Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Rockies 3, Braves 1: This was a makeup game. For the Braves it meant they had to fly from New York for one game in Colorado and then back east to Toronto. Which, well, tough, it happens, but you wonder how mentally prepared everyone is when it does. The starting pitchers were certainly ready to go, as Julio Teherán and Tim Melville traded zeros for six and five innings, respectively. Then the teams traded sac flies before the Rockies’ Ryan McMahon hit a two-run homer in the ninth to put an end to the Braves eight-game winning streak:
Cardinals 12, Brewers 2: This was a shellacking. St. Louis smacked Gio Gonzalez around for eight runs in the first two frames, with a six-run second inning — highlighted by Marcell Ozuna‘s bases-loaded double — burying the Brew Crew. Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong each homered and drove in three. The Cardinals have won five in a row and find themselves up two and a half over the Cubs in the Central and a full five games over the Brewers.
This is now off by one game as it was tweeted before the Brewers lost this one, but really, kinda puts things in perspective about this Milwaukee team, eh? Saved by a quick start and everyone else sort of treading water most of the summer, but now all that treading has them sinking, relatively speaking:
Phillies 6, Pirates 5: The Battle of Pennsylvania. The loser gets the Turnpike. I dunno. I just hate the Pennsylvania Turnpike. If you’re ever going east just hang a right onto I-79 in Washington, Pennsylvania to Morgantown, West Virginia and then bop east on I-68 to Hancock, Maryland where you can either jog back up to Breezewood and points northeast or continue on to Baltimore/DC on I-70. It’s a gorgeous stretch of road with hills and nicely-banked curves through the mountains and very, very little truck traffic. Tell ’em your uncle Craigy sent ya.
Anyway, the Pirates and Phillies traded late homers, with Corey Dickerson hitting a two-run shot in the eighth to give Philly a one-run lead, Josh Bell hit a solo homer in the ninth to tie things at five and force extras, and then Sean Rodriguez hit a walkoff solo shot for Philly in the bottom of the tenth to win it:
Dickerson and Rodriguez used to play for the Pirates. Dickerson a few weeks ago, Rodriguez last year and a couple of years ago. This is important. This means something.
Reds 6, Marlins 3: Sonny Gray wins his tenth game after allowing two runs over six. Freddy Galvis backed him with a three-run homer on his four-RBI night while Eugenio Suárez and Phillip Ervin each hit dingers as well. Gray struggled a bit, walking five, but he settled down after an early rough start. How?
After a difficult first three innings, Gray went to the clubhouse and switched into a new uniform.
“I changed everything, it was weird,” Gray said. “You do some weird things every now and then. After the third I just tried to resettle and start over. Who cares what happens. Start this day over. I was in the clubhouse — didn’t have any clothes on. From the fourth inning on, I tried to go as long as I could.”
Maybe he should’ve tried pitching without any clothes on? Attendance for this one was like 5,500, so it’s not like there were many people in the ballpark to offend and/or excite. Pitch naked. It’s the only way to be, man.
Athletics 19, Royals 4: Someone ought to do a movie about Homer Bailey. Sort of a “Forrest Gump” thing in which he just sort of stumbles into the serendipity of $105 million contracts and getting traded to contenders and getting 19 runs of support and double-digit win totals long after he, objectively, ceased being a particular good pitcher. I truly mean no offense to Bailey with that. But the dude has had exactly two seasons — 2012 and 2013 — in which he either pitched in 30 games or more and/or was an above-average starter yet he’s in his 13th season, is richer than Croesus, and stands a decent shot at pitching in the playoffs this year. Jacob deGrom goes half a season not getting this kind of run support and he’ll be catching up on DVR stuff in October, most likely. The world is weird sometimes.
Anyway, Bailey allowed three over six against his former team while his hitters went hog wild. Marcus Semien homered, tripled and drove in a career-high seven. Jurickson Profar, Matt Chapman and Khris Davis all homered. Josh Phegley had a career-high four hits, drove in three runs and scored three times. Three other dudes had three hits as the A’s put up the most runs they’ve scored all year. Oakland is tied with Tampa Bay for the second Wild Card.
Diamondbacks 6, Giants 4: It was 3-2 after six, but Eduardo Escobar — who had earlier scored on a wild pitch — knocked in two with a single in the seventh and Adam Jones hit a pinch-hit homer in the eighth. The Giants scored a couple in the ninth, but the Snakes held on. They also got a couple of great defensive plays from Jarrod Dyson, both in the sixth inning:
Yankees 5, Mariners 4: Mike Ford hit two homers and Gleyber Torres went deep as well to power the Bombers. Ford is hitting .353 with five homers in his last 12 games and would’ve have a place on this team if not for a ton of injuries. He was once a Rule 5 pick for the Mariners but they couldn’t find room for him on their roster. Funny how that works.
Padres 4, Dodgers 3: The Dodgers led 3-1 after the top of the sixth but the Padres rallied for three in the bottom half on an RBI single/run-scoring throwing error by A.J. Pollock and an RBI groundout by Manny Machado. Los Angeles is in a rare slump, dropping their third in four games.
