And That Happened

Yankees 4, Rangers 3: Walkoff homer for Ichiro? Well shut my mouth. Wait, what? Well jeez, Brian, it’s just an expression. You don’t have to agree so emphatically and profanely.

Angels 14, Tigers 8: Well that fifth inning got out of a hand in a hurry. Rick Porcello was beaten around for seven runs on ten hits and his relief Darin Downs didn’t fare much better. J.B. Shuck drove in four. Even Josh Hamilton had a good game, going 3 for 5.

Orioles 6, Indians 3: The O’s snapped a four-game losing streak. Chris Davis hit his 28th homer, which tied it up in the seventh and Alexi Casilla’s three-run homer put Baltimore ahead in the eighth.

Nationals 7, Diamondbacks 5: The Nats jumped out to a 6-0 lead by the fifth inning and then held on, giving Gio Gonzalez his first win since May 5. From the AP gamer:

[Gonzalez] said pitching with the big lead for a change didn’t alter his approach.

“No, you still have to go out there and attack,” Gonzalez said. “The team gives you a big lead like that you want to get them back in there, especially when they’re swinging it real hot.”

Jack Morris just shakes his head.

Marlins 4, Twins 2: The Fish have won four of five. Jose Fernandez allowed one run and four hits in five innings and Marcell Ozuna drove in a pair. It sometimes seems like there’s no future in Miami, but those two are part of one.

Brewers 9, Cubs 3: Two homers for Rickie Weeks, who has a nine-game hitting streak in which he’s 14-for-32 with four homers and seven RBI. Milwuakee has beat the Cubs nine straight times at Miller Park and 19 of 21 times overall.

Dodgers 6, Giants 5: Matt Kemp comes back from the DL. While he only went 1 for 4 at the plate he ended the game with a running, sliding, over the shoulder catch that, one hopes, put to rest any concern about his hamstring. If the Dodgers are going to climb back in the race a healthy and productive Kemp has to be a part of that.

Red Sox 11, Rockies 4: It was 7-1 after the third inning so this one wasn’t exactly suspenseful. Dustin Pedroia drove in four runs on three hits and the Sox tallied 20 safeties in all. BTW: people used to say “safeties” more often as a synonym for hits, but no one does it anymore. I don’t want it to come back because I find it annoying, but I did feel like it was worth pointing this out.

Phillies 6, Padres 2: A homer — his 20th — and four RBI for Domonic Brown. Jason Marquis loses his first game since April 22nd. But he does lead the league in walks and he walked five Phillies in four and a third.

Rays 5, Blue Jays 1: Matt Moore wins his tenth after striking out 11 in six innings. Walked six too, but worked around it. Wil Myers drove in a run. He has eight RBI in nine games since being called up.

White Sox 5, Mets 4: Chris Sale struck out 13 in eight innings and left with a lead but didn’t get the win because he didn’t want it bad enough or something. Or maybe because Addison Reed — who vultured the win —  blew the save with help from a Gordon Beckham error. Alexei Ramirez mooted it all with a walkoff single.

Braves 4, Royals 3: Jason Heyward’s seventh inning homer broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Braves the win. Earlier he hit a two-run double. Even though, in recent years, a lot of Braves have found their way to the Royals, it was the Braves’ first ever trip to Kansas City.

Cardinals 13, Astros 5: Mike Matheny jumbled up the lineup and the Cardinals offense woke up. Correlation? Yes. Causation? I dunno. But Allen Craig went 4 for 5 with a homer and three RBI and Matt Carpenter drove in three of his own after clearing the bases with a triple.

Athletics 7, Reds 3: The fact that I looked at this score and first thought “1972 World Series rematch” instead of “1990 World Series rematch” makes me wonder how my brain works. Though admittedly I have the worst memory of the 1990 World Series than any World Series of my teenage years. I was busy during the week of that Series rehearsing some play I was in in which I got to kiss the amazingly attractive girl who played the female lead and, wouldn’t you know it, I kept needing to rehearse that scene a lot because I couldn’t get it right. Or at least that was my story and I’m sticking to it. Anyway, the A’s pounded Bronson Arroyo.

Pirates 9, Mariners 4: Five homers for the Buccos. Starling Marte had two of them plus a triple. When people ask me, as the have an awful lot lately, if the Pirates are going to collapse like they did the past couple of years I’ve been saying no. Why? For the simple reason that I often write other offensive contributors’ names in the Pirates recaps besides Andrew McCutchen. It’s a team this year. Not one star and a lot of smoke and mirrors.