Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Rays 3, Marlins 1: You know how people talk about “the song of the summer?” In baseball we have the “injury of the summer.” A few years ago — I think it was the summer Pharrell’s “Happy” was all the rage — all the ballplayers tore their oblique muscles. I don’t know what the song of the summer for 2017 is yet, but the injury is the blister. Here Edinson Volquez left early with a blister. Alex Cobb, also suffering from a blister, managed six scoreless innings. I think I’ve written the word “blister” more this season than I have in any season since I started covering baseball. Anyway, when asked for comment about his blister, Volquez said, “Here come bad news, talking this and that . . . Well, I should probably warn ya, I’ll be just fine. Cause I’m happy.”
Braves 9, Mets 7: R.A. Dickey beat Matt Harvey for the second time in less than a week. Asked after the game, Dickey said that he didn’t even have his best stuff: “on a scale of one to 10, I probably only had a four knuckleball.” I always assumed knuckleballs were judged weirdly, given their nature. Like, “on a scare of one to 10, my knuckleball was potato.” Oh well. Anyway, Jay Bruce drove in six runs in the losing cause. Ender Inciarte drove in three runs with three hits, but he had more help than Bruce did.
Cubs 8, Phillies 3: Javier Baez had four hits, including a triple and a homer, driving in three. Kris Bryant homered and tripled himself. Jon Lester wasn’t sharp — he walked five dudes — but allowed only three runs and did enough to snag the win. Joe Maddon didn’t hold the walks against Lester. He hated the strike zone, saying “There wasn’t a strike zone tonight, it was a ball zone . . . I don’t know what was going on.” I wish he had gone full meme with it and said “more like a BALL ZONE, amirite?” I mean, if you’re gonna be the hip dad like Maddon always seems like he wants to be you have to appropriate outdated memespeak, which will provide maximum embarrassment for your children. Believe me, I have a lot of experience in this.
Angels 6, Mariners 4: Albert Pujols hit an RBI double in the top of the 11th inning. Then the old man stole third base — how does anyone let that happen? Pujols barely has any feet at this point, right? They’re just fleshy stubs patched together with some sort of surgeon’s epoxy — and scored an insurance run on a fielder’s choice. His RBI put him past Al Simmons and Ted Williams on the all-time list. He’s now at 14th for his career, with 1,840 driven in. The Angels have won seven of eight.
Yankees 11, Blue Jays 5: Mat Latos gave up seven runs by the fourth inning and the rest was just details. Aaron Judge hit two more homers, bringing his season total to 12 — that’s a 78-homer pace — and Brett Gardner hit a couple himself. Aaron Hicks hit a homer too and Masahiro Tanaka, while not great, pitched into the seventh inning.
Diamondbacks 6, Nationals 3: Taijuan Walker was not fantastic himself, allowing three runs while walking five and not even lasting five innings, but the Arizona pen pitched four and two-thirds scoreless innings and the bats popped three long ones. The Nats, who have been scoring runs in buckets, stranded ten runners. That’s baseball.
Red Sox 5, Orioles 2: Drama galore in this one, including a standing ovation for Adam Jones, a Chris Sale pitch that went behind Manny Machado and a Machado postgame tirade against the Red Sox. Also a weird and sloppy triple play. Lost in all of this: Machado hitting a long homer off of Sale later in the game and Sale striking out 11 and allowing only two runs in eight innings.
Tigers 5, Indians 2: Miguel Cabrera came back and hit a two-run homer — the 450th of his career — and Justin Verlander allowed only two runs over seven. Corey Kluber pitched only three innings, leaving early with a sore back. That’s one worth watching.
Pirates 12, Reds 3: Josh Harrison hit a three-run homer and the Buccos’ starting pitcher, Tyler Glasnow (all together now) helped his own cause with a two-run single as the Pirates put together a six-run fifth inning. Harrison hit two homers on Monday night too. The Reds have lost 9 of 12. So, yeah, that brief moment in April when they looked kind of sexy was just a trick of the light.
Twins 9, Athletics 1: Ervin Santana struck out seven in six shutout innings and Brian Dozier jacked two out of the park. Also jacking balls out of the park for Minnesota: Miguel Sano, Jason Castro, Byron Buxton and Joe Mauer. I know it’s not even close to an appropriate time to watch the standings yet, but the Twins are 13-11 and only a half game out of first in the Central.
Astros 8, Rangers 7: Texas jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the fourth inning but, unfortunately for them, we play nine in this game. Marwin Gonzalez hit two home runs, including a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth to bring the Astros back. They’ve come back from five-run deficits three times on the young season. Overall, they’ve come from behind in 12 games, leading the majors in Rasputins.
White Sox 6, Royals 0: Jose Quintana was brilliant, tossing eight shutout innings, allowing only four singles. He has suffered from a lack of run support so far this year but that wasn’t a problem here as he had an early four-run cushion. Royals starter Danny Duffy, meanwhile, has lost back-to-back starts to the White Sox, allowing 12 runs and 19 hits in nine and two-thirds over those two games. Kansas City has lost ten of eleven.
Cardinals 2, Brewers 1: Carlos Martinez allowed only one unearned run while pitching into the eighth, outdueling Wily Peralta, who allowed two over five and a third. Both Cardinals runs scored in the sixth, when Yadier Molina hit a sac fly and Kolten Wong singled in a run. Eric Thames was 0-for-4 and has gone six games without a homer. The baseball season is long, you guys, and everything evens out over that long, long time.
Dodgers 13, Giants 5: San Francisco scored four runs in the top of the second. Then the Dodgers put up six in the bottom half, outscoring the Giants 13-1 over remainder of the game. Yasiel Puig went 3-for-5 with four driven in, all on singles. Rookie Cody Bellinger hit a bases-loaded triple. Justin Turner and Franklin Gutierrez each added two RBI, and Gutierrez had a homer. The Dodgers have won 5 of 6.
Padres 6, Rockies 2: Yangervis Solarte and Ryan Schimpf hit back-to-back home runs off Tyler Chatwood in the sixth inning. Manuel Margot hit a triple that could’ve been an inside the park homer if not for the fact that less-than-fleet-footed Trevor Cahill was running ahead of him. I mean, watch this. Makes me tired just watching Cahill.
