With that, the action on the field continues to happen and this past week (through Friday) four different players had three home run games as Robinson Cano (New York Mets), Paul DeJong (St. Louis Cardinals), Nelson Cruz (Minnesota Twins) and Mookie Betts (Boston Red Sox) accomplished that feat.
Betts slammed three homers to lead the way with five RBI in a 10-5 rout of the visiting New York Yankees on Friday night. It was the second consecutive blowout win for the Bosox over the Bronx Bombers as they won 19-3 on Thursday night. Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka allowed 12 earned runs in just two innings in that game. The Yanks still have a huge lead over both the Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East division.
Over in the AL Central, the Cleveland Indians continue to take advantage of a favorable schedule as they have narrowed the Minnesota Twins first place lead to just two games as they beat up on Kansas City, Detroit and Toronto while the Twins have had to deal with the Yankees and Oakland A's.
The Houston Astros won a huge series against the Oakland A's this week and now have a comfortable eight game lead heading into the weekend.
In the National League, the Atlanta Braves pasted the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2 on Friday and the Washington Nationals lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2. The Nationals are 5 1/2 games behind the first place Braves while the Phillies trail by 6 1/2 games in the East division race.
Over in the NL West, nothing new as far as first place goes. The Los Angeles Dodgers have the biggest lead in the majors and are on cruise control as the 100-game mark has arrived. However, the San Francisco Giants are now in second place as a result of an 8-2 stretch and they are also within 2 1/2 games of a wild card spot in the senior circuit.
The best race shaping up is in the NL Central where the St. Louis Cardinals have been red hot (six consecutive victories) and are now in first place after roaring back against the visiting Houston Astros on Friday for a 5-3 win to propel them past the slumping Chicago Cubs, who dropped a 3-2 decision in Milwaukee. The Brewers are just two games off the pace in the division race.
AL STANDINGS (through July 26) NL STANDINGS (through July 26)
East East
New York 66-37 Atlanta 61-43
Tampa Bay 59-47 Washington 55-48
Boston 58-47 Philadelphia 54-49
Toronto 39-66 New York 48-55
Baltimore 34-69 Miami 39-62
Central Central
Minnesota 63-40 St. Louis 56-47
Cleveland 61-42 Chicago 55-48
Chicago 45-56 Milwaukee 55-50
Kansas City 39-66 Cincinnati 46-55
Detroit 30-69 Pittsburgh 46-57
West West
Houston 66-39 LA Dodgers 68-37
Oakland 58-47 San Francisco 53-51
LA Angels 54-51 Arizona 52-52
Texas 53-51 Colorado 49-55
Seattle 44-63 San Diego 48-55
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