Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Pirates 3, Tigers 0: Trevor Williams tossed a one-hit shutout for seven innings and George Kontos and Juan Nicasio were each perfect for an inning to complete the job. Williams left with only a 1-0 lead but John Jaso hit a two-run pinch-hit homer when replacing him in the lineup in the seventh. That’s gotta feel pretty good if you’re Williams.
Nationals 3, Marlins 2: I guess Max Scherzer was no worse for wear following that neck spasm-shortened outing from last week. Here he didn’t hit a homer -- he did single! -- and went seven innings allowing two runs and striking out nine. He got a no decision, however, as four Marlins pitchers matched him, collectively. Adam Lind solved all of that with an eighth inning RBI single to give the Nats the lead for good. Bryce Harper homered.
Reds 11, Padres 3: Joey Votto homered for the third straight game, Patrick Kivlehan hit a grand slam and Adam Duvall and Zack Cozart went deep as well. Votto’s blast was his 251st, which ties him on the all-time Reds home run list with Ted Kluszewski. If Votto were to walk out on the field one day with no sleeves like Big Klu did, people would lose their minds. You can pretty much do anything you want, though, when you’re hitting .314/.438/.604 and you’re on pace for 43 bombs and 117 RBI.
Twins 5, Brewers 4: Eddie Rosario doubled home the tying run in the seventh inning. He then advanced to third and the Brewers went in to a big shift for the next hitter, Ehire Adrianza, leaving no one to even pretend to cover him at third base. As a result, Rosario decided to take a biiiiiig lead off third because, hey, why wouldn’t you? That rattled pitcher Oliver Drake, who promptly balked Rosario in for what would be the winning run:
Shifts work a lot of the time, but there are still inefficiencies to exploit in them.
Cardinals 11, Royals 3: Matt Carpenter hit a three-run homer in St. Louis’ six-run fourth inning as the Cards cruised. Earlier he doubled. Paul DeJong and Kolten Wong each hit two-run homers and Dexter Fowler tripled, walked and scored two runs in his first game back off the disabled list. The Royals have dropped six of eight.
Cubs 5, Giants 3: Javier Baez hit one to the deep recesses of AT&T Park, it bounced off the brick wall, he turned the jets on and got himself a two-run inside-the-park homer:
That’s great, but give credit to Giants outfielder Carlos Moncrief for making it a pretty dang close play at the plate with his throw from right field once he caught up to the ball. Later in the game Moncrief would have a chance to show off that hose again:
Orioles 6, Angels 2: Mike Trout homered on his 26th birthday to tie things up at two in the sixth inning and earlier he doubled to collect his 1,000th career hit. Manny Machado and the Orioles would be the ones celebrating, however, as he hit a grand slam in the seventh to give the Orioles their third win in a row and their eighth in ten games. Dylan Bundy struck out ten Angels in seven innings of two-run work.
