Brett Gardner Leads Yankees To Split At Baltimore; Philly's Aaron Nola One-Hits Mets, Plates 3 With Double

Players of the Day for Monday, July 9, 2018

American League

Gardner: 4-6, HR, 3 RBI

By anybody's standards, Brett Gardner had a heck of a day as the Yankees split a double header with the Orioles at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Sitting out most of game one, a 5-4 win for the Orioles, Gardner was 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter, but made up for it in the nightcap, going 4-for-6 with a homer, double, a pair of singles, three runs and three RBI.

The Yankees romped to a 10-2 victory.

After singling and scoring in the first inning, Gardner's seventh homer of the season put the Yanks ahead, 3-0, in the fourth. His double in the seventh extended the Yankee lead to 7-0. Gardner came around to score on a bases-loaded throwing error and singled again in the ninth.

With Boston winning their seventh straight, 5-0, at Texas, the Yankees slipped to 2 1/2 games behind the AL East leaders.

The Yankees and Orioles play game three of their four-game set Tuesday at 7:05 pm EDT.

National League

Nola: 7IP, 1H, 0ER, 10K

With the Washington Nationals lurking 5 1/2 games behind, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies are locked into a tie for first place in the NL East, both teams sporting identical 50-39 records.

The deadlock came about as a result of steady, heady play by both squads, the latest being Philly's 3-1 win over the flagging Mets (13 1/2 back) at New York's Citi Field.

Aaron Nola improved to 12-2 with his best outing of the season, a one-hit, seven inning shutout performance the that keyed the Philadelphia victory.

Nola became the first NL pitcher to win 12 games, one ahead of Washington's Max Scherzer and the Cubs' Jon Lester.

Not only did Nola completely stymie the Mets, he also delivered all three Philly runs with a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning. The lone hit off Nola was in the first, when Wilmer Flores singled with two out. After that, Nola set down 18 straight, walking Michael Conforto with two down in the seventh prior to finishing out the inning by fanning Dominic Smith for his 10th strikeout.

After going 12-11 with a 3.54 ERA last year, Nola has emerged as the Phillies' ace with his sixth straight win. His 2.27 ERA is second in the league, behind the Mets' Jacob DeGrom (1.79).

Atlanta was idle, but opens a series at home with the Blue Jays Tuesday. The Phillies and Mets tangle in game two, Tuesday at 7:10 pm EDT.