Indians 15, @Royals 4: Deja Vin all over again. The game was still close when Vin Mazzaro entered. Four batters and no outs later, the rout was on. It wasn’t quite a reprise of his last Tribal meeting, but you can’t expect to make history every time out.

• Indians scored their most runs since that Mazzaro muddle last May
• KC catcher Adam Moore homered on his first swing of 2012.

D-backs 10, @Rockies 7: Sunday’s WPA Hero was Aaron Hill with a mark of 0.540. He broke a tie in the 8th with a 2-out, 3-run HR on a room-service hanger from Matt Belisle, who’s had a horrid 2nd half. That nudged the Rox towards their 9th straight defeat, their longest slide since 2005, allowing 8.1 R/G and a 2.06 WHIP during the skid.

• With a .301 BA and .518 slugging, Hill is poised to end Robinson Cano‘s 3-year reign as the only qualified 2B to hit .300 and slug .500. Cano is at .295/.522 this year.

@Braves 2, Phillies 1: Good to see Cliff Lee shake off the dust of that winning streak and get right back on the horse — 8 IP, 11 Ks, no walks, 2 runs, 1 ER, and a loss, as his record falls to 6-8, 3.18.

• With at most 2 starts left, Lee should at least tie the mark for fewest wins in 200-K season (he has 195 SO) and in a qualifying season of 6+ SO/BB. With 14 decisions in 198 IP, he has a shot at the fewest decisions ever in a 200-IP season, currently shared at 15 by Craig Swan (the 1978 ERA champ) and Joey Hamilton.
• Tim Hudson got his 197th win in his 405th game. In the live-ball era, only 14 others had as many or more wins in their first 405 games:

@Red Sox 2, Orioles 1: Not this time.

• 19-year-old Dylan Bundy, last year’s #4 over all pick, made his big-league mound debut, getting the last 2 outs of the 8th with a man aboard to keep the game close. Bundy had a brilliant year spread over 3 levels of minors (23 starts, 2.08 ERA), winding up as the youngest player in the AA Eastern League. His first stop, 8 games in the Sally League, was a hoot: 30 IP, 5 hits, 2 walks, 40 Ks, 2 unearned runs.
• At 19 years and 313 days, Bundy is the youngest hurler in the bigs since Felix Hernandez, who debuted at 19.118. No others under 21 have appeared this year.
• Say, I remember a feller who used to make plays like this on Baltimore’s hot corner. The defensive metrics are mad about Manny so far.
• Baltimore’s last 10 games are against TOR (4), BOS and TBR, against whom they’re 28-16. Yanks play MIN, TOR (4) and BOS, 21-12.

Brewers 6, @Nationals 2: Why did Ron Roenicke make that last pitching change? Because when you have a shut-down closer like John Axford, there’s no excuse not to give him a one-out cheese-save.

• The NL co-leaders in Extra-Base Hits bat #3-4 in the same lineup: Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez.
• Third basemen have combined for seven 50-double seasons. Ramirez needs one more to join the club.

Cardinals 6, @Cubs 3: At 33, Kyle Lohse has set career bests with 205 IP, 134 SO, 16 wins, 2.77 ERA/140 ERA+, 3.62 SO/BB … just in time for free agency!

Padres 6, @Giants 4: Any game in which Yusmeiro pitches against Yasmani and Yonder is all right with me. On the down side, Huston Street came off a 6-week DL stint and immediately lost his 21.1-IP scoreless streak, allowing 3 baserunners — half as many as during the goose-egg run.

• Congratulations if you had Everth Cabrera leading all shortstops in steals (one ahead of Jose Reyes.) With 37 SB and 3 CS (93%), Cabrera is having one of the most efficient thieving years ever by a SS; only Jimmy Rollins ever had 30 SB with a higher percentage (47/3, 94% in 2008).
• I think this is the most random two-base, run-scoring wild throw I’ve ever seen. I guess that’s why we don’t see much of the “CF-sneaks-in-behind-the-runner” play.
• Among the 385 players with 150+ PAs, Yasmani Grandal ranks 11th in BB% (14.4% of PAs), 18th in OBP (.387) and 30th in OPS+ (138). Among the 52 catchers with 150+ PAs, those rankings are 2nd, 5th and 4th.
• This olé play by Joaquin Arias evokes the eloquence of our heroes Boyd & Harris on the iconic Yankee 3B, Hector Lopez: “his defensive attitude was so cavalier and arbitrary as to hardly constitute an attitude at all.” (Maybe if he’d had some of Panda’s bubble gum….)

 Twins 2, @Tigers 1: Minnesota’s first run exploited two separate Detroit errors. Their second run exploited Jose Valverde. But really, when you’re facing P.J. Walters (6 straight non-QS) and you hold the foes to 2 runs, you have to win if you want to respect yourself in the morning. Detroit scored their only run in the 1st on Miguel Cabrera‘s 40th double. But Prince and Delmon couldn’t bring him in; they didn’t get another man to 2nd base until the 6th (Delmon DP), and that was it for the threats.

• Pop quiz: What time is it when neither your DH’s HRs nor his BBs exceed his GDPs?
• For 2011-12 combined, Valverde has a 1.81 ERA in save chances (84.1 IP), and 5.19 in other games (52 IP).
• In 46 career games, this was just the 2nd time that Al Alburquerque allowed 2 hits. His BA allowed is .133 (24 for 180), with one double.

@Angels 4, White Sox 1: At this point, I sorta hope both AL Central contenders don’t win another game.

• ChiSox have scored 8 runs during their 5-game slide.

Old news:

The Nationals need 4 more wins to the break Expos/Nats franchise record of 95, and 8 wins in 11 games to reach 100. Of the 3 MLB franchises that have been based in D.C., only one ever reached 100 wins in any city — the 1965 Twins.

Seattle’s six 1-0 wins this year ties the most since 1989, when Cleveland had 7.

True or false?

1. The losing team in Safeco this year has scored 1 run or none more than half the time.

2. Only 2 losing teams in Safeco have scored 5+ runs.

3. The average losing score in Safeco this year is 1.81 runs.

____________________

(#1 is false; through Sunday, the numbers were 37 out of 78. #2 and #3 are true.)