-- This is the sort of thing that happens to a team in the throes of a losing streak: Pittsburgh got 24 baserunners (15 hits, 9 walks), but scored just 5 runs and got clobbered for their 8th straight defeat.

• It's the 1st time since 1979 (and just the 5th time since 1919) that a team reached safely 24+ times but scored 5 runs or less in a 9-inning game.
• And how about Aaron Harang's winning line? 5 IP, 13 hits, 3 walks, 1 strikeout, 1 HR. Harang stranded 10 runners and got 3 GIDPs from Pedro Alvarez, who became the 4th player this year to wear those horns and also went 0 for 5 with an error. Harang's 23 Game Score was the 2nd-worst for a winning SP in the past 2 seasons.
• The Padres had 4 HRs in a game for the 1st time since July 17, 2010; other teams combined for 106 four-HR games since then.

-- Welcome to the big leagues, Johnny Giavotella. KC's 5' 8" second sacker -- who hit .322 at AA and .338 at AAA in the last 2 years, with a little pop -- went 3-1-2-1 with a double, a steal and a walk in his debut, and turned a DP. Could the Laser Show have a doppelganger? He hit into a DP his first time up, but in his next 2 trips he doubled and then singled home the Royals' first run. With 2 out in the 9th and the game tied, he walked and swiped 2nd, but was stranded, and Detroit went on to win in the 10th.

• The bottom of KC's lineup featured this United Nations roll call: Jeff Francoeur, Mike Moustakas, Johnny Giavotella, Alcides Escobar.

-- Cleveland led Texas 7-5 with 2 out and none aboard in the 9th, but Josh Hamilton singled and Michael Young hit a 2-0 pitch over the CF wall to tie it. The Rangers won it in the 11th on another 2-out rally, made up of an infield single, a wild pitch, and Hamilton's infield single that scored Elvis Andrus from 2nd base.

• Mike Napoli hit his 18th HR in 213 ABs and raised his OPS to 1.011. Since 1893 (the modern pitching distance), only 10 players have had a season with at least 30 games caught, 200+ PAs and an OPS of 1.000 or higher (table shows Napoli's stats before Friday):

-- Juan Rivera drew 3 unintentional walks for the first time in his 904-game career. (He had one prior 3-walk game that included an IBB.)

-- While waiting for his suspension appeal to be heard, Jered Weaver blanked the Mariners for 9 IP, in a game the Angels won in the 10th on Vernon Wells's single.

• Weaver's 1.78 ERA would be the lowest qualifying mark since 2000, when Pedro Martinez put up a 1.74. In the past 25 years, only Pedro and Greg Maddux (1994-95) have come in at 1.80 or less.
• Hey, remember when Vernon Wells was hitting HRs last month? Tonight's RBI snapped a 10-game drought.

-- The Phillies and Vance Worley never, ever lose.

-- Albert Pujols grounded into his 25th DP of the year, putting him back on pace to tie Jim Rice's season record of 36.

• Albert's 25 GIDP have come in 99 games. In the 70+ years that GIDP have been counted, only one player has ever had at least 20 GIDP and a rate of more than 1 per 4 games played: Billy Hitchcock of the 1950 A's, 30 GIDP in 115 games. Hitchcock was doubled up in an astounding 41% of his GIDP opportunities that year; Albert is around 25% (a career high by some 10 percentage points), while Rice in his record year GIDP'd in a mere 18% of such chances.

-- In winning the opener of a 1st-place showdown that's a bit ho-hum, given the teams' firm hold on postseason berths, perhaps the best news for the Yankees was an 11-pitch, 9-strike, 1-2-3 inning by Rafael Soriano while protecting a 1-run lead, including a strikeout of the suddenly terrifying Jacoby Ellsbury. It was Soriano's first high-leverage appearance since April; he was out 10 weeks with an injury, and had pitched in 2 blowouts since returning. He has been perfect in his last 3 games, retiring all 9 batters, fanning 4, and throwing 25 strikes in 32 pitches.

• Mariano Rivera closed it out with 2 called strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 1.70 and hiking his K/BB ratio to 7.8. He's given just 1 walk in his last 21 IP. He's 1 save from matching Trevor Hoffman with 14 30-save seasons, and 14 from overtaking him for the all-time saves lead. Since becoming a closer in 1997, Rivera has had 30+ saves every year but 2002, when he had 3 DL stints and finished with 28 saves.
• Jon Lester lost for just the 2nd time in 15 starts against the Yankees.

-- The Cubs have won 6 straight, matching their longest win streak of the past 3 seasons.

• Rookie OF Tony Campana hit his first MLB homer, a 2-run, inside-the-park job. The light-hitting speedster never hit a HR in 4 minor-league seasons and 1,178 ABs.

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