Cubs 17, Cardinals 5: There’s a score that’ll lead to some deceptive stats for a little while. Team ERAs and averages and run differentials and things like that. Doesn’t make the Cubs good nor the Cardinals bad, but it creates temporary analytical chaos and that’s always a good thing. Anyway, 17 runs in support of Travis Wood is fun. Especially considering that Jeff Samardzija has gotten 15 runs of support over his eight starts. Junior Lake drove in six.
Tigers 4, Orioles 1: Benches cleared after Bud Norris plunked Torii Hunter following an Ian Kinsler home run. No punches or anything or really any shoving and stuff, but it does seem like Norris was throwing at Hunter out of frustration. Rick Porcello won his fifth start in a row and sixth game overall.
Nationals 6, Diamondbacks 5: Arizona carried a 5-4 lead from the sixth to the ninth but then Kevin Frandsen and Danny Espinosa each hit solo homers and that was that.
Mets 9, Yankees 7: The Mets continue to own the Yankees for some reason. This time after overcoming three-run deficits twice. Four Mets homers, some shaky Yankees relief, a successful bullpen debut for Jenrry Mejia and a gimpy Mark Teixeira -- who couldn’t make it to second base on a ball to the wall and then turned into the first out of a game-ending double play -- all factored in this one.
Dodgers 6, Marlins 5: Yasiel Puig hit his third homer in four days -- this a three-run job -- and extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He has 26 career homers. This one was the 12th that came on the first pitch. I’m sure that means he’s doing something wrong and destructive to the team. Dan Haren allowed three runs and seven hits over seven innings without walking anyone.
Blue Jays 7, Angels 3: Mark Buehrle wins his seventh of the season. He’s the first guy in the bigs to do that. Jose Bautista and Brett Lawrie each hit homers. The Jays avoided a four-game sweep. In other news, weekend series that wrap around to Monday were invented by fifth columnists back in the 1940s in order to destabilize society and annoy game recappers.
Editor’s Note: Hardball Talk ‘s partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $45,000 Fantasy Baseball league for Tuesday night’s MLB games. It’s $25 to join and first prize is $7,000. Starts at 7:05pm ET on Tuesday.Here’s the FanDuel link .
Giants 4, Braves 2: Tim Lincecum had his best start of the year, striking out 11. A lot of pitchers have had their best starts of the year facing the Braves lately. Tyler Colvin and Freddie Freeman each hit homers into McCovey Cove. It was the first time two homers hit the water in the same game since Barry Bonds did it twice himself on May 18, 2002.
Rangers 4, Astros 0: Colby Lewis tossed five and two-thirds shutout innings, striking out eight, and the pen finished the job. Adrian Beltre and Rougned Odor hit homers. Odor’s first as a big leaguer.
Athletics 5, White Sox 4: Jesse Chavez went eight innings and the A’s won their fifth straight. A Jed Lowrie double, a Josh Reddick triple and a Josh Donaldson homer accounted for Oakland’s scoring.
Mariners 12, Rays 5: Felix Hernandez took a shutout into the seventh before giving up a three-run double, but he got staked to a 9-0 lead after three innings and notched his first win in a month anyway. Then he got ejected as he was barking at the umpire while leaving the game, which is probably the best time to get ejected if you have to do so.
