save. Jones has yet to allow an earned run this season. The Cleveland Indians got their first home win of the season, but they did it in Milwaukee. After having their games snowed out for four straight days, MLB moved the Indians-Angels series to Milwaukee, which the Indians will call home for at least the next two days. Their 7-6 win over the Angels was produced in part by home runs by catcher Kelly Shoppach (a 2-run shot in the 1st) and Casey Blake, who launched a solo homer to left field in the 3rd inning. Gary Sizemore walked three times and stole 3 bases, but failed to figure in the scoring. Center fielder David DeJesus tripled and singled twice in KC's 6-3 win at Toronto. DeJesus drove in 1 run and scored twice in 5 at-bats, boosting his batting average to .375. The Rangers and Devil Rays each banged out 12 hits, but Texas scored 12 to Tampa Bay's 9 for the home win. The Rangers' Frank Catalanotto homered, tripled, singled, drove in 4 runs and scored one. National League Atlanta's Jeff Francoeur (right) blasted a 2-run double in the 5th inning and a 3-run homer in the 8th to pace the Braves to an 8-0 whitewash of Washington, the Nationals' 6th home loss in 7 tries. Starter Tim Hudson struck out 7, walked 1 and allowed just 3 hits over 7 innings. Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo homer in the 7th and a 2-run shot in the ninth, but his efforts fell just short as San Francisco won 6-5 at San Diego. Armando Benitez, who gave up the 2-run shot, worked the whole 9th, got his 2nd save but boosted his ERA to 7.71. Brett Tomko pitched 6 innings of 1-hit ball, striking out 9, but didn't figure in the decision as the Dodgers won 2-1 over Colorado at LA.