Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Rockies 13, Yankees 10: This box score looks like a friggin’ train wreck. The Rockies led 12-3 after seven, the Yankees put up a seven-run eighth to come within two and then Carlos Gonzalez hit a solo homer for a little breathing room in the bottom of the inning. Three hours and forty three minutes. Thirteen pitchers combined to throw 334 pitches and allowed 33 runs on 30 hits and eight walks. I always worry about games like this somehow being unearthed by later civilizations and mistaken for something representative about our society. Like, what if one of us winds up in a scenario like “The Royale” episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and aliens, thinking they’re giving us safety and comfort and familiarity, strand us forever in repeats of this game? My god, the horror.
Reds 3, Braves 1: I’m going to Cincinnati tonight to see Jason Isbell in concert. He, like me, is a Braves fan. I’ve been Twitter stalking him all week, asking him to give the Braves a shoutout as we sit in the city of the team which they’re playing this week. It has occurred to me, though, that hardly anyone in Cincinnati is caring about the Reds at this point of their miserable season and the only two Braves fans in the Taft Theatre, him and me, are more likely in need of crying it out than shouting it out. Anyway, Jay Bruce hit a three-run homer. Reds starter Brandon Finnegan said he “struggled” through his performance, yet the Braves only notched one run on four hits off of him in six innings. I’d love to see how someone pitching well against this bunch would’ve done. Teach me how to forget this team for a couple of hours tonight, Jason Isbell. Please.
Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks 4: The Dodgers won. That’s good! They lost Kenta Maeda to a line drive to the leg. That’s bad! Maeda was walking around after the game, X-Rays were negative and he is expected to make his next start. That’s good! The next start contains potassium benzoate. That’s . . . that’s bad. Joc Pederson hit two solo homers. Justin Turner hit one as well. Chase Utley hit a two-run single and a two-run homer. That’s good. Unless, of course, you’re a Dbacks fan, but I’ve never met one of those, actually. And I don’t know if any have ever commented here. You guys exist, right?
Angels 5, Twins 4: Kole Calhoun homered and doubled in a run. Johnny Giavotella hit a two-run shot. After the game Calhoun said “We’re not looking at the standings, man.” Probably better that he doesn’t. Why ruin an otherwise good night?
Rangers 10, Athletics 6: Elvis Andrus, Ryan Rua and Robinson Chirinos all homered. The AP gamer says “Rua had two hits and three RBI, Andrus had three hits and two RBI and Ian Desmond had three hits. Chirinos also drove in three runs.” That reads like one of those analytical reasoning questions on the LSAT. Hey, let’s try one!
A restaurant is open for business every Monday through Saturday but is closed Sundays. Lunch is the only meal served on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Dinner is the only meal served on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The restaurant’s floors are polished and its plants are watered only on days that the restaurant is open for business, according the following schedule:
- Plants are watered two days each week, but never on consecutive days and never on the same day that floors are polished.
- Floors are polished on Monday and two other days each week, but never on consecutive days and never on the same day that plants are watered.
According to the schedule, the restaurant’s floors are polished on either
A. Tuesday or Wednesday
B. Tuesday or Thursday
C. Wednesday or Thursday
D. Thursday or Friday
E. Thursday or Saturday
The first one to answer this correctly wins . . . I dunno, my eternal admiration.
Blue Jays 11, Phillies 3: Welcome to the big leagues Zach Eflin! Allow Josh Donaldson to welcome you! Here, take this grand slam and five other runs in two-and-two-thirds innings and then have a complementary Gatorade and a towel over your head as you sit on the dugout bench waiting for your bullpen to finish the third inning for you. As you watch it play out, ask yourself how you envisioned this day going for the past 22 years. Then go take a shower, shake it off and realize that baseball is a game of near constant failure, punctuated by thrilling triumph once in a great while, if you’re lucky. Know you’ll have better days than this and know that the bad ones won’t feel so bad if you approach things the right way. Baseball isn’t life, but it tracks it roughly in some important ways and that knowledge will help you get through.
Pirates 4, Mets 0: Rookie starter Jameson Taillon made his second career start and all he did was toss a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He ended up with eight shutout innings in which he allowed only two hits. Afterward, at least in my imagination, he called Zach Eflin and told him “hey bro, it’ll get better.”
Cubs 4, Nationals 3: Rookie Albert Almora, who entered the game the half inning prior in a double switch, hit an RBI double in the top of the ninth off of Nats reliever Samy Solis to break a 3-3 tie. It was set up by a leadoff walk to Addison Russell. Managers love leadoff walks in the ninth inning. That’s the super good stuff. Dusty Baker was probably totally cool with that.
Orioles 3, Red Sox 2: Chris Tillman tamed the mighty Red Sox offense, allowing one run over seven innings and striking out seven. Manny Machdo’s two-run homer and Jonathan Schoop’s solo shot was all the offense the O’s needed to help them snap a three-game skid.
Rays 8, Mariners 7: Down by three in the bottom of the seventh, the Rays rallied for four. Evan Longoria and Corey Dickerson each had three RBI, Longoria’s coming on a three-run homer during the rally. Bad news for the Mariners, as starter Taijuan Walker left in the fourth inning with some tendinitis in his foot.
Tigers 11, White Sox 8: For the second straight night the Tigers built a big early lead against the Sox -- 10-2 in the fourth -- and for the second straight night the White Sox rallied. This time it fell short, however. Justin Upton doubled in a run, tripled in two and then drew a bases loaded walk to notch four RBI on the evening. J.D. Martinez his three doubles and the Tigers hit seven in all. Monday’s game was over four and a half hours long. This one was pushing four. Tonight is a getaway night game for both teams. My guess is that it lasts 2:23 and features fewer pitches and more swings than any game on the schedule. These clubs will be picturing some hotel beds in Kansas City and Cleveland with their names all over ‘em this evening.
Royals 3, Indians 2: Down 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Sal Perez hit a two-run homer off of Bryan Shaw. Whit Merrifield homered earlier as well. I wrote a fictitious history for him based on his name alone in yesterday’s recaps. Here’s a real one from Sam Mellinger in yesterday’s Kansas City Star.
Astros 5, Cardinals 2: Doug Fister allowed two runs while pitching into the eighth and also singled in two runs in the seventh to give the Astros some breathing room. Colby Rasmus hit his 150th career homer. It was nice of him to do it in St. Louis, where he wasn’t exactly a popular figure. The Astros have won the last nine games Fister has started.
Marlins 5, Padres 2: In the On Tap previews yesterday Bill talked up Drew Pomeranz and his 2.44 ERA and an 83/32 K/BB ratio in 70 innings spanning 12 starts, noting that he was one of the more under-the-radar good starters this year. And he’s right about that! It just had no predictive value for this game in which Pomeranz gave up five runs in the first inning, including a grand slam to Jeff Mathis of all the friggin’ people in the world. Baseball: rendering previews ridiculous since the 19th century.
Giants 3, Brewers 2: Madison Bumgarner wins his seventh straight decision after allowing two runs over eight innings while striking out eight. Buster Posey had four hits. In 30 years, every Giants fan of this era will picture a game like this -- Bumgarner pitching well, Posey hitting like crazy -- every time he or she thinks about the Giants of this era.