And That Happened

Orioles 5, Red Sox 3: Chris Davis with a two-run single in the 12th to win the game. Wei-Yin Chen gave up 11 hits but somehow only three runs in five and two-thirds. Baltimore remains one back in the Wild Card. The Sox’ magic number for the division remains at three.

Braves 5, Nationals 2: They’re pretty much all must-win for Washington right now and the Nats didn’t win, even with home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor gifting them runs. Homers from Justin Uggla and Dan Uggla.

Twins 4, White Sox 3: Minnesota avoids the sweep with a good outing from Scott Diamond. His first win in three months.

Marlins 4, Phillies 3: Ed Lucas hit a homer in the 10th to give the Marlins the lead and almost helped woof it away with an error in the bottom of the inning. It ended up being cool, though.

Angels 5, Athletics 4: Josh Hamilton continues to build hope for 2014. He homered to tie it up in the eighth inning and then drove in the go-ahead run in extras. Mike Trout homered too and the Angels have won four of five. A’s starter A.J. Griffin on Trout’s homer: “He’s good at baseball. I was trying to get him to miss it, but he got it.” That quite accurately sums up a great deal of baseball I suppose.

Padres 3, Pirates 2: Three straight losses to San Diego puts the Pirates two back in the NL Central.  Mark Melancon have up two in the ninth to blow a 2-1 lead. “What a game,” San Diego manager Bud Black said afterward. I bet Clint Hurdle was a bit more colorful in his description.

Rays 4, Rangers 3: One of five extra- inning games, here the Rays got a walkoff single from Desmond Jennings in the 12th. The Rangers can get a 2-2 split today. If they do, these two teams will have effectively angered all of the other AL Wild Card contenders who would have benefited from one team sweeping the other or at least winning the series.

Mets 5, Giants 4: The Giants had a 4-0 lead entering the eighth and still had a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, but Josh Satin raised some eyebrows with a walkoff two-run single to cap a Mets four-run rally. Three RBI for Satin overall.

Yankees 4, Blue Jays 3: This must have been a New York thing, because, like the Mets, the Yankees were down three late and rallied for four. Vernon Wells had a go-ahead two-run double which, according to all the game stories, “kept the Yankees alive.” Which I suppose it technically true, but it would be cool to actually see a decent nine innings of baseball from them and maybe a couple of good games in a row before truly declaring them among the playoff living.

Brewers 7, Cubs 0: Sean Halton hit a grand slam. Tyler Thornburg allowed only two hits over six innings. I had half a mind to watch this one in its entirety in order to get a last dose of relatively meaningless baseball before the playoff season started but couldn’t bring myself to. Maybe I’ll do that with a game or two next week.

Mariners 8, Tigers 0: For whatever else has happened this season for the Mariners, Hisashi Iwakuma has been fantastic. Eight shutout innings on four hits here. He is 13-6 with a 2.76 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP for a bad Seattle team.

Cardinals 4, Rockies 3: St. Louis pads its lead. Adam Wainwright won his 17th. Edward Mujica struck out Todd Helton with the bases loaded to end the game.

Diamondbacks 9, Dodgers 4: One of many late rallies last night, here the Snakes had a five-run eighth. Paul Goldschmidt homered. He leads the NL with 34, which feels like a 1980s league-leading total. I feel like 39 was always what you needed to lead the league back when Daryl Strawberry roamed the Earth.

Royals 7, Indians 2: A must-win for the Royals and they won, depriving the Indians once again of moving into a Wild Card tie. The Royals now get a head-to-head series against the Rangers this weekend, also full of must-win games.

Reds 6, Astros 5: Texas native Jay Bruce with a two-run double in the 13th. The Reds are probably a Wild Card team but they’re only a half-game behind the Pirates for the top seed. I bet they’d rather play at Great American Ballpark in a one-and-done than at PNC.