Phillis 2, @Marlins 1: The Phils had left 9 men on base and were about to squander Roy Halladay’s first good shot at win #200.

But Laynce Nix, a .194 career pinch-hitter, batted for Doc in the 9th and destroyed a 1-1 pitch from Jon Rauch. Jon

• Papelbon started the 9th with a 4-pitch walk to Polanco, but survived.

• Juan Pierre is 8 for 46, all singles, 1 walk, no RBI.

Brewers 4, @Cardinals 3: Milwaukee went 0-8 with RISP, but scored all their runs in the last 3 innings for the comeback win. Ryan Braun got it started with a 2-run shot off Trevor Rosenthal, and Jonathan Lucroy had the 10th-inning tiebreaker.

• Marco Estrada, 2013: 18 IP, 21 Ks, 2 walks … but 21 hits, 4 HRs and a 4.50 ERA. He’s one of four actives with 200+ IP and SO>IP who’ve allowed a BA of .250 or higher.

Braves 9, @Nationals 0: Is it too early for a statement series? The streaking Braves finished off the first sweep since 2011 by an NL visitor to Nationals Park, after the hosts had begun 6-0 at home. Paul Maholm has 3 straight scoreless starts for the first time ever. Evan Gattis started the onslaught with an RBI double. Chris Johnson had 4 hits and is 13 for 30 as Freddie Freeman’s fill-in.

• Two doubles for B.J. (his first), raised his BA to .163.
• Last year, Gio Gonzalez had just 2 games with more Runs than IP, and 2 games with 2+ HRs.
• Ryan Zimmerman went 0-4, now hitting .220 with no HRs and 1 run, and made a throwing error for the 3rd straight day.

@Yankees 3, Orioles 0: Hiroki Kuroda went the distance in his first good game of the year and 18th win in 36 pinstriped starts. The O’s got no one past 1st base until 2 outs in the 9th. Wei-Yin Chen had one bad inning, with leadoff hits in the 5th leading to one run and Brett Gardner’s big fly raining 2 more.

Giants 10, @Cubs 7 (10): Down to their last strike, Hunter Pence tied it. The winning run scored on a balk in the 10th. Cubs had edged in front with 2 in the 8th off Jeremy Affeldt, who forced in the leveler with a 5-pitch walk to #8 man Luis Valbuena after an intentional walk to Dioner Navarro.

• SF scored their first run on a passed ball, and got 4 runs in a 5-wild-pitch 6th inning.
• Will the bullpen phone be ringing soon for Tim Lincecum? He gave up 2 HRs for 4 runs in the 1st — shades of last year’s 7.64 1st-inning ERA — and fell behind 11 of 21 batters.

Rockies 2, @Padres 1: Todd Helton was just 8 for 50 as a pinch-hitter, but his 2-run blast in the 7th was the big difference, his 3rd straight game with an extra-base hit. He’s a .345 hitter in Petco. Rafael Betancourt started the 9th with a 4-pitch walk to Everth Cabrera and a 5-pitch walk to Yonder Alonso, but he survived. Cleanup hitter Jesus Guzman bunted the runners over — discuss.

• Rox are 5-4 on the road; they’ve had just one year over .500 away from Denver (2009, 41-40).

@Pirates 10, Reds 7: The Bucs finally got some production from their backstop, as backup Michael McKenry smashed 2 HRs. His solo shot in the 7th started their comeback from 5-0 down, and he equalized in the 8th-inning with a 2-run drive after a 5-pitch walk to the uber-struggling Pedro Alvarez (3 for 38). Their 6-run outburst off Jonathan Broxton rendered moot Joey Votto’s first HR since last June 24, a span of 50 starts and more than 200 PAs.

• Just the way they planned it: Shin-Soo Choo has a .483 OBP, with 28 times on base and 11 runs in the Reds’ first 12 games. Last year, the leadoff spot in their first 12 games produced 3 runs and 9 times on base; they finished last in OBP and next-to-last in runs from that spot.

@Red Sox 5, Rays 0: Wrote this after 3 innings: “Clay Buchholz and the Rays hitters both have proven no-hit potential, so stay tuned.” Buchholz had them stymied through 7, left after 8 innings, 2 hits, career-best 11 Ks. He’s 3-0, with 1 run in 22 IP. In his last 23 starts, Buchholz has averaged just over 7 innings; he averaged 5.8 IP from 2008-11.

@D-backs 1, Dodgers 0: Is there a better feeling than a game-winning hit after an intentional walk? Our second 1-0 walk-off of the weekend. (There were 4 all of last year.) First walk-off RBI for Paul Goldschmidt, whose slap to right foiled an overshift. Dodgers went 0-6 with RISP, 5 of those in the 7th & 8th; now hitting .167 in that split.

