Miguel Cabrera in Serious Triple Crown Hunt; Kyle Lohse Goes Seven Scoreless for Cardinals

Players of the Day for Tuesday, September 18, 2012

American League

With 15 games remaining in the regular season, the Detroit Tigers - still three games behind the White Sox in the Central after Chicago beat Kansas City, 3-2, and the Tigers hammered the A's, 12-2 - are running out of time, but Miguel Cabrera hasn't yet run out of hits, homers and RBI.

Cabrera: 2HR 6RBI

Cabrera belted a pair of home runs, including a grand slam, in Detroit's win, going 3-for-4 (the other hit was a double) with six RBI, putting the Tiger slugger in a realistic position to complete the triple crown for the first time since Carl Yazstremski did it in 1967.

Cabrera's .333 average leads the league; he is tied for the RBI lead with Josh Hamilton with 129 and trails Hamilton in homers by two, at 40.

The Tigers either have to catch the White Sox or make up significant ground on the wild card teams, an unlikely occurrence since they trail the A's by six games and Baltimore and New York by 5 1/2, after the Orioles topped the Mariners, 4-2, in 18 innings.

Baltimore's win resulted in a tie atop the AL East with the Yankees, whose scheduled game against the Blue Jays was rained out.

To make up for the postponed game, the Yanks and Jays will play a day-night double-header on Wednesday.

National League

Lohse: 7 scoreless

With the largest lead in any of MLB's divisions at 11 games, the Cincinnati Reds need to win just four more games to capture the flag and be the first team to qualify for the playoffs.

Since there is no plausible reality by which the Cardinals could catch the Reds, St. Louis continues to cling to the second wild card, after beating the Astros, 4-1, Tuesday night, behind seven innings of four-hit, shutout ball by Kyle Lohse (15-3).

Lohse stymied the Astros, fanning five and walking two, while the Cardinals scored a single run in the second, added two in the fifth and another in the seventh. The St. Louis starter has been a godsend for the Cardinals. With just three losses, Lohse has the best winning percentage of any starter in the league, his 2.71 ERA is third in the NL and he is among the leaders in innings, at 199.

The St. Louis win kept the Cardinals 1 1/2 ahead of the Dodgers and 2 1/2 in front of fast-closing Milwaukee, which shut out the Pirates (3 1/2 back), 6-0, for the second wild card spot.

Kevin Correia Shuts Down Cubs; Adam Jones, Matt Wieters Power Orioles to 10-4 Win

Players of the Day for Monday, September 17, 2012

American League

Back in July, when the Yankees had opened a sizable lead on the rest of the division, conventional thinking was that the Baltimore Orioles had begun their annual ritual of fading into the the depths and out of contention.

That thinking was incorrect, as August saw a revival of the "birds" and September brought forth the call, "they're not going away."

On Monday, the Orioles got even with the front-running Yankees in the win column and a game worse in the loss column to trail by just 1/2 games, beating the Mariners in Seattle by a 10-4 score.

Matt Wieters

Adam Jones

Beyond the steady managerial hand of Buck Schowalter, the Orioles have been led throughout the season by two of their bright, young stars, 26-year-old Matt Wieters and Adam Jones, 27.

In their win over Seattle, Wieters continued his hot streak with a pair of singles and his 22nd homer - a two-run, fourth-inning blast - three RBI and a couple of runs in five at-bats. Jones went 3-for-4, with a double and two singles, a lone RBI and four runs.

In his last ten games, Wieters has hit safely in seven, with multi-hit games in five, socking four homers with 12 RBI. Over the same span, Jones has batted at a steady .293 clip (12-for-41) and scored ten runs.

The series continues Tuesday in Seattle, where an Oriole win could land them in sole possession of first place, should the Yankees lose their series opener at Toronto.

National League

Having hit a bit of a speed bump in September, the Pittsburgh Pirates remain in the hunt for the wild card after splitting their series in Chicago, 2-2, topping the Cubs in the finale, 3-0.

Correia: 7IP 2H 0ER

Kevin Correia twirled two-hit ball over seven innings for his 11th victory against nine losses, giving way to relievers Jason Grilli and Joel Hanrahan, who each worked an inning of hitless, scoreless relief, Hanrahan picking up his 36th save, one behind Atlanta's Criag Kimbrel, who leads the league.

Striking out the first four batters he faced, Correia fanned six total, walking only one. Darwin Barney was the only Chicago batter to hit safely, getting two singles off Correia, but erased by double plays both times he reached.

The win left the Pirates still very much alive in the wild card race, tied with Milwaukee, 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second wild card.

Pittsburgh, 4-11 in September, hosts a three game series with the Brewers beginning on Tuesday.

Matt Wieters, Endy Chavez Lead Orioles Over A's; Brewers Keep Closing as Wily Peralta, Ryan Braun Lead 3-0 Win Over Mets

Players of the Day for Sunday, September 16, 2012

American League

Matt Wieters socked a pair of solo homers and Endy Chavez went 4-for-4 as the Baltimore Orioles avoided being swept in Oakland, keeping pace with the Yankees in the AL East pennant race with a 9-5 victory.

