JP Arencibia Leads Jays Rout of Mets; Justin Verlander Tosses 1-Hitter at Pirates; Martin Prado Helps Braves Retain NL East Edge

Players of the Day for Friday, May 18, 2012

American League

Verlander: 1-hitter

Arencibia: 2HR 6RBI

Friday kicked off a weekend of interleague games, some of which were outright mismatches, such as Toronto's 14-5 home victory over the Mets in which JP Arencibia cracked a pair of home runs and drove in a career high six RBI, going 3-for-5.

In Detroit, Justin Verlander held the Pirates hitless until one out in the eighth inning, when Josh Harrison broke up the no-hit bid with a single up the middle. Verlander finished with a one-hitter, striking out 12 and walking a pair in a 6-0 Tiger win. Verlander threw 76 of 109 pitches for strikes, improved to 5-1 and took over the AL strikeout lead with 68.

Martin Prado

National League

Atlanta's Martin Prado went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, drove in one and scored three times as the Braves padded their NL East lead over Washington to 1 1/2 games with a 5-3 win at Tampa Bay. The Nationals lost a tight, 2-1, extra-inning contest to the Orioles in D.C. on Nick Markakis' solo homer with one out in the top of the 11th inning. The O's lead the AL East by two full games over the Rays.

Interleague play continues through the weekend, except for one NL series between St. Louis and the LA Dodgers due to the imbalance in the number of teams between the two leagues.