And That Happened

Five of the seven losing teams on Thursday scored one run. This means something. This is important. [sculpts Devil’s Tower out of his mashed potatoes, scares family]

Giants 4, Brewers 1: Tim Lincecum looked like the Timmy of old yesterday, tossing eight shutout innings and allowing only one hit. These past several performances are likely to keep him from clearing waivers this month and thus are likely to keep him in San Francisco.

Tigers 10, Indians 3: The idea of a “statement game” or “statement series” in baseball is pretty weak, but these past four game pretty much sounded like the Tigers telling the Indians “Perhaps you will win the AL Central someday. But not today.” Max Scherzer gets his 17th win. Ryan Raburn gives the Indians some extra value in the form of an inning on the mound, but I don’t imagine that’s what they had in mind when they signed him to that extension. Twelve straight wins for Detroit.

Pirates 5, Marlins 4: Down 4-0 in the fifth? No problem. Pittsburgh scored two in the fifth, two in the seventh and then Russell Martin hit a two-out pinch hit single in the 10th to walk the Pirates off. It’s the Pirates’ 28th come-from-behind win this year. Their 70th overall. They went six seasons in a row without winning 70 games between 2005 and 2010. Since 1994 they’ve won fewer than 70 games 11 times.

Royals 5, Red Sox 1: Kansas City wins its 16th of 20 since the All-Star break, moving to 4.5 back of the Wild Card. Bruce Chen was phenomenal, pitching shutout ball for seven and two-thirds and not allowing a runner past first base until the eighth.

Phillies 12, Cubs 1: Cody Asche had three hits, including his first big league homer. Ethan Martin pitched five innings and allowed one run and four hits for his first big league win. Darin Ruf homered too. Look at those baby Phillies go.

Dodgers 5, Cardinals 1: Hyun-Jin Ryu was great for seven innings and A.J. Ellis hit a three-run homer. Ellis also had high praise for Ryu, saying after the game “He pitches to the scoreboard as well as anyone I’ve caught.” A regular Jack Morris.

Mets 2, Rockies 1: New York sweeps Colorado. Dillon Gee allowed one run while pitching seven and two-thirds. The Rockies lost nine of 10 on this road trip, thus ending the “could they make a run in the NL West?” portion of their season.