Matt Wieters

The win left the O's a game behind New York as the Yanks took two out of three from the visiting Rays, finishing the series with a 6-4 win. Looking more and more like an also-ran, the Rays have fallen five back of the Yankees and four behind Baltimore, currently in line for the second wild card position.

The A's dropped three back of Texas in the West but remain two games up on the Orioles for the first wild card. The Rangers took a 2-1 decision over Seattle on Sunday.

Endy Chavez

Wieters had only three official at-bats, walking twice and scoring a third time in the seventh inning after his solo shots in the second and fourth innings put the Orioles up 3-2. Chavez singled three times and doubled, scoring twice and driving in a pair of runs.

Baltimore begins a three game series in Seattle Monday, while the Yankees get a day off before opening a three game set with Toronto on Tuesday.

The A's hit the road for the next ten games, beginning Tuesday with three in Detroit, then three in New York and four games with the Rangers in Texas, a series that should go a long way toward deciding the AL West and the wild card positions.

National League

Don't look now, but here come the Brewers.

Milwaukee won its second straight over New York, topping the Mets, 3-0, behind the two-hit pitching of rookie Wily Peralta (2-0) and a pair of homers by Ryan Braun.

Braun: 40 HRs

Peralta went eight full innings in his third start of the season, walking one and fanning five while he bamboozled the Mets hitters. Of the three base runners Peralta allowed, two reached second, but none advanced any further. John Axford came on to earn his 29th save with a hitless, scoreless ninth.

Peralta: 8IP 2H 0ER

Braun's homers were both of the solo variety. He went back-to-back with Aramis Ramirez leading off the fourth inning, then sent his league-leading 40th over the left field wall in the sixth.

The result left Milwaukee just 2 1/2 behind the Cardinals in the race for the second wild card spot. St. Louis topped the Dodgers, 5-2, in 12 innings, dropping the Dodgers one game back. Pittsburgh lost and slipped behind the Brewers by 1/2 game.

Atlanta has virtually sewn up the first wild card. The Braves stuck it to the Nats, 5-1, Sunday night, sweeping the series in Atlanta while creeping to within 5 1/2 of Washington in the NL East standings.

The Phillies trail St. Louis by for games. Arizona is 4 1/2 out.

Milwaukee has been on a September tear, winning 11 of 15 games thus far. They face a rugged 10-game road trip beginning Tuesday, taking them to Pittsburgh for three games, Washington for four and finally into Cincinnati for a three game series the middle of next week.

Rickie Weeks Keeps Brewers in Contention for Wild Card; Francisco Liriano's 1-Hit Effort Maintains White Sox Lead

Players of the Day for Saturday, September 15, 2012

American League

Pennant races in the American League are all now tighter than they have been all season, down to two main teams in each of the three divisions.

In the East, the Yankees scored a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays while the Orioles were losing at Oakland, 5-2, wresting a one game lead from Baltimore and putting Tampa four back.

The West is now down to a slim two games, after Oakland's win and Texas' 8-6 loss to Seattle.

Francisco Liriano

The White Sox retained their one-game bulge over Detroit as both teams registered identical 5-3 victories on the road, the Tigers topping Cleveland and the Sox knocking off Minnesota.

Chicago got a special performance out of Francisco Liriano, a starter with a world of talent who hasn't had the best of seasons, but who pitched well enough on Saturday to keep the White Sox in front.

Liriano (6-11) took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, walking two and striking out nine, but was tagged by Trevor Plouffe, who launched his 22nd home run off the Chicago starter with two outs, after Liriano had plunked Justin Morneau and put him on base.

The belt made the score 4-2 in favor of Chicago. Liriano struck out the next batter to end the inning and his day on the bump. Both teams added single runs in the ninth to produce the final score.

The Sox have won two straight and will conclude their series, seeking the sweep, Sunday afternoon in Minnesota.

National League

In the National League, the division races are all runaways, but the focus is on the final playoff spot, the second wild card currently being contested by no less than six teams.

Rickie Weeks

While the Phillies made great strides earlier in the week, winning seven straight, they have lost two in a row now, and have been overtaken by Milwaukee, another team which has seemingly come out of nowhere and into contention.

After their 9-6 win over the Mets, the Brewers find themselves just 2 1/2 games behind the Cardinals and Dodgers, the two teams currently tied for the last wild card. The Braves have pretty much locked away to first wild card with a seven game lead over LA and St. Louis.

Rickie Weeks led Milwaukee's 12-hit attack, going 2-for-3 with a double and his 20th home run of the season, a fourth-inning, two run blast in a five-run Milwaukee frame, turning a 4-1 deficit into a 6-4 lead that the Brewers would not give away.

Weeks finished with three RBI and two runs.

The Brewers host the Mets in the series' rubber game, Sunday afternoon.