Tigers 10, @A’s 1: Detroit’s nos. 1-4 hitters sport OBPs of .435, .418, .404 and .527. They were on base 11 times today and scored 8 runs. Jarrod Parker had his worst game ever, yielding 8 runs against 10 outs. It’s the 2nd time this year he was knocked out in the 4th, and he’s given 23 hits and 8 walks in 11.2 IP, with just 4 Ks out of 65 batters.

White Sox 3, @Indians 1: Vintage Jake Peavy, who allowed a leadoff HR but little else in his 2nd career game of 11 strikeouts and no walks. Paul Konerko made it a win with a turnaround 2-run HR on a 3-and-1 pitch from Brett Myers.

• In 1990, Carlton Fisk became the all-time White Sox leader with HR #187; he retired in ’93 with 214 HRs. Frank Thomas passed Pudge in ’96, his 7th season, and finished with 448 as a ChiSox. Konerko now has 417 HRs for Chicago, averaging 30 per year.

@Angels 4, Astros 1: First big game of the year for Mike Trout, 3-3-2-1 with a HR, double and walk. Josh Hamil$10 homered for the 2nd straight day, a 2-run insurance policy in the 8th. Phil Humber is 0-3 with a 2.89 ERA. The run he got today was his first.

• In the 2nd and 3rd innings combined, the Angels had a HR, a triple, 2 doubles and a walk — but scored 1 run.

@Royals 3, Blue Jays 2: Ervin Santana’s 2nd straight start of 8 IP and 1 ER wasn’t enough for the win, but Alex Gordon’s ground single off Darren Oliver brought his mates off the bench to jubilate. Gordon’s only other walk-off RBI came in 2010, when he was still struggling to get established.

• Oliver has had an outstanding “old” career, with a 2.52 ERA over ages 37-41, but his “42” isn’t drawing rave reviews — 9 hits and 5 runs in 4.1 IP, and just 1 strikeout.

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Late Saturday

Dodgers 7, @Diamondbacks 5: Hyun-jin Ryu had 9 Ks and 3 hits, and left with a 6-1 lead. The Snakes closed within one, but LA got one back while batting against Heath Bell in the 9th, and held on to keep pace in the hot-starting NL West, where a 7-4 record is good for 2nd or 4th place, depending on your outlook.

• Batters are 10 for 20 off Bell, 2 HRs, 2 doubles.
• Kenley Jansen, who gave 3 hits and 2 runs in his inning, has held foes to a .152 BA in his career and rarely goes more than 1 inning — so I’m surprised that he’s allowed 3 or 4 hits in 6 of his 147 career games. All 3 hits Saturday came with 2 strikes (PH Aaron Hill just missed a tying HR), raising his BA in that split from .088 to .095. He did whiff 2, and has fanned 58% of batters after 2 strikes.

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Rockies 9, @Padres 5: Wilin Rosario had a HR and 4 hits, Josh Rutledge scored 3 runs without a hit (first in the majors since last June), and Edinson Volquez must invent a new approach, whether by inspiration or perspiration.

Rosario’s 35 HRs in 143 career games is tied for the 10th-best career start by that measure. That neighborhood is a mixed bag — those with 33-34 HRs in their first 143 games include Albert Pujols and Giancarlo Stanton, but also Walt Dropo, Ron Kittle and Kevin Maas.

Volquez has an 11.68 ERA, the worst of the 31 pitchers with 3 starts to date. Vance Worley (10.50) and Cole Hamels (7.56) are next. Last year’s worst with 3 starts in the first 11 games:

• 11.91, Francisco Liriano (wound up at 5.34);
• 10.54, Tim Lincecum (wound up at 5.18);
• 7.79, Jeremy Guthrie (wound up at 4.76).

Everth Cabrera (HR, 3B, CS) was caught just 4 times in 48 steal tries last year. This year, 3 CS in 5 attempts. Sunday’s CS was egregious — trying to steal third base with 2 outs and his team behind 5-2 in the 3rd inning, on the first pitch to the cleanup hitter. He earned back a few points towards a normal baseball IQ for not trying to stretch his 9th-inning single into the double that would have completed the first cycle in Padres history and in the history of Petco Park.

There were 2 cycles in their former home, but none from their 1969 debut until June 16, 2001, when John Olerud hit his only triple within a 5-year span.

From 2007 to present, there have been 3 regulation games in Petco Park wherein both teams had 5+ extra-base hits. Colorado was the accomplice in all three.

Jhoulys Chacin (5 IP, 2 runs) is the second SP to win this year while throwing 44 strikes or less. He had ten 3-ball counts out of 20 batters, but walked just 2.