Dan Haren, Denard Span Pace Nationals; Chris Tillman Stymies Angels in 5-1 Baltimore Victory

Players of the Day for Thursday, May 2, 2013

American League

Chris Tillman

Baltimore began a West coast swing in positive fashion, topping the LA Angels, 5-1, as Chris Tillman sparkled on the mound.

Holding the Angels scoreless though eight innings, Tillman turned the ball over to closer Jim Johnson, who fanned two in the final frame, but also gave up Albert Pujols' fifth homer of the season, a solo shot that avoided the shutout.

Tillman gave up just three hits, but threw 114 pitches, prompting the manager Buck Showalter to call on the bullpen. walking two and striking out three, Tillman improved to 2-1, lowering his ERA to a reasonable 3.63. The win was Tillman's second straight, after an 0-1 beginning on four starts. He's been notably better in his last three outings, allowing just three earned runs over the past 20 2/3 innings. His eight innings against the Angels was his longest outing of the season, a positive for the O's.

Baltimore kept pace with Boston in the East division, where they trail the Red Sox by 3 1/2 games. In second place are the Yankees, 2 1/2 out. The 10-18 Angels are seven games out in the West. They are 6-7 at home, one of four AL teams with losing home records. The others are Cleveland, Houston and Toronto.

The win was the opener of a our game set in LA, which resumes Friday at 7:05 PDT.

Dan Haren

National League

Denard Span went 3-for-4, singling and scoring in the first inning and driving in a pair of runs in the second and those runs were all washington starter, Dan Haren, would need, as the Nationals defeated the Braves, 3-1, closing out their four game series in Atlanta with a 2-2 split.

Denard Span

Haren gave up four hits, keeping the Braves off the board until the seventh inning, when he allowed Atlanta's only run of the game, a two-out solo homer off the bat of Dan Uggla.

Haren lasted eight innings, striking out four and walking one to even his record at 3-3. The win moved the Nationals closer to the Braves in the NL East, where they trail Atlanta by 2 1/2 games.

Rafael Soriano worked the ninth inning for his ninth save of the season, allowing one single, but no further damage.

Leadoff hitter, Span, who was on base four times in the win, has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games.

Washington heads to Pittsburgh for a three-game weekend series while the Braves finish up a seven-game home span with three games against the Mets, beginning Friday.