Blue Jays Win 7th Straight on Justin Smoak Grand Slam, David Price; Stephen Strasberg Returns for Nationals Win

Players of the Day for Saturday, August 8, 2015

American League

Smoak: Grand Slam

Price: 7 Shutout Innings

New York is in first place in the AL East, but the Toronto Blue Jays are making their stay to the top quite uncomfortable.

Toronto took down the Yankees for the second straight game, blanking them, 6-0, behind stellar pitching from newly-acquired David Price and a grand slam by first baseman, Justin Smoak.

Yankees starter, Ivan Nova, kept the ball game tied at 0-0 through five innings, but got into trouble in the sixth, loading the bases until Smoak unloaded on him for his 10th homer of the season.

Price, confident and dominant throughout, took the four-run advantage and made the best of it, finished after seven complete innings, allowing three hits, three walks, no runs and fanning seven.

Since Price was traded from Detroit to the Blue Jays, he's won both of his starts, allowing six hits and one earned run over 15 innings of work, for an ERA of 0.60.

Strasberg fans 12

Toronto's victory was their seventh straight, and they have closed ranks on the Yankees, now just 2 1/2 games back in the division.

The Blue Jays will have ten more meetings with the Yankees after this series. They look to complete the sweep at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Game time is 1:05 pm EDT.

National League

While the New York Mets overtook the Nationals in the NL East earlier this week, it appears that Washington is not taking matters sitting down.

Stephen Strasberg returned from a stint on the DL on Saturday, turning in a sizzling pitching performance, with seven strong innings in a 6-1 Washington victory.

Strasberg allowed just three hits, one run (a fourth inning solo homer by Nolan Arenado), didn't walk a batter and struck out 12.

It was just what the Nationals needed, coming off a 2-6 slide recently. Meanwhile, the Mets were cooled down by Tampa Bay, taking a 5-4 loss, leaving them a mere 1 1/2 games to the good over the Nationals.

Washington will try to win the rubber game of the series when the two teams meet at Nationals Park, Sunday afternoon at 1:35 pm EDT.

Torii Hunter Saves Twins with 9th-Inning Homer; Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies Dump Nats with Grand Slam

Players of the Day for Friday, August 7, 2015

American League

Gonzalez: GS, 4 RBI

Hunter Leads Twins

A much-needed win was what the Twins got Friday in the opener of a three-game series in Cleveland, when Torii Hunter put Minnesota on top with a ninth-inning solo homer for a 10-9 victory.

Minnesota was coming off being swept four straight in Toronto by the Blue Jays, prior to which they ended a series against Seattle with a 4-1 loss, their Friday night win snapping a five-game losing streak.

Hunter's home run was his 18th of the season. In previous at-bats he singled and doubled, going 3-for-5 with three RBI and three runs. He has 60 RBI on the year.

Minnesota's win left them in second place, 9 1/2 games back of the Royals in the AL Central, the largest lead in any of MLB's six divisions. The Twins are also on the outside looking in at the wild card, where they trail the Angels by 3 1/2 games, but have Toronto and Baltimore ahead of them as well.

The series between the Twins and Indians resumes Saturday night at 7:10 pm EDT.

National League

Carlos Gonzalez lashed a two-out, eighth-inning grand slam, erasing a 4-1 deficit and sending the Colorado Rockies to a 5-4 win over the Washington Nationals.

The 23rd home run of the season for Gonzalez came off reliever Drew Storen, who was saddled with the loss, eclipsing a solid pitching performance by starter Jordan Zimmerman, who allowed the Rockies just four hits and one earned run over 6 2/3 innings. The four RBI gave Gonzalez an even 60 on the year.

The win meant little to the Rockies, who are mired in last place in the NL West, but sent the Nationals to a sixth loss in their last eight games. Since the All-Star break, Washington has been sliding into mediocrity, going 8-13, relinquishing their NL East lead to the Mets, who, following Friday's 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay, hold a 2 1/2 game lead over the Nationals in the division.

Game two of the three-game series at Nationals Park is slated for 7:05 pm EDT, Saturday night.

