-- Angels 2, Yanks 1, on the 16th game-ending sac fly this year (3rd by the Halos).

• Angels remain 2.5 GB the Rangers, Yanks 2.5 up on Boston.
• Jered Weaver: 8 IP, 1 R, 11 K, no decision -- his 3rd game this year allowing 1 run or less in 8+ IP without getting a win (all ND). Only Doug Fister has 4 such games (3 ND, 1 L).
• NY's run came on a Jesus Montero HR, a 1-2 pitch in his 1st AB against Weaver. Montero has 3 HRs in 20 ABs.
• Curtis Granderson has gone 4 games without scoring, his longest streak since the opening week, and 11 games without a HR, his longest since June. He still leads the AL in Runs and RBI, but has been passed by Ryan Howard for the MLB RBI lead.

-- Rays 7, BoSox 2: It's become a theme for Boston: Opponents tan the rotation's backside.

• Since August 1, John Lackey has a 6.51 ERA (8 GS), Tim Wakefield 5.50 (6 GS), Andrew Miller 6.00 (4 GS).
• Lackey has no Quality Starts in his last 6 tries. He also has a 6.30 season ERA in 144 IP, the 20th-worst qualifying mark since 1901.
• Wade Davis threw 81 strikes and 33 balls in a 0-walk, 8-K CG.
• In these teams' last 9 games, the Rays have gained 4 on Boston (6-3 vs. 2-7), cutting the wild-card gap to 5 games in the loss column.
• TBR now control their own destiny, as they have 6 games left with the Sawx. But the schedule favors Boston.

-- Diamondbacks 3, Padres 2: Three late runs by Arizona helped Daniel Hudson to a well-earned win, his 16th, and his 3rd CG this year.

• Hudson worked through trouble in the 9th, after a leadoff 2B reached 3rd with 1 out, fanning Kyle Blanks with his 104th pitch.
• Ian Kennedy and Hudson are a combined 35-13; the Snakes are 41-19 in their starts, 43-42 in all others.

-- Dodgers 2, Giants 1: The fork was in 'em already, but this was a bayonet thrust. Tim Lincecum led 1-0 with 2 out in the 8th when Matt Kemp beat out a dribbler, stole 2nd (his 38th), and scored the tying run on Juan Rivera's grounder through the middle.

• In the 9th, Santiago Casilla (1.28 season ERA, 1 R in his last 26 IP, .152 BA against RHBs) allowed a leadoff single to Rod Barajas, then wild-pitched the runner to 3rd with 1 out, whence he scored on Jamey Carroll's grounder. It was Carroll's 13th RBI in 464 PAs; could the cosmos give a clearer sign?
• Clayton Kershaw kept himself in the Cy Young picture, allowing an unearned run and 4 baserunners in 8 IP for his 18th win. Kershaw now leads the NL in ERA, IP and strikeouts, and trails Kennedy by 1 win. Has any pitcher won the "Triple Crown" (W/ERA/SO) and not won the Cy Young Award?
• The last Dodger with more than 18 wins was Ramon Martinez, 20 wins (and 12 CG) in 1990.
• Lincecum has a 2.05 ERA in 11 starts since the Break, but is 5-5, and 12-12 on the year. The Giants have scored 1 run or less in 9 Lincecum starts, and 2 or less 16 times; Lincecum has a 2.77 ERA in those 16 games.

-- Phillies 5, Brewers 3: Roy Halladay walked 3 for the first time in over a year, a streak spanning 38 starts (including postseason). The Doc has the NL's best walk rate, 1.24 BB/9, and has over 7 SO/BB for the 2nd straight year.

• Antonio Bastardo failed to retire either of the 2 men he faced, for the 2nd time this year, both in the last week. After allowing a .197 OBP in his first 51 games, his OBP is .357 in his last 8.
• Milwaukee have lost 4 straight and 7 of 11; they lead Arizona by just 1/2 game in the race to avoid facing Philly in the 1st round.
• Ryan Braun (2-4, .331) trails Jose Reyes by .004 in the batting race.

-- Tigers 8, Twins 4: How good has Alex Avila been? In 4 trips, he was on 3 times and scored in each, and his 3-run HR in the 2nd started Detroit's comeback from the 4-0 hole dug by "Bad" Penny (who stuck around just long enough to win).

