NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge again has baseball’s most popular jersey.MLB says the Yankee slugger’s No. 99 was the top seller for the second
straight season. Judge beat out 2017 AL MVP Jose Altuve
Jason Hammel Jersey , who will be trying to repeat as a World Series champion with the Houston Astros next month.Judge and the Yankees will face
Oakland in the AL wild-card game Wednesday. Teammate Giancarlo Stanton was ninth
in jersey sales in his first season with New York.MVP candidates Javier Baez and
Mookie Betts each jumped seven spots into the top five. Baez, an electrifying
infielder with the Chicago Cubs, ranked third. Betts, the AL MVP favorite with
the Boston Red Sox, was fifth.Clayton Kershaw was fourth on the list in what
could be his final season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kershaw can opt out of
the final two years of his deal at the end of the season. Bryce Harper ranked
13th in the last season of his contract with the Washington Nationals.Los
Angeles Angels two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani ranked eighth. The Japanese
rookie also had the most visited player page on the league’s website. ST.
PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Daniel Palka did a lot more than avoid a fifth
consecutive strikeout.Palka hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth inning and
the Chicago White Sox completed their first three-game sweep in a year by
beating the Tampa Bay Rays 8-7 on Sunday.It was Chicago’s first three-game sweep
since Aug. 8-10, 2017 against Houston. The White Sox’s last three-game road
sweep occurred April 25-27, 2016 at Toronto.Chicago also has a season-high
four-game winning streak.“I think it just builds confidence for these guys,”
Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. They’re starting to see that they can pick
each other up.”Palka had struck out in each of his first four at-bats before
connecting on his 17th homer off Diego Castillo (2-2) with two outs.“I was
jokingly saying earlier that I was just trying to make contact, but that’s
really what I was doing,” Palka said. “I just had to forget the first
eight-ninths of the game and move on from there.”It was the sixth time since
1908 that a White Sox player has homered and struck out at least four times in a
game
http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-jorge-soler-jersey , according to Baseball Reference. Alex Avila last did it on Sept. 5, 2016 against
Detroit.Hector Santiago (4-3) went the final 1 1/3 innings for the win.C.J Cron
had a leadoff double in the ninth off Santiago and scored one out later on Kevin
Kiermaier’s two-base hit. After Brandon Lowe walked, Jesus Sucre hit into a
double play.Tampa Bay tops the majors in one-run losses (26) and one-run games
(46).“They did things to take advantage of opportunities and ultimately found
ways to win all three games,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.Avisail Garcia had a
solo homer in a two-run fifth and made it 6-4 on another solo shot during the
seventh for the White Sox. It was his eighth career multi-homer game.Ji-Man Choi
tied it at 6-all with a two-run single in the seventh, an inning that saw the
White Sox use four relievers.Chicago starter James Shields left with a two-run
lead but was denied his first road win since opening day. The one-time Tampa Bay
ace threw a season-high 114 pitches, allowing four runs, five hits and four
walks over six innings.“I really didn’t have anything, to be honest with you,”
Shields said. “I had no feel for the baseball.”The Rays honored their 2008 AL
championship team, which Shields was on, this weekend.“This whole weekend was
very special for me personally
http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-drew-butera-jersey , to come and see the boys from 2008 and celebrate,” Shields said.Tim Anderson had
two RBI singles for the White Sox.Joey Wendle had three hits, including a
first-inning RBI single and a solo homer in the fifth that pulled the Rays
within 5-4.TRAINER’S ROOMWHITE SOX: CF Leury Garcia left with left hamstring
soreness and will evaluated Monday.Rays: INF Daniel Robertson saw a hand
specialist and will have what is expected to be season-ending surgery this week
on his sprained left thumb. He was hurt sliding into second on a double Friday
night. “It’s disappointing, very disappointing,” Robertson said. . LHP Blake
Snell (left shoulder fatigue) reported no issues after making his first start
Saturday since the All-Star Game on July 17th. He also downplayed any concern
about his lower leg, which was struck by Jose Abreu’s first-inning single,
saying it was fine.LINEUP CHANGEMallex Smith replaced struggling Kiermaier as
the Rays’ leadoff hitter and went 4 for 5. Smith is hitting .299 with a .369
on-base percentage, compared to Kiermaier’s .189 average and .269 O-B-P. “KK has
been really accountable,” Cash said. “He was actually the one who came up and
said ‘I don’t feel like I’m getting it done.'” Kiermaier was dropped to sixth
and doubled in four at-bats and walked once.UP NEXTWhite Sox: RHP Dylan Covey
(4-7) will face New York Yankees RHP Lance Lynn (7-8) Monday night.Rays: RHP
Tyler Glasnow (0-0) will make his second since being acquired from Pittsburgh in
the Chris Archer trade against Baltimore Tuesday night.