Khris Davis Leads Brewers past Padres with 6 RBI; Toronto Wins Fifth Straight Behind Encarnacion Power

Players of the Day for Thursday, August 6, 2013

National League

Davis: 2 HR, 6 RBI

Encarnacion: HR, 2 2B, 4RBI

Even though they just took three of four from the Padres and have won three games straight, the Milwaukee Brewers are still dead last in the NL Central, a whopping 23 games behind the front-running Cardinals.

Regardless, Brewers' left fielder, Kris Davis, had himself one heck of a game as Milwaukee took out the Padres, 10-1, belting a pair of three-run homers and adding a single, going 3-for-5 with six RBI.

In his third season as a Brewer, Davis is batting .244 with nine home runs and 31 RBI in 69 games.

The win left the Brewers at 47-63, which is actually better than three NL teams: Colorado, Miami and Philadelphia.

American League

Anticipating a big weekend series at the AL East-leading Yankees, the Toronto Blue Jays have been playing some quality baseball over the past week, winning five straight and clinging to second place in the division, 4 1/2 games out.

On Thursday, the Blue Jays improved to 58-52, taking their fourth straight from the Twins, 9-3, as Edwin Encarnacion cranked out his 21st homer of the season and added two doubles in four at-bats, driving in four runs.

In 11 major league seasons, Incarnation has blossomed into one of the AL's most feared power hitters. He has gone yard 21 times this year, with 64 RBI.

From 2012 to 2014, Encarnacion has slugged 112 homers and driven in 312 RBI.

On Friday, the Blue Jays travel to New York to meet the Yankees in game one of their three-game series, starting at 7:05 pm EDT. R.A. Dickey starts for the Jays versus Nathan Eovaldi of the Yankees.

Chris Davis' Grand Slam Lifts O's over A's in 10; Madison Bumgarner Solid as Giants Keep Pressure on Dodgers

Players of the Day for Wednesday, August 5, 2015

American League

Bumgarner: 12-6

Davis: Grand Slam in 10th

With time beginning to be a "front-of-mind" factor in all major league races, the Baltimore Orioles - and quite a few others - have to be thinking about making a move right about now.

The O's in particular, are just out of the wold card race, two behind the Angels and one game back of fellow AL East club, Toronto, but, the Orioles have to be thinking more about catching the Yankees and taking down the division crown, as they did last season.

With that in mind, Baltimore got a boost from their big slugger, Chris Davis, defeating the A's, 7-3, in 10 innings and taking two of three on the road.

Davis scored the tying run in the sixth, when he scored from second on a single by J.J. Hardy, and then delivered the decisive blow in the 10th, a grand slam, putting the O's up by the final score.

Following Daivs' blast (his 28 homer of the season, to go with 79 RBI, 3rd in the AL), Zach Britton - who came on in relief with two down in the eighth - put down the Athletics in order in the bottom of the tenth, sealing an important victory for Baltimore.

The Yankees feel to Boston, 2-1, on Wednesday, while the Blue Jays outlasted Minnesota, 9-7, putting the Yankee lead over Toronto at 4 1/2, and 5 1/2 ahead of the Orioles.

Baltimore gets a day off Thursday, traveling to Anaheim, where they open a three-game weekend series with the Angels on Friday.

National League

The Giants continue to keep the pressure on the Dodgers in the NL West, where they trail their southern cousins by two games after Madison Bumgarner improved to 12-6 with a 6-1 triumph over the home-standing Atlanta Braves.

Bumganer didn't give up a run until the seventh, but it was all the Braves would get. Manager Bruce Bochy pulled his starter after the run scored with one down in the eighth inning, calling on deliver Hunter Strickland after Eury Perez reached on an infield single. Strickland walked one but completed the inning without any damage. Santiago Casilla mopped up with a hitless ninth inning for the win.

Bumgarner is having his usual solid season for the Giants. He threw 116 pitches, allowed seven hits and struck out nine, giving him 148 on the year, fifth in the National League. His ERA is 3.28 with a 1.10 WHIP.

The Giants took two of three on the road from Atlanta and head to Chicago, where they open a four-game series with the Cubs on Thursday. The Dodgers whipped the Phillies, 4-3, on Wednesday and finish up their series on Thursday.