And That Happened

All kinds of comebacks on Wednesday. Let’s call it “Comeback Wednesday!” — wait, what? Really? OK, sorry folks. The people in the marketing department said that’s impossibly lame. They’re working on something centering on the idea of “Extreme Comebacks” but they want to focus group it first. We’ll let you know.

White Sox 6, Yankees 5: Alejandro De Aza smacked a game-winning triple in the 12th. Mariano Rivera blew the save in the ninth, the Yankees blew another lead in the 12th and with it they were swept by a White Sox team that came into the series on a 10-game losing jag. This pretty much has to be what rock bottom looks like, right? Oh well, on the bright side Rivera’s blown save was significant: with it he tied Trevor Hoffman on the all-time blown saves list. When you think about it, you gotta be pretty good to blow a lot of saves.

Mets 5, Rockies 0: Matt Harvey shut ’em out on just four hits and 106 pitches, striking out six and walking no one. On the year he’s 9-3 with a 2.09 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and 178/29 K/BB ratio in 159 2/3 innings. Tough stuff.

Orioles 10, Padres 3: Chris Davis absolutely crushed a baseball — sending it 453 feet — for his 41st homer during Baltimore’s four-run eighth inning. They tacked on three in the ninth. After the game Bud Black said “[w]e had a little bit of a breakdown in our bullpen.” Gee, ya think?

Reds 6, Athletics 5: Bartolo Colon got roughed up pretty good, surrendering five runs and failing to escape the third inning. After the game he said he had some stomach trouble. That’s no small concern when Colon is involved. A homer and three RBI for Jay Bruce.

Mariners 9, Blue Jays 7: A couple of comebacks. The M’s were down 7-2 when they came to bat in the fourth and were up 9-7 after five. That made for a rough return to action for J.A. Happ, who had been out since being struck by a batted ball and suffering a fractured skull back in May. Better a bad comeback from that than no comeback at all.

Tigers 6, Indians 5: It took them 14 innings, but the Tigers continued their mastery of the Tribe and collected their 11th straight win. Eleven of 12 over Cleveland. Miguel Cabrera with a big two-run homer in the eighth and Prince Fielder with the ultimately game-winning two-run double in the 14th.

Braves 6, Nationals 3: That’s 13 straight wins for Atlanta, as the Braves complete the sweep of the Nats. Justin Upton doubled and homered. After the game Fredi Gonzalez revealed that for every win he has been given some protein drink by Braves players and superstition obligates him to continue drinking it. What is it? He doesn’t know. “They may be giving me poop. I don’t even know what it is,” he said. It’s poop, isn’t it? Tell me it’s poop.

Cubs 5, Phillies 2: Hero of the game, Donnie Murphy, who hit a three-run homer in the ninth to go with an earlier solo shot. He had one the day before too. What the heck, man?

Royals 5, Twins 2: Danny Duffy couldn’t make it out of the fourth inning, but he and five relievers combine for 16 strikeouts of Twins hitters.

Pirates 4, Marlins 2: Charlie Morton started rough but settled down and ended up throwing seven strong innings. He also Helped His Own Cause with an RBI single. The Pirates continue to maintain the best record in baseball.

Red Sox 7, Astros 5: Stephen Drew hit a three-run homer in the ninth to bring the Sox back from behind. A five-run comeback on Tuesday night, a three-run comeback last night. Indeed, it was the sixth time in its last seven wins in which Boston has come from behind.

Rangers 10, Angels 3: And with that, the Rangers are back atop the AL West. Well, tied. One behind in the loss column, but they do have a share of the lead for the first time since July 1. A homer and three RBI for Adrian Beltre.

Dodgers 13, Cardinals 4: All kinds of bad for the Cards as they get their clock cleaned and they lose Shelby Miller after just two pitches. Good news: he says he feels OK and should make his next start. As for the Dodgers, Andre Ethier and Skip Schumaker each had three hits and four RBIs while Carl Crawford had four hits and a walk.

Diamondbacks 9, Rays 8: A double comeback as the Snakes found themselves down 3-0 and then 8-7 late. Martin Prado won it, though, with a two-run double in the ninth. On the day he was 4 for 4 with a homer and four driven in.

Brewers 6, Giants 1: Marco Estrada was excellent in a spot start, shutting out the Giants for five innings on one hit. This one was 0-0 into the seventh inning before the Giants scored to make it 1-0, so I guess we can say there was a comeback here as well.

Still waiting to hear from the focus group, but I’m really liking the branding opportunities from last night.