Jon Lester Tosses One-Hitter for Boston; Yankees' Lyle Overbay Drives in Five; St. Louis Rookie Shelby Miller Hurls Cards to One-Hit Win

Players of the Day for Friday, May 10, 2013

American League

Lester: 1-hitter

The battle for the AL East has intensified to a point that the three teams tied for the division lead - Yankees, Red Sox and Orioles - all produced victories Friday, two of those games featuring individual performances worth of player of the day recognition.

Overbay: HR, 5RBI

Maicer Izturis was the only Toronto hitter to touch up Boston starter, Jon Lester, his fourth-inning, no-doubt double breaking up the Red Sox lefty's bid for a perfect game. Lester (5-0) struck out five, didn't walk any and threw 79 of 118 pitches for the complete game, 5-0 shutout.

The Yankees, in the midst of a Midwest swing, kept pace by bludgeoning the Royals, 11-6, their third straight win. The Bombers cranked out 16 hits, four of them coming off the bat of first baseman Lyle Overbay, who was 4-for-5 with a homer, two doubles, a single and five RBI.

Baltimore remained in the three-way tie by defeating the Twins in 10 innings, 9-6, getting RBI singles from Manny Machado, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones in the top of the extra frame. Jim Johnson gave up a hit in the bottom of the inning, but still recorded his league-leading 14th save.

All three series continue on Saturday.

National League

Shelby Miller

St. Louis starter, Shelby Miller, didn't get off to a very auspicious start in the Cardinals' 3-0 win over the Rockies, giving up a scratch single to leadoff hitter, Eric Young Jr. - who then stole second base - but Miller was unfazed, getting Dexter Fowler on a pop fly, and then striking out Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki, both looking at called third strikes.

As it was, Young's single would be the only hit of the night for Colorado, as Miller set down 27 straight, registering the second one-hitter of the day.

The hard-throwing rookie hurler fanned a career-high 13 without allowing a walk, getting Tulowitzki three times and striking out both Colorado pinch hitters sent to the plate in the sixth and ninth innings. Miller improved to 5-2, lowering his ERA to 1.58 with his magnificent outing.

St. Louis, winners of eight of their last 10, retained their three-game Central division lead over Cincinnati with the win.

The Rockies will attempt to put more bats on balls in game two of the three-game series, Saturday at 2:15 pm EDT.

Today's Trivia: In 1964, Dean Chance threw 11 shutouts for the LA Angels. Four years later, which pitcher topped him, with 13 shutouts in 1968, a total which nobody since has come close to matching?

Answer to yesterday's question: 41-year-old Andy Pettitte is the active player wins leader with 248.