Cardinals 8, Rockies 0: Matt Adams had two homers and drove in six. After the game he was asked why he’s been so dialed-in lately and he said “I’m laying off the sliders and the curveballs from the lefties.” One of his homers was off a righty last night, but let him go he’s on a roll. In other news Lance Lynn allowed only three hits in eight shutout innings. It was the first time the Rockies were shutout at Coors Field since July of last year.
Mariners 12, Red Sox 3: Logan Morrison joined Adams in the two-homer club last night. If they take their ticket stubs to Dairy Queen they are entitled to a free Dilly Bar. Or was it a Mr. Misty? I forget. Probably not important. Anyway, this was the fourth straight win for Seattle and the first winning decision for Felix Hernandez since the beginning of the month, despite the fact that he’s pitched fantastically in his two no-decisions and one loss since then. Amazing what a little run support will do.
Marlins 4, Phillies 0: Nate Eovaldi with six shutout innings and four relievers to finish it off. Eovaldi had been shelled the last few times out and 12 of his 19 outs here were fly balls, so he was kind of dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight (in other news happy birthday Tim Burton’s Batman). But results matter most, so let’s not imagine what might have happened if Eovaldi were facing a team that squared him up a bit more last night.
Orioles 6, White Sox 4: Someone on a radio show asked me yesterday who I thought had an extra gear in the AL East. I said Baltimore, because Chris Davis hasn’t been Chris Davis so far this year and if he turns it around it’s like adding a big time slugger during the season. Yesterday, despite starting the game on the bench because of his general suckitude of late and because Chris Sale was pitching, Davis came in for a pinch-hit, three-run walkoff homer.
Nationals 4, Brewers 0: That “add a big piece by merely fixing one of your previously-existing broken ones” thing works for the Nationals and Gio Gonzalez too. After ineffectiveness and a stint on the DL, Gonzalez was sometimes shaky -- he waled four guys in six innings -- but otherwise shut the Brewers out while he was in the game. His mates shut them out while they were in the game. Adam LaRoche hit a three-run homer for all the O the curly W’s would need.
Editor’s Note: Hardball Talk’s partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $35,000 Fantasy Baseball league for Tuesday night’s MLB games. It’s $25 to join and first prize is $6,000. Starts at 7:05pm ET on Tuesday. Here’s the FanDuel link.
Blue Jays 8, Yankees 3: The Yankees have given a name to their pain, and it is Adam Lind. A three-run homer and four RBI, to hand the Yankees their third straight loss.
Reds 6, Cubs 1: Tied 1-1 into the ninth and then -- bam! -- a five-run inning, capped by a Devin Mesoraco grand slam. It was his fourth game in a row in which he hit a homer.
Pirates 8, Rays 1: Pedro Alvarez had a three-run homer in the fourth and Edinson Volquez rebounded from a nightmare start last Wednesday to allow one run over eight. The Rays hit into three double plays behind him.
Padres 6, Giants 0: Odrisamer Despaigne made his big league debut, taking the place of Andrew Cashner, and he did not disappoint. All he did was throw seven scoreless innings. He was signed just a couple months ago by Josh Byrnes, who just got canned. I wonder if he watched the game and if he did, I wonder how he felt.
Royals 5, Dodgers 3: The Royals beat up their old friend Zack Greinke and snapped their four game losing streak. Well, maybe he’s not their old friend. A lot of them didn’t even play with him. Of those who did,, maybe he was a jerk to them. Maybe he was really close friends with, like, Billy Butler but he and Alex Gordon had a falling out over a poker game? You never can know these things.