Alex Avila Homers Twice, Drives Detroit to 3-2 Win over Royals; Wilson Ramos Goes 4-for-5 as Nationals Stay Hot

Players of the Day for Sunday, September 15, 2013

American League

Normally, the Detroit Tigers rely on Miguel Cabrera or Prince Fielder to drive in their runs, but in Sunday's 3-2 win over the Royals, it was catcher, Alex Avila's turn to be hero for a day in Detroit.

Alex Avila

Avila drove in all three of Detroit's runs with a pair of homers - his 10th and 11th of the season - the first, a second-inning bomb of Royals' ace Jeremy Guthrie, staking starter Max Scherzer to a 2-0 lead, the second, an eighth inning solo shot, came in the bottom half of the inning after the Royals had tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the frame.

Both the Royals second run and Detroit's third came after Scherzer had finished his work on the mound, giving up just one run on five hits over seven innings, so he failed again - thanks to the run allowed by reliever Drew Smyly in the eighth - to earn win #20 on the season. Scherzer struck out 13 and walked one batter, but his pitch count of 116 prompted manager Jim Leyland to pull the starter after seven full. Scherzer, the major league leader in wins, has been stuck on 19 his last four starts.

The win kept Detroit's lead in the AL Central at five games over the Indians. The Royals are eight back in the division and 3 1/2 out in the wild card race.

Detroit opens a four-game series at home against the Mariners on Monday. Scherzer will likely get another crack at winning his 20th when the Tigers host the White Sox on Friday, opening a three-game series.

Wild Card Update: The A's completed their sweep of the Rangers, winning, 5-1, sending texas to their sixth straight loss. Tampa Bay also took it on the chin, 6-4, to remain tied with the Rangers for the two playoff spots. Baltimore and Cleveland both won, while Boston took care of the Yankees, sweeping them three straight, 9-2.

AL Wild Card Standings (through 9/15)

Team	GB
Texas	--
Tampa Bay	--
Cleveland	-1/2
Baltimore	-2 1/2
NY Yankees	-3
Kansas City	-3 1/2

National League

Wilson Ramos

Wilson Ramos went 4-for-5 and drove in five runs, leading the Washington nations to their eighth win in their last nine, an 11-2 trouncing of the Phillies, a day after the Phillies had broken Washington's seven-game winning streak.

Ramos had three singles and a sixth inning solo homer as the Nationals crept closer to Cincinnati, clinging to the second wild card spot by 4 1/2 games. The Reds dropped a 6-5 decision in Milwaukee and remain 3 1/2 behind St. Louis and Pittsburgh in the NL Central. As it stands now, either the Cardinals or Pirates will take the first wild card spot, and, until recently, the Reds seemed to have the second slot sewn up, but the Nationals refuse to die.

Cincinnati and Washington don't play each other, but it could get dicey. With 12 games left, the Reds play their next six on the road - three at Houston and three at Pittsburgh. Then, they host the Mets for three and finish at home with three more against the Pirates. While the Red play the Mets, September 23-25, the Nationals will be at St. Louis before closing out the regular season at Arizona.

In Sunday's win, Nats' starter, Jordan Zimmermann improved to 18-8, leading the NL in wins. Zimmermann allowed two runs on seven hits over seven inning, striking out seven, with a pair of walks. No other NL pitcher has more than 16 wins.

Washington opens a three-game home series with NL East leading Atlanta on Monday.

Today's Trivia: Between Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb and Jimmie Foxx, which player had the highest career on-base percentage? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Ted Williams is the career leader in on-base percentage, at .4817. Babe Ruth is second, .4739.

Ian Desmond, Denard Span, Wilson Ramos Lead Nats in 14-1 Rout of Mets; Nick Franklin's Two Homers Power Mariners

Players of the Day for Sunday, July 28, 2013

American League

In the blink of an eye, the Oakland A's have turned a close race in the AL West into a runaway, winning three in a row while the Texas Rangers have lost four straight, opening a six-game lead.

Nick Franklin

Further back, struggling to keep up, are the Seattle Mariners, completing a 2-2 split with the Twins with a 6-4 win on Sunday.

