And That Happened

Pirates 4, Marlins 3: A walkoff homer for Josh Harrison — the utility infielder if you didn’t know — gave this one to Pittsburgh, as the Pirates show no inclination to give up first place. Andrew McCutchen had a fantastic diving catch to save at least one run in the seventh when the game was tied and the Marlins were threatening. My anticipation to go see this team play a week from Saturday is at about an 11 on a 10-point scale.

Braves 2, Nationals 1: The 12th straight win for Atlanta; the Braves are tied with the Red Sox for the most wins in baseball. Costly, though, as the recently-hot Jason Heyward left in the first inning with a neck strain. Also: there was attempted fisticuffsmanship when Julio Teheran plunked Bryce Harper. The Braves said it wasn’t on purpose, but Harper had hit a home run the at-bat before, so hmmm. Still, given the lack of overall threat the Nats represent these days, the Braves should no more be throwing at them than they should throwing at their mamas.

Tigers 5, Indians 1: Ten in a row for the Tigers as Verlander beats Masterson in the Battle of the Justins. A gimpy Miguel Cabrera broke the 100-RBI barrier and the Indians are revealing themselves to not be much of a direct threat to Detroit. If the Tigers sweep this series and give themselves a nice cushion, they should maybe consider DL-ing Cabrera — or at least resting him a ton — so that he’s not so gimpy come playoff times.

Phillies 9, Cubs 8: Darin Ruf played right field for the first time ever but it was his bat that helped out the most. He homered and doubled and extended his streak of games in which he has reached base to 33, which is the longest in the majors at the moment and longest Phillies streak since 2009. His move to right field likely spells the end of Delmon Young’s time in Philly. Chase Utley had three hits.

White Sox 3, Yankees 2: Chris Sale outduels Hiroki Kuroda in the Battle of the Lone Bright Spots. If you care, A-Rod went 1 for 2 with a walk.

Twins 7, Royals 0: Andrew Albers makes his major league debut and all he does is pitch eight and a third shutout innings, allowing only four hits. In other news, it was very considerate of the Twins and Royals to trade embarrassing losses like this.

Reds 3, Athletics 1: The A’s have lost five of six and the offense is sputtering. The Reds needed to face a team like that given how things have been going for them. Here Mat Latos struggled with his stuff, but it didn’t matter as he still threw seven and a third shutout innings. Jay Bruce homered and had a nice running catch.

Red Sox 15, Astros 10: The Bosox were down 5-0 after two innings, thanks in part to four — four! — passed balls from Ryan Lavarnway, who was trying to catch knuckler Steven Wright. But just when John Farrell was about to call Doug Mirabelli, Wright came out of the game and the Sox’ bats came alive. Including Lavarnway’s, who had a two-run double in a five-run fifth inning which ended up being the turning point. This was Boston’s 69th win. The Sox had 69 wins all of last season.

Mets 3, Rockies 2: The Eric Young Jr. show, as he made a fantastic diving catch to save runs and then later scored from second on an infield single. Wheels, baby. Wheels.

Rangers 8, Angels 3: The Rangers pull to within one of the A’s. Eight runs without the benefit of an extra base hit. Struggling to think of the last small ball Rangers team. Failing.

Cardinals 5, Dodgers 1: And thus endeth the Dodgers’ road wins streak. Carlos Beltran and Matt Adams homered in the eighth off Brandon League and the Cardinals bullpen pitched three and two thirds scoreless innings to back up Joe Kelly.

Blue Jays 7, Mariners 2: Toronto’s bats didn’t hail to the King: Hernandez is touched for six runs — three earned — in five innings. Jose Reyes homered on the first pitch of the game and added an RBI single.

Diamondbacks 6, Rays 1: Wade Miley allowed five hits in seven one-run innings. Cody Ross hit a three-run homer off Jeremy Hellickson. Ross is 14 for his last 31.

Orioles 4, Padres 1: Adam Jones must love the San Diego home cooking. He had four hits including a homer and scored twice in front of a crowd that skewed Baltimorian (Baltimorite? Baltimorish?) despite the game being at Petco.

Brewers 3, Giants 1:  The Giants offense continues to sputter despite a nice outing from Matt Cain. This is not a repeat from every season apart from 2012.