Saturday, April 29, 2017

Matt Holliday, Jacoby Ellsbury Spark Yankees Over O's; Travis d'Arnaud's Two Homers Power Mets Past Nats

Holliday: Walk-off HR
Players of the Day for Friday, April 28, 2017

American League

Rallying from a 9-1 deficit, the New York Yankees outlasted the Baltimore Orioles, tying them for first place in the AL East with a 14-11 win in 10 innings.

The game lasted three hours and 41 minutes, featuring 29 hits, eight home runs - two of which were grand slams - and a walk off three-run job by Matt Holliday.

Ellsbury: Grand Slam
Thanks to Mark Trumbo's grand slam in the top of the sixth, the Yankees were down 9-1 after 5 1/2 innings, but scored three in the bottom of the sixth, then added four more on Jacoby Ellsbury's grand slam in the seventh. Ellsbury knocked in another run in the ninth on a fielder's choice, and scored when Starlin Castro socked a three-run homer to tie the game at 11.

An inning later, Holliday delivered the final blow, a 414-foot blast to center with two aboard, completing one of the biggest comebacks in Yankee history (and there have been plenty of them). Ellsbury finished 1-for-5, but had five RBI and scored twice. Holliday was 3-for-5, with three runs and three RBI.

Now dead even at 14-7, the two teams tangle again at Yankee Stadium in game two of their three-game series, Saturday at 1:05 pm ET.

National League

d'Arnaud: 2 HR, 5RBI
The New York Mets could not have picked a better time nor place to snap their six-game losing streak, traveling to Washington, DC, for a 7-5 win over the first place Nationals.

Travis d'Arnaud belted a pair of home runs and drove in five runs to power the Mets past their NL East rivals in the opener of a three-game series of vital importance to the Mets.

While the Mets were busy losing six straight and ten of their last eleven, the Nationals had seized the lead in the NL East, going 11-2 over the same span, including a three-game sweep of the Mets in New York.

Now at 9-13, the Mets own last place in the division, 6 1/2 games behind Washington, but have hope that they can make up some ground during their head-to-head weekend series.

Game two is slated for a 1:05 pm ET start at Nationals Park on Saturday.

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