Aaron Judge Leads Yankees' 13-5 Rout Of Baltimore; Zack Godley Throws 8 Shutout Innings For Arizona

Players of the Day for Thursday, September 14, 2017

American League

Fighting a prolonged mid-season slump, Yankee rookie right fielder, Aaron Judge, seems to have broken out of late.

Judge: 2 HR, 6 RBI

After hitting .230 with seven homers and 11 RBI in July, followed by an unproductive August with just three home runs, seven RBI and a .185 batting average, Judge has rebounded in September in time for the pennant and/or wild card final stretch.

With two home runs and six RBI in New York's 13-5 victory over the slumping Baltimore Orioles, Judge's September totals are solid: six home runs, 14 RBI and a .262 average. He also singled in the game, going 3-for-4, scoring three times.

In the first game of a four-game series at Yankee Stadium, the New Yorkers had their way with the fast-fading Orioles, scoring six runs in the first inning, three in the fourth and four in the sixth. Seven of their 14 hits were for extra bases, including four home runs.

The win put New York in a sweet spot, three games up on the Twins for the top wild card. Baltimore trails Minnesota by 5 1/2 games and is on the verge of elimination from October baseball.

Game two of the series is Friday at 7:05 pm ET.

National League

Godley: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 7 K

Arizona continues headlong through September, en route to what appears to be the #1 wild card, which would supply them with home field advantage in the one-game playoff scenario.

With a 7-0 win at Colorado Thursday, the Diamondbacks hold a five game lead over the Rockies in the wild card standings. There are just 15 games left on Arizona's schedule, so, barring a complete collapse, they should host the wild card game the first week in October.

Starting pitcher, Zack Godley (8-7), picked up the win, tossing eight innings of shutout ball against Colorado. He allowed five hits, fanned seven and did not issue any bases on balls.

The Diamondbacks are 9-4 in September, the last two coming at Colorado's expense. The schedule gets pretty favorable for Arizona as the regular season winds down with six games against the Giants and three with the Padres. They open a three-game series in San Francisco Friday at 7:15 pm PT.