PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies acquired
two-time All-Star shortstop Jean Segura from the Seattle Mariners for veteran
slugger Carlos Santana and infielder J.P. Crawford on Monday.The Phillies also
get left-hander James Pazos and righty Juan Nicasio in the trade.“Shortstop was
an area we didn’t get a lot of
production
Jason
Motte Jersey ,” Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said. “Segura moves
the needle for us as far as win expectancy.”Segura hit .304 with 10 homers, 63
RBIs, 20 stolen bases and had a .341 on-base percentage last season. He is
signed through 2022 and is owed $60 million. He also got a $1 million bonus for
approving the deal.It was the second major deal of the day for the Mariners.
They also sent second baseman Robinson Cano and closer Edwin Diaz to the New
York Mets for five players, including two top prospects and outfielder Jay
Bruce.“Carlos Santana has been among the most durable players in the big leagues
over the last eight years and has been a fixture in the middle of lineups during
that time,” Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto said. “He gets on base, he does
damage at the plate and is quite an underrated first baseman. J.P. Crawford
gives us a young shortstop who is very athletic and fills up the tool box; he
hits, he runs, he plays defense, he throws, he has power. For the last four
running, he’s been among the top 20 prospects in baseball.”Seattle went 89-73
this year and hasn’t made the playoffs since 2001, the longest postseason
drought among the four major pro American sports. The
Phillies
http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey ,
who added Santana and Jake Arrieta last offseason, finished 80-82 after leading
the NL East in early August.Santana batted a career-low .229 with 24 homers, 86
RBIs and a .352 OBP in his first season in Philadelphia after signing a $60
million, three-year contract.“Carlos is one of my favorite players in the
league,” Klentak said. “I love the way he plays the game… I love everything
about the guy.”Moving Santana allows the Phillies to move Rhys Hoskins from left
field to his natural position at first base. Philadelphia’s team defense last
season was among the worst in the majors.Crawford, a 2013 first-round pick, hit
.214 in only 49 games. He’s been plagued by injuries and has only 187 career
at-bats.Pazos was 4-1 with a 2.88 ERA in 60 appearances, covering 50 innings. He
struck out 45 and walked 15.Nicasio was 1-6 with a 6.00 ERA in 46 games. He
pitched in two games for the Phillies in 2017.Klentak said he’s still exploring
other moves. The Phillies had All-Star lefty Patrick Corbin in town for a visit
last week. The team is also interested in sluggers Manny Machado and Bryce
Harper, among other hitters. BOSTON (AP) — J.D. Martinez and the Boston Red Sox
made magic with two outs during the American League playoffs.With a World Series
title on the line, seems they have plenty left. Martinez delivered a two-out,
tiebreaking single , and Boston got all its runs with two down while beating the
Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 Series lead.Boston has done
most of its scoring with two in the books: nine of its 12 runs through two World
Series games have come that
way
Brett
Cecil Jersey , and 36 of 68 for the postseason.Martinez has been the
electrifying force for much of that two-out October lightning. He entered
Wednesday batting .667 with a 1.515 OPS with two outs in the postseason.Despite
playing on the sore right ankle he rolled in Game 1, Boston’s free-agent pickup
went the other way for a two-run single in the fifth, a two-out knock that
snapped a 2-all tie.Martinez has 13 RBIs through 11 postseason games, and seven
of those have come with two outs.“We just have guys that really do a really good
job of grinding at-bats out and turning the lineup over,” Martinez said. “I
think everybody takes pride in that.”How have they done that, exactly?“It’s
about finding a way to spoil a good pitcher’s pitches,” he said.The numbers show
just how masterful Boston has been at it.The Red Sox entered Wednesday batting
.405 with a 1.335 OPS with two outs and runners in scoring position in the
postseason, getting 29 runs out of those situations. Then they went 2 for 4 in
those situations Wednesday.Nothing new for Boston. The 108-win Red Sox led the
majors with 329 two-out runs during the regular season.“We just play 27 outs,”
Mookie Betts said. “It’s just one of those things where you can’t give them
away. Fortunately, we don’t give them away.”Rookie manager Alex Cora said he
thinks their success comes from keeping an aggressive mindset at the plate,
regardless of the situation.“In the playoffs, we talked about it before we
started: Get the leadoff guy
out
http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey ,
don’t give up two-out hits or runners. And we’ve been doing that to the
opposition,” he said.That relentless offense has chased some of baseball’s best
pitchers thanks to having threats 1 through 9 in the batting order.In Game 1,
Andrew Benintendi had four hits — three off Clayton Kershaw. Eduardo Nunez then
provided a pinch-hit, three-run homer late to help seal it. Of course, Nunez did
it with two outs.Ian Kinsler started Wednesday’s two-out trouble, driving a
single down the third-base line to score Xander Bogaerts from second on a
two-out pitch from starter Hyun-Jin Ryu in the second.Ryu nursed a 2-1 lead into
the fifth and got two quick outs. Then he gave up consecutive singles to
Christian Vazquez and Betts before walking Benintendi.Ryan Madson relieved with
the bases loaded. For the second night in a row, he began his outing by walking
Steve Pearce, this time to bring in the tying run.Martinez then poked a fastball
into shallow right, bringing Betts and Benintendi around to score.And just like
that, the World Series was two down, two to go for the Red Sox.