-- Seattle rookie Blake Beavan allowed 1 run in 8 innings for his 3rd win. He has a 2.83 ERA and 6 straight quality starts to begin his career, the longest such streak in the last 5 years.

• Beavan's strong suit is control; he walked none tonight and has walked just 6 in his first 41.1 IP. He averaged 1.5 BB/9 in 4 minor-league seasons.

-- The Padres pounded Pittsburgh, again. They've scored 15 and 13 runs in their last 2 games; it's their first time with back-to-back 10-run games since Sept. 2009, and the first with 12+ runs since 1998.

-- Justin Verlander joined CC Sabathia as the majors' only 16-game winners, 2 more than any other pitcher. He extended his streak of 100-pitch outings to 43, the longest by 5 since pitch counts have been reliably kept, and ran his streak of 6+ IP to 33, one better than Jered Weaver for the longest active streak.

-- Brandon Morrow retired the first 15 Orioles, then fell apart in the 6th, with a little push from an infield error in front of Adam Jones's 20th HR.

• The Orioles scored 6 runs in the game without leaving a runner on base. It's just the 2nd time in the last 9 years that a team scored 6+ runs with 0 LOB; the Yanks did it this May with 7 runs against the Mets.

-- Cleveland came from behind with 4 in the 9th, capped by the 5th HR in 7 games by rookie 2B Jason Kipnis.

• Kipnis's first 4 HRs came in consecutive games; he was the 9th player to do that this year, the only rookie. It was the longest HR streak by a 2B since 2008, when Chase Utley had a pair of 5-gamers.
• Cleveland closer Chris Perez darn near blew a 3-run lead in the bottom of the 9th. With 2 out and none aboard, he walked Ian Kinsler on 5 pitches, then allowed 2 singles for a run and wild-pitched them into scoring position, before retiring Michael Young to end it.

-- The Mets ended their 5-game skid by swatting 4 HRs in a game for the first time since last June, and the 3rd time at home in the 3-year history of New Shea.

• The unlikely joggers: Justin Turner hit a pair, giving him 4 in 79 games; Josh Thole hit his 2nd in 78 games; and Jason Bay notched his 8th in 84 games.
• And returning briefly to my old warhorse, "it's not the new park that keeps the Mets' HR totals down," Bay now has 7 HRs at home and 7 away as a Met, with a better rate at home.
• Thole had 2 extra-base hits in a game for the first time in his career.

-- The Cardinals scored their 2 runs in the 1st on an Albert Pujols HR after Rafael Furcal's leadoff single, then wasted their next 15 baserunners -- 12 hits (3 doubles), 1 walk and 2 errors -- but hung on for a 2-1 win, keeping pace with Milwaukee.

-- Adam Dunn went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts, now batting .163 with 54 hits and 142 Ks. The highest ratio of Ks to hits in a qualifying season is 2.19 by Rob Deer in 1991; Dunn's K/H ratio is 2.63.

• Ozzie was right; Dunn hasn't hit when he's played the field, either. He played 1B tonight, and is now 8 for 72 (.111) in 22 games at 1B (with 36 Ks), and 0 for 7 (5 Ks) in 2 games in RF.

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