Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Tigers 4, Royals 2: Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a walkoff two-run homer off of former Tiger Joakim Soria. Detroit’s other two runs scored on a balk and a wild pitch. Michael Fulmer allowed two runs over eight innings. No win for him, but he still has a 2.13 ERA on the year. Where would the Tigers be without that guy?
Reds 1, Brewers 0: On Saturday night we saw a walkoff balk in the Padres-Giants game. Here we get a walkoff passed ball, scoring Billy Hamilton. Hamilton reached on a walk, advanced to second on another walk and then stole third before scoring. We need a game to end on a walkoff catcher’s interference today to keep the weirdness streak alive.
Rays 5, Orioles 2: Dylan Bundy‘s first big league start didn’t go as he had hoped (3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 HR). Meanwhile, Jake Odorizzi — basically auditioning for the rest of the league in advance of the trade deadline — allowed two runs over six innings. Even Longoria went yard twice.
Braves 1, Rockies 0: Chase d'Arnaud hit a walkoff single. The Braves are undefeated in day games following postgame concerts by d’Arnaud at the ballpark the night before.
Pirates 2, Nationals 1: Starling Marte provided all of the Pirates offense, doubling in a run in the sixth and then hitting the go-ahead homer in the 18th. The game lasted five hours and forty-eight minutes. Surprised no one grooved a mercy meatball to someone before that.
Mets 5, Phillies 0: Jacob deGrom tossed a one-hitter, striking out seven and needed only 105 pitches to get through all nine. Not too shabby. He also singled and came around to score in the fifth. He’s pretty tough to beat on ten days’ rest. Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera homered.
Indians 6, Twins 1: Josh Tomlin allowed one run on six hits in seven and two-thirds. Tough break for Yan Gomes, though. He came into the game on an 0-for-27 streak, broke it with a double and then, a couple of innings later, had to leave the game after tumbling to the ground while trying to avoid a tag, injuring his shoulder. It’s probably separated and he’ll have to go on the DL.
Marlins 6, Cardinals 3: Ichiro Suzuki doubled and singled twice, pushing him to 2,994 hits. Ichiro was given ovations by Cardinals fans all weekend. After the game he said this:
“These are three games that I’ll probably never forget. I don’t think I could have experienced something like this unless it was here in St. Louis. It was hard to look at them as the enemy.”
I can’t decide if the respectful treatment of an opponent makes them the Best Fans in Baseball or if it actually undercuts their claim to being the Best Fans in Baseball because, like, aren’t they supposed to root-root-root for the home team? Though I suppose it’s better than throwing batteries at the guy.
Rangers 4, Cubs 1: Last time Cole Hamels pitched in Wrigley Field he tossed a no-hitter there. This time, returning in a different team’s uniform, he was dominant once again, allowing one run — unearned — in eight innings while striking out seven. The Rangers snapped their four-game losing streak.
Angels 8, White Sox 1: Albert Pujols hit two two-run homers and Jered Weaver allowed one run on six hits over seven innings. Two dudes surviving on craft and guile.
Blue Jays 5, Athletics 3: Josh Donaldson hit a two-run double with two outs in the ninth to break a 3-3 tie and to help the Jays avoid the sweep. Rich Hill, like Jake Odorizzi, was auditioning for potential trade partners. He left in the first inning with a blister on his finger. Oops.
Astros 8, Mariners 1: Jose Altuve homered, had four hits in all and drove in three. Dude is hitting .346/.417/.551 on the year. Carlos Gomez hit a grand slam.
Diamondbacks 6, Dodgers 5: Robbie Ray tossed seven scoreless innings. The bullpen tried to undo all of that work — allowing five runs in the next inning and a third — but Arizona held on. The arsonists in question were Daniel Hudson and Tyler Clippard, each of whom have been talked about as trade bait. Maybe this was just their way of saying that they really and truly don’t want to move.
Padres 5, Giants 3: Edwin Jackson made his first start since 2014. This following eight lackluster relief appearances for Miami and getting the tar beat out of him in three minor league appearances. So of course he faces the best team in baseball and tosses six respectable innings. Baseball, man.
Yankees 3, Red Sox 1: Masahiro Tanaka outdueled David Price to win his fourth straight start. I don’t guess what Price was doing was really dueling, per se, in that he allowed 11 hits in five and two-thirds. It was more like dodging bullets.
