Tim Stauffer Tosses Six Scoreless for Padres; Luke Hughes Helps Twins Down Tigers

Players of the Day for Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Grapefruit League

Things seem to be heating up in Florida's Grapefruit League. A casual observer might even believe that some teams are a little annoyed that the Detroit Tigers have traveled around the state beating the heck out of the other squads with an air of smug contentment.

Luke Hughes

That may or may not be the case, but the Minnesota Twins gave Detroit a bit of their own medicine with a 7-3 win Wednesday, knocking around their first two pitchers for seven runs in the first five innings.

Luke Hughes, a AAA Rochester farmhand who played 96 games - mostly at second base - for the Twins in 2011, singled, socked a home run, stole a base, drove in three runs and scored twice in three at-bats to pace the Minnesota batters.

Hughes has toiled in the minors since 2003 and will probably be delegated back to the triple-A Red Wings once the regular season begins, unless Alexi Casilla, the regular second baseman, gets injured again, as in 2011.

The win pushed Minnesota's record to 12-8, though they still trail the 13-4 Tigers in the standings by three games. St. Louis and Toronto are also in the hunt for Grapefruit glory.

Cactus League

Tim Stauffer

The Padres took it to the Dodgers, 3-0, in Cactus League action as Tim Stauffer had a very solid outing for San Diego, a team that was out of the pennant picture as early as June last season.

If the Padres intend to compete in the NL West, they'll need a good season of work out of Stauffer and their other starters in the pitching-rich division.

Stauffer worked the first six innings of the game, allowing just three hits and no runs while fanning two batters. He demonstrated great control in not allowing a single walk, getting his first win of the spring.

Stauffer started 31 games for San Diego in 2011, compiling a 9-12 record with a 3.73 ERA. His most recent stint was easily his best showing of the exhibition season.

The Padres are a respectable 11-8 in Cactus League play.

Crawford Gets Rays into Tie with Yankees; Stauffer Delivers for Padres; NL West, Wild Card up for Grabs

Players of the Day for Saturday, October 2, 2010

American League

Jumping on the Royals in the first inning, B.J. Upton singled to lead off and moved to third on Carl Crawford's hit. Crawford then stole second before Matt Joyce tripled them both home for a 2-0 lead.

Crawford smashed his 19th homer of the season, a solo shot in the 3rd inning to put the Rays up, 3-0, and eight Tampa Bay pitchers combined for an eight-hit shutout and the 4-0 road win.

The Rays' victory, which snapped a three-game skid, combined with the Yankees' split with Boston at Fenway Park, left the two teams tied for the AL East lead with one game remaining.

Both games in New York's day/night doubled-header with Boston went to an extra inning, with the Yankees winning the day game, 6-5, but losing the nightcap, 7-6.

If the Rays and Yankees finish the regular season tied, Tampa Bay would take the division on the strength of winning the head-to-head season series 10-8. The Yankees would be the wild card.

In that scenario, the Rays would start the best-of-five division series at home Wednesday against Texas. If the Yankees win the division, the Rays would play the AL Central champion Twins beginning Wednesday, with the Yankees hosting Texas in New York.

National League

With some help from the Phillies, San Diego has made the NL West division and wild card race a one-day affair, with everything hinging on their final regular season date at San Francisco.

Tim Stauffer kept the Giants in check for 6 1/3 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits while his teammates scored four runs off Giants' starter Barry Zito. Padres' closer Heath Bell allowed the second Giants' run in the 9th, but still managed to pick up his 47th save as the Padres held on, 4-2.

That left San Diego a game behind the Giants with the division title on the line in the last game of the season, at San Francisco on Sunday. Thanks to the Phillies hammering the Braves for the second straight day, 7-0, San Diego and Atlanta are now tied for the wild card spot.

If the Padres and win and the Braves lose, both the Giants and Padres would advance to the playoffs. The Padres would be the West division winner, due to taking the season series with the Giants, but San Francisco would finish one game better than the Braves, and enter the post-season as the wild card.

If both the Padres and Braves win Sunday, San Francisco would play at San Diego on Monday to determine the West champion and the loser would play at Atlanta on Tuesday for the wild card.

If the Padres and Braves lose, there would be a one-game tiebreaker in Atlanta on Monday night for the wild card.