Around the Bases: This week in MLB

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

MLB: Cincinnati 2B Scooter Gennett

When you’re in a two-man club with Lou Gehrig, that’s what you call exclusive company. When Gennett hit a grand slam Friday night for the Reds, he joined Gehrig as the only player with a four-homer game and four grand slams in any season. Gehrig had a four-homer game in 1932 and hit four slams in ’34. But Gennett is the first player to do it in the same season.

BREWERS: RF Domingo Santana

Santana’s nine-game hitting streak was snapped Friday night by the Cubs, but he was hot over that stretch, batting .378 with four home runs and 11 RBI. For the first time in his career, Santana homered in three consecutive games.

RELATED:This week's MLB power rankings

BREWERS THIS WEEK

This is it. Last week of the season for the surprising Brewers. They’ve had trouble with the Reds in the second half (1-5), so they can’t look past the final home series against them. Then, we’ll see exactly what the final series of the year in St. Louis means for both teams.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Pittsburgh Pirates had played seven consecutive games and a total of 63 innings without committing an error until committing two Friday night that helped St. Louis take a 4-3 victory. 

YOU FIGURE IT OUT

You don’t see the hidden ball trick in the majors much these days but Toronto second baseman Ryan Goins caught New York’s Todd Frazier napping in the third inning Friday night at Rogers Centre. Goins kept the ball after rightfielder Jose Bautista caught a fly from Jacoby Ellsbury and returned the ball to the infield.

Goins stood facing away from second base but peeked over his shoulder until Frazier stepped just off the bag, then slapped the tag on him. Goins later smacked a grand slam to lead the Blue Jays to an 8-1 victory over the Yankees.

QUOTE

“He understood the reasoning, which is obvious. We didn’t win.” Detroit GM Al Avila, on the decision to let manager Brad Ausmus go after the season.