Matt Carpenter's Walk Off Grand Slam Lifts Cardinals; Masahiro Tanaka Shuts Down Boston In Yankee Win

Players of the Day for Thursday, April 27, 2017

American League

One of baseball's most-stried rivalries was renewed again on Thursday, as the Red Sox hosted the NY Yankees at Fenway Park.

Tanaka: CG, Shutout

Featuring a pitching match-up between Boston's Chris Sale and New York's Masahiro Tanaka, the game more than lived up to its billing, with New York's fourth-inning unearned run the difference through eight frames. The Yankees finally got to Sale in the ninth, adding two more for the 3-0 victory and a complete game for Tanaka.

New York's ace cruised through the Boston lineup, allowing three hits and no walks, fanning three while raising his record to 3-1. It was the first complete game for the Yankees since 2014, also by Tanaka.

Tanaka threw just 97 pitches for his fifth career complete game and second career shutout.

The Red Sox have scored four runs total in Sale's five starts this season, a primary reason why he's 1-2 with a 1.19 ERA.

The Yankees return home Friday to host the first-place Orioles in the opener of a three-game series beginning at 7:05 pm ET.

National League

Carpenter: Grand Slam

After a rough start (3-9), the St. Louis Cardinals got back to .500, taking two on Thursday from the visiting Blue Jays. Thanks to a walk-off grand slam by Matt Carpenter in the 11th inning of the first game, St. Louis recorded an 8-4 victory over Toronto and took the nightcap, 6-4, evening their record at 11-11.

Carpenter launched his third homer off Toronto's seventh pitcher of that first game, J.P. Howell, 409 feet into the right field stands. The Cardinals trailed most of the game, but tied the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth on Randall Girchuk's two run belt.

The momentum carried over to the second game, as the Cardinals scored all of their runs in the first four innings for a 6-4 win.

The pair of wins put the Cards just 1 1/2 games behind the Cubs in the contentious NL Central where all five teams are within three games of the lead. Pittsburgh is in last place with a 9-12 record.

St. Louis looks to extend their winning streak to three straight when they host the Cincinnati Reds Friday night at 8:15 pm ET. St. Louis is 8-2 in their last 10 games.