Phillies Tie Atlanta For 1st Place As Odubel Herrera Leads 17-5 Win; Evan Gattis Powers Houston Past White Sox

Players of the Day for Friday, July 6, 2018

American League

Gattis: 3-4, HR, 4 RBI

With an 11-4 win over the visiting White Sox, Houston extended their lead in the AL West to 2 1/2 over hard-charging Seattle, 7-1 losers to Colorado. Despite winning eight of their last 10, the Astros have had the Mariners breathing down their backs for the better part of the past two weeks. The Mariners recent record is 9-2, including Friday's loss.

Houston seems to have a different star every night, a trademark of the reigning world champs. In Friday's win, that star was Evan Gattis, who singled, doubled, and homered in four at-bats, driving in four runs. His big blow was his 18th homer, a 422-foot, eighth inning, three-run bomb that blew the game wide open.

Gattis has driven in 61 runs this season, tying him for third in the AL with Cleveland's Edwin Encarnacion.

With the physique of a power slugger at 6'4, 270, Gattis is well on his way to a career year after missing half of last season with injuries. He's already surpassed last season's numbers (12 HR, 55 RBI). He's heating up with the weather, already having socked three homers in July and driven in seven runs.

The Astros have taken the first two of their four-game series with Chicago. Game three is scheduled for 4:10 pm EDT on Saturday.

National League

Herrera: 2-for-6, HR, 4RBI

Wihtout a doubt, the team that's been the biggest positive surprise of 2018 has to be the Philadelphia Phillies.

After ending the 2017 season in last place, 31 games behind Washington in the NL East with a 66-96 mark, not much was expected from the youthful Phils this season, but they've thus far exceeded all expectations.

With a 17-5 win at Pittsburgh Friday night, the Phillies tied Atlanta for first place in the division, winning their fifth straight and eighth of their last nine outings.

While the Phillies have been tearing it up, Atlanta has dropped four in a row, including Friday's 5-4 defeat at Milwaukee.

The Phillies took it to six Pittsburgh pitchers, taking the first game from the slumping swashbucklers with 18 hits. Scott Kingery went 4-for-5, Ryan Hoskins was 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI, and Odubel Herrera singled and homered in six at-bats with four RBI, the crucial blow his three-run dinger in the third inning that gave Philly a 5-1 lead.

Pittsburgh battled back to within 5-4, but the Phillies scored two in the sixth, seven in the seventh, and three more in the ninth inning to make it a complete blowout.

Herrera, who has been a solid contributor since 2015, is having a breakout season. With 15 homers, he's already equalled his person high mark from 2016 and his 51 RBI is just five short of his best, in 2017. And, he's done all this in just 83 games.

The Phillies will be looking to extend their winning streak when they play game two of their three-game series in Pittsburgh, Saturday at 4:05 pm EDT.