The mariners were fueled by Nick Franklin, their rookie second baseman, who socked a pair of homers and drove in four runs to help turn back the Twins.

After Michael Saunders hit a solo shot to tie the game at two, Franklin's first blast came in the fourth inning, a three-run belt that put the Mariners ahead for good. In the seventh, Franklin launched his second homer of the game, a solo job which completed the scoring after Minnesota had drawn to within a run.

Adding a single, Franklin finished with a 3-for-4 game. Over the last eight games, Franklin has hit safely in six, popped four homers and driven in 12 runs. Now, if the A's would only lose a few games, Seattle might make up some ground in the division.

National League

Ian Desmond

The Mets were getting a little too close for the second-place Washington Nationals, so they took the initiative, taking three of four over the weekend, culminating with a powerful, 18-hit, 14-1 victory on Sunday at Nationals Park.

Denard Span

Beating up on five Mets hurlers, the brunt of the attack came from the six, seven and eight hitters in the lineup who together accounted for ten hits and ten RBI.

In the six hole, Ian Desmond went 4-for-4 with two singles, a pair of doubles, three runs and two RBI. Right behind him, Denard Span was also 4-for-4, rapping out three singles and a two-run homer, scoring three times and driving in three.

Wilson Ramos

Batting in front of the pitcher is usually not a position where one sees a lot of good pitches, but Wilson Ramos saw a few he liked, going 2-for-4, including a third-inning grand slam. Ramos scored twice and had five RBI.

Even with the win, the Nationals have their work cut out for themselves as August rapidly approaches. The Braves completed a three-game sweep of St. Louis with a 5-2 victory Sunday night, leaving Washington 8 1/2 games back, the largest lead in any major league division.

Today's Trivia: Since 2000, who is the only player to lead the NL in doubles for a season more than once? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: Ted Williams drove in 1839 runs in a 19-year career, but Stan Musial, who played three more seasons than Williams, tops him with 1951, sixth all-time.

Tigers Win at Toronto On Austin Jackson's 4-for-5 Effort; Wilson Ramos Powers Nats over Brewers, 8-5

Players of the Day for Thursday, July 4, 2013

American League

Austin Jackson

Miguel Cabrera was out of Detroit's lineup with a sore back for the finale of their four-game series in Toronto. For some teams, having the best hitter on the planet on the bench might be a problem. The Tigers, however, are not just some team.

Detroit hitters banged out 16 hits and Justin Verlander allowed just one run over seven innings for an 11-1 rout, taking three of four from the Blue Jays, who are once again watching their season slip away, 11 games out and in last place in the AL East.

Austin Jackson led the Detroit charge from the leadoff spot, going 4-for-5 with a two run homer, three singles, three RBI and four runs. Jackson, normally prone to a lot of whiffs, has been squaring up the ball better of late, raising his batting average to .296, after hitting an even .300 last season.

The Tigers moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Indians in the Central division, as Kansas City knocked off Cleveland, 10-7.

Cleveland will be hosting the Tigers in a four-game showdown series beginning Friday night at 7:05 pm EDT.

National League

Wilson Ramos

Picking up a game on NL East rival Atlanta, the Washington Nationals ripped Milwaukee, 8-5, splitting the four-game series, two games apiece while the Braves fell to the Marlins, 4-3.

Catcher Wilson Ramos provided a huge does of hitting, going 3-for-4 with a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh which broke a five-all tie and provided the winning Margin for Washington.

Previously, Ramos had singled home a pair of runs in the sixth, putting the Nationals up by a 5-2 score, but the Brewers rallied with three of their own in the top of the seventh.

The win left Washington six games out of first place, still chasing the Braves in the division.

The Nats close out a seven-game home stand with three games against the Padres, beginning Friday night at 7:05 pm EDT.

Today's Trivia: Ichiro broke the long-standing, single-season hits record that was held by a National Leaguer and is still tops in the senior circuit. Who holds the NL record for hits in a season?

Yesterday's Answer: Ichiro Suzuki holds the single-season record for hits, knocking out 262 in 2004.