Baltimore's Trey Mancini Strikes Twice Again; Bryce Harper Walks Offs Phillies in Nats' 6-4 Win

Players of the Day for Sunday, April 16, 2017

American League

Mancini: 2HR, 4RBI

With their 11-4 win at Toronto, the Baltimore Orioles maintained their tenuous hold on first place in the AL East, 1/2 game ahead of the surging Yankees - winners of seven straight - and 1 1/2 clear of Boston.

Taking the series three games to one, the power-laden Orioles banged out 15 hits in the Sunday finale, led by Trey Mancini, who went 3-for-5 with four RBI and two runs on the strength of a pair of home runs, a three-run belt in the sixth and a solo shot in the eighth.

The Orioles scored five runs in each of the frames in which Mancini homered. It was the second time this season that the rookie has rocked the opponent with a dinger duo. He last did it against the Red Sox on April 12, resulting in a 12-5 Baltimore victory.

Mancini has four homers and nine RBI on the year, and is sporting a solid .364 batting average. MLB may want to check Mancini's seemingly-magical bats. He loaned them to teammates Craig Gentry and Manny Machado and both of them also went deep.

Harper slugs Game-Winner

Baltimore gets a day off Monday before heading to Cincinnati to open a three-game series on Tuesday, completing a nine-game road trip. The O's are 4-2 away from Camden Yards this season.

National League

As the Mets were losing to Miami, 4-2, the Washington Nationals took the initiative, topping the Phillies, 6-4, on Bryce Harper's three-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth.

Washington's victory tied them with the Marlins for first place in the NL East, with the Mets dropping 1/2 game behind.

Harper's heroics happened after the Phillies had scored the go-ahead run in the top of the inning, making the score 4-3, but Joacuin Benoit could not keep the Nationals off the bases in the bottom of the frame, walking Chris Heisey with one away, then allowing a single to right by Adam Eaton. After Anthony Rendon lined out to right, the stage was set for Harper, who delivered a crushing, 419-foot blast over the wall in center field.

It was Harper's second home run of the season, boosting his RBI total to 13, second in the NL behind Miami's Marcell Ozuna with 18.

On Tuesday, Washington will embark on a ten-game road trip, with stops in stops in Atlanta, New York (Mets) and Cincinnati.