• Among catchers with at least 300 PAs, Avila leads in BA (.303) and WAR (5.4), and is 2nd in OBP (.394) and OPS (.921). He's 6th in WAR among AL position players -- right behind teammate Miguel Cabrera, and just ahead of Curtis Granderson. 'Nuff said.
• Penny has 2 Quality Starts in 10 outings since the Break. His season K rate (3.68 SO/9) is the lowest of any qualifier in the last 2 years.
• Four bad games early on gave Joaquin Benoit a 7.98 ERA through May 16. In 41 IP since then, he has an 0.88 WHIP, 1.54 ERA, and 23 Holds/Saves in 26 tries.
• Delmon Young in 23 games with Detroit: .309 BA, 4 HRs, 18 RBI ... 1 walk.
• The Tigers have won 7 straight to reach a season-best 20 games over .500. They lead Texas by 1/2 game for the #2 seed.

-- Rangers 13, A's 4: Texas broke it open with 9 runs in their last 2 times up.

• Michael Wuertz allowed 5 straight singles to start the Texas 7th -- the 1st time this year a pitcher has allowed 5+ hits without retiring a batter.

-- Cards 4, Braves 3: The 38-game scoreless streak by Craig Kimbrel -- the longest in MLB history(?)* -- is over, and so is his streak of 25 straight save chances converted. Both were stopped on an 0-1 swing by Albert Pujols with the bases loaded, after Kimbrel put himself in a hole with back-to-back walks (on a total of 9 pitches) after 2 were out in the 9th.

• Kimbrel allowed 2 hits and 2 walks in his inning's work. He hadn't allowed 2 hits in a game since July 26, a span of 19 games, and hadn't given 2 walks in a game since June 14, the start of the scoreless streak.
• Nick Punto jogged off as the hero when his 10th-inning sac fly brought in the winning run -- the first game-ending RBI of his 872-game career.

-- Mariners 7, Royals 3: With 2 chances to notch this season's 2nd cycle (and 2nd by a catcher), Miguel Olivo flew out and grounded into a DP. He's the 19th catcher in the past 50 years with a HR, 3B and 2B in a game; 8 of them got the cycle.

-- Cleveland 8, White Sox 4: Lonnie Chisenhall had his 1st multi-HR game -- a pair of go-ahead 2-run HRs off Mark Buehrle.

• Carlos Santana drew 2 walks, giving him 87 for the year. The last catcher with 100 walks in a season was Jorge Posada, 2000; Santana is the only Cleveland C ever to draw more than 73.
• Chicago's Dayan Viciedo is hitting .322 with a 126 OPS+ in 156 PAs in the past 2 years.

-- Baltimore 2, Toronto 0:

• Kyle Drabek tossed a perfect inning in his 1st MLB relief outing, his first appearance with the Jays since June 12, when he was sent down to AAA with a 5.70 ERA. His Las Vegas line (pitching, not betting) was not the kind that usually earns a recall: 7.44 ERA in 75 IP, 111 hits, 41 walks and 45 Ks.

-- Marlins 13, Pirates 4: Florida unleashed 22 hits, their most since 2003.

• Omar Infante hit 2 HRs for the 2nd time this year; he has 5 HRs all season. Infante also had a 2-HR game in 2006 (4 HRs all year), 2010 (8 HRs), and 2 in 2004 (16 HRs).
• Donnie Murphy pinch-ran in the 3rd and stayed in, going 2-4 with a triple. He's the 4th player since 1919 to pinch-run and triple in 2 different games.
• Ross Ohlendorf allowed 10 hits in 2+ IP, just the 2nd time in the past 2 years that a pitcher allowed 10+ hits while getting 6 outs or less; the other was by teammate Kevin Correia a month ago.

-- Nationals 4, Astros 3: Two walks, an infield single and a throwing error by 3B Jimmy Paredes -- who entered as a pinch-runner the inning before -- built the winning run in the bottom of the 11th.

• Houston (48-96) is 1 shy of the franchise record of 97 losses in a season, last done in 1991 -- Jeff Bagwell's rookie year.

______________

* I haven't heard this anywhere else (have I been in a news blackout?), but according to the Play Index, Kimbrel's streak of 38 games without allowing a run is the longest since at least 1919; and it's inconceivable that a pitcher before 1919 could have done it, since relief specialists didn't really exist yet. The longest streak before 1950 was just 18 games.

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