-- Red Sox 8, Orioles 7 /  Rays 5, Yankees 3

-- Phillies 7, Braves 1 / Cardinals 13, Astros 6

In the woolliest of wild-card seasons, after a night of 15 HRs in the 4 big games and one triple play, both races will go down to the last day ... or beyond.

-- In Baltimore, the Red Sox built an 8-4 lead on 4 HRs, then bit their nails to the quick over the last 2 innings. The tenacious Orioles rattled 3 hits and 2 runs off the swooning Daniel Bard (13 ER in 10 IP this month), then got the tying run to 2nd with 2 out in the 9th off Jonathan Papelbon. In a 10-pitch battle, Adam Jones (who hit his 25th HR in the 6th) fell behind 0-2 but worked the count full by fouling off four 2-strike pitches before grounding out to end the game, as Red Sox Nation -- those who could still bear to look -- exhaled.

Everyone remembers his first big-league HR, but Ryan Lavarnway's round-trip debut will be remembered by every Boston teammate, coach, fan and scribe who witnessed it. In his 1st start behind the plate, the slugging backstop (32 HRs in the high minors this year) hit a 3-run HR and a solo shot, was robbed of a 3-run bloop double on a fantastic diving catch by Nick Markakis, and threw out a runner at 3rd in his first SB challenge.

In the 4th, Lavarnway drove a gut-high fastball from Zach Britton out to LF with 2 aboard, upping Boston's lead to 5-1. Jacoby Ellsbury had reversed a 1-0 deficit in the 2nd with a 2-run shot, his 32nd; official measurements of Ellsbury's heart were not immediately available.

SP Erik Bedard got just 10 outs, allowing 3 runs and 8 baserunners in his 2nd straight abbreviated outing. But the redoubtable longman Alfredo Aceves was there to pick up the slack and the win, his 10th against 2 defeats, with 3.2 IP of 1-run ball. His record may be lucky; but sometimes luck is the residue of just being there, and Aceves has pitched more relief innings than any other pitcher this year -- 92 IP with a 2.05 ERA (plus 21 IP in 4 starts).

• Boston's catchers had a combined .229 BA before the game (believe it or not, 9 teams were worse), but their 29 HRs and 96 RBI lead the AL.

-- In St. Petersburg, nearly 23,000 saw the Rays pull out a seesaw game. Ben Zobrist's 20th HR put them up 2-0 in the 1st, but the Yankees chipped away and took a 1-run lead on Nick Swisher's double in the 5th. But momentum swung when an IBB to load the bases with no outs paid unimagined dividends: The Rays turned a 5-4-3 triple play on Russell Martin's sharp bouncer; Evan Longoria corraled an in-between hop with his foot on the bag and fired a chest-high pea to 2nd, where Zobrist made a quick turn to nail the foolishly sliding Martin.

In the 7th, still trailing by that run -- with Boston leading their game by 3, and the countdown to Mariano underway -- Matt Joyce launched Rafael Soriano's 1-0 B.P. fastball (after 2 walks) into the RF stands, giving the Rays a 5-3 lead. Soriano had not allowed a run or a walk in his last 8 games.

• Kyle Farnsworth got a 1-2-3 save against the bottom of the order, but the rookie Brandon Gomes pitched the tougher inning, retiring A-Rod, Teixeira and Swisher in the 8th, with 2 Ks. Gomes, who averaged 12.4 K/9 and 6.5 H/9 in the high minors since 2009, debuted in May and has worked his way into a vital role in Tampa's none-too-deep bullpen.
• DavE. Robertson and Mariano Rivera each made cameos, teaming up in the 9th with a strikeout apiece. Robertson's 60th relief game with at least 1 K set a new Yankees record, and his 100 relief Ks puts him in a NYY group with Rivera (once), Goose Gossage (3 times), Joe Page and Jay Howell.

-- In Houston, the start-time cushion let St. Louis know the Braves were well behind before the Cards even went to bat, but they still dug themselves a 5-0 ditch and lost Matt Holliday to a hand injury in the 3rd -- then climbed out of it with a 5-run 4th, highlighted by Skip Schumaker's 3-run double. After falling behind again, they scored 4 in the 7th, starting the rally with 2 out and none on, and going ahead on Ryan Theriot's 2-run triple pinch-hitting for Schumaker.

• St. Louis pulled away from the team with the NL's worst record and ERA by adding 4 more runs the last 2 innings, with the lower half doing most of the damage. Nick Punto had 4 hits for the first time since 2007. Allen Craig, who took Holliday's place, hit a 3-run HR and is batting .313/.906 in almost 200 PAs.
• Albert Pujols went 1-6 and is hitting .29965 with 98 RBI, putting his 10-year streak of .300 BA/100 RBI seasons on the line along with everything else on Wednesday.
• Houston's 105 losses match the most in the NL since 2005.

-- In Turner Field, Atlanta got just 4 hits and didn't score until a 9th-inning HR. They've lost 4 straight while collecting 4 runs on 21 hits.

• Philly's 101st win tied the franchise record; the Cards would love to see them break that mark. Chase Utley hit his 3rd HR in his last 47 games, and Hunter Pence hit a 2-run shot and J-Roll went solo.
• Roy Oswalt got the win with 6 scoreless innings, and extended his career-long 11-year streak of OPS+ ERA+ 100 or better. His career record is 159-93, with a 133 OPS+.

Elsewhere....

-- Reds 5, Mets 4: Jose Reyes went 3-6 with 2 HRs to take a 1-point lead in the NL batting race, but the rest of the game was more of the same for the Mets. Bobby Parnell, the 100-MPH man who can't get the last out, blew his 6th save in 13 chances; summoned with 2 out and 2 on, Parnell allowed a game-tying double to Juan Francisco and was lucky to escape without a loss.

Reyes reached 3rd as the winning run in the 9th -- getting 2 bases on an excuse-me infield single plus Aroldis Chapman's off-target bullet throw before bagging his 39th steal -- but he got no further. Neither did the Mets, who fell to 33-47 at home (their worst home record since 1993) when Francisco tripled with 1 out in the 13th and scored on a squeeze by Drew Stubbs.

Frustration continued in New York's last raps. Francisco Cordero walked 4 straight Mets and threw in a balk without allowing a run, thanks to a blown hit-and-run, and a line-drive DP sent the home crowd remnants on their way at last, in the usual mood.

Reyes tied the game with a bullpen blast in the 3rd, put the Mets in front with this bomb in the 5th, and preserved the lead in the 8th with this diving stop and throw. But he also failed to turn a DP that should have ended the 1st, once again delaying his relay throw due to an oncoming runner. It turned into the funniest defensive sequence I've seen all year (no video, alas) involving 4 different Mets, with Chris Capuano taking 2 throws at 1B on the same runner but getting him neither time. It wasn't so funny when Jay Bruce rocked a 2-run HR.

• Five year-long members of New York's bullpen pitched in this game; not one came out of it with an ERA under 3.45.
• The Mets are now 2-5 in Jose's multi-HR games, losing the last 5. They also lost his cycle game.

-- Brewers 6, Pirates 4: With all Milwaukee's eyes on Ryan Braun's bid for the batting crown, Prince Fielder stole the show with his first-ever 3-HR game (and just his 2nd multi-HR game this year), vaulting over Albert Pujols and grabbing a share of Matt Kemp's NL HR lead with 38 dingers. Fielder drove in 5 of the Crew's runs, and the other came on a HR from Rickie Weeks, giving him 20 in just 117 games. Braun went 1 for 2 with 2 walks, and trails Jose Reyes, .3358 to .3345.

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