After you jump into the recaps, make sure you check out our rundown of trade deadlines winners and losers.
Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Astros 14, Rays 7: Jake Marisnick hit two homers and drove in four. He’s the Astros’ number nine hitter, folks. Derek Fisher homered, singled and doubled, driving in two. He’s a rookie, folks. Charlie Morton got the win, allowing two runs over six innings. He’s Charlie Morton, folks. The Astros can even beat you with their B-team.
Phillies 7, Braves 6: Odubel Herrera hit a three-run shot to make it 4-0 in the third. Maikel Franco hit a solo shot. The Phillies are 5-0 since they began a series of trades that rid them of Jeremy Hellickson, Pat Neshek, Joaquin Benoit and Howie Kendrick. The lesson I’m gonna choose to take from this: never let anyone tell you that wisdom and experience matters. Just go out and do your thing.
Red Sox 6, Indians 2: Mookie Betts drove in three and Eduardo Nunez drove in two. Rookie Rafael Devers was 4-for-4 with a double and he singled in a run. He’s now 10-for-24 with two doubles and two homers in six big-league games. After the game he said, “sometimes out there I’ll close my eyes and make contact, and wherever it goes, that’s where it goes.” There are some life lessons to be found in there too, I suspect.
Yankees 7, Tigers 3: Luis Severino remains on a roll, allowing one run over five innings and striking out eight. The Yankees scored four in the fourth via two-run hits from Chase Headley and Todd Frazier. Aaron Judge homered in the fifth. Another lesson can be seen both here and in the Red Sox game. In Boston, Devers knocked in the guy whose acquisition was supposed to force his demotion in Eduardo Nunez. Here both Headley and the guy who was supposed to make him superfluous, Frazier, drove in runs. I think we can look at this and—-*16 ton weight falls on Craig’s head, ending this cosmic b.s. for the day*—
Orioles 2, Royals 1: Danny Duffy and Ubaldo Jimenez dueled for seven innings, each allowing one run while striking out six. In the ninth, Joakim Soria got got, however, as Caleb Joseph, Ruben Tejada and Craig Gentry all hit singles, with Gentry’s driving in Joseph for the walkoff win.
Nationals 1, Marlins 0: Gio Gonzalez took a no-hitter into the ninth inning and, after giving up a single to Dee Gordon, made way for Sean Doolittle to close it out. Bryce Harper singled in the game’s only run in the sixth. Jose Urena pitched well for Miami in the loss, allowing only that lone run on three hits in eight innings of his own. The game lasted a mere two hours and twelve minutes.
Mariners 6, Rangers 4: This one was tied at four in the ninth inning when Robinson Cano singled in two. Leonys Martin drove in two as well. Cole Hamels and Felix Hernandez combined to give up eight runs in eleven and a third innings. I’m so old when I remember that the two of them facing off would mean a pitchers duel.
White Sox 7, Blue Jays 6: Toronto held a 6-1 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, thanks in large part to Marco Estrada‘s one run, seven inning performance. At that point the Jays bullpen came into play and the White Sox’ bats woke up. Matt Davidson hit a two-run blast, Yolmer Sanchez hit a solo shot and Jose Abreu singled in a run in the eighth. In the ninth, Abreu singled in the tying run and Davidson singled in the winning run to complete the comeback and walk things off. It was Davidson’s second walkoff hit in as many days, as he homered to win the Sox-Indians game on Sunday.
Athletics 8, Giants 5: The A’s were down 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth when Marcus Semien connected for a grand slam. Jed Lowrie had three hits and an RBI, Ryon Healy added a two-run single and Matt Joyce reached base four times and scored twice. The A’s won even though the guy who was supposed to start for them last night — Sonny Gray — got shipped to the Yankees befre the game. With this loss, the Giants now have the worst record, by winning percentage, in all of baseball.
