(Didn’t have much time for this set, alas.)

Padres 4, @Cubs 2: If it wasn’t for the two pitching changes, you could say the Pads’ 2-out, 4-run rally in the 8th happened quickly: With 2 on already, it went RBI single, pitching change, first-pitch tying passed ball, walk, pitching change, RBI single, steal, RBI single, and at last, the always-defensible frustration plunking of Carlos Quentin.

• All kidding aside … Travis Wood took a tough loss, reaching 2-2 with a 2.50 ERA and 0.91 WHIP through 6 starts. His ERA in 4 “not-wins” is 2.93.
• Travis also pulled off the second twirler’s burglary of the young season; there were but 3 all last year. In the opposing dugout was the other 2013 yegg, Andrew Cashner.
• Thanks to the fine efforts of Shawn Camp and Brad Brach in this contest, the ROOGYs claimed an early 11-10 lead in the always-hilarious “walked-the-only-guy(s)-they-were-brought-in-to-face” battle. The LOOGYs dominated the competition last year, 61-37. I see TBS summer filler potential.

Cardinals 6, @Brewers 5: Don’t you get the feeling that the NL Central could be the most entertaining pennant race? It is so far — not just the standings-jockeying, but the games, too. The Cards scored 6 in the 3rd after 2 outs, but Milwaukee chipped, and chipped, and chipped away. Edward Mujica held on at the last instant, and it looks like he’s got a hold on that job for a spell.

• Close your eyes and picture this … that Carlos Gomez actually wins the batting race that he now leads at .372.

White Sox 3, @Rangers 1: Through 5 IP, emergency starter Hector Santiago had allowed 1 hit, a Beltre homer, but he was staring at a loss as the first 2 ChiSox went down in the 6th to the rookie Justin Grimm. One single, then another, brought up Tyler Flowers, a .201 career hitter. But he likes the first pitch, and Grimm’s curve blossomed chest-high. Flowers drove it deep into the heart of Texas, and the bullpen carried it home despite 5 walks over 3.2 IP. The Rangers suffered their first series loss this year.

• Flowers on the first pitch: 18 for 42, 5 HRs.
• Addison Reed walked 2 for just the 4th time in his career, but recorded 3 Ks and his 10th straight save this year, the 8th with a lead of 1 or 2 runs.

Nationals 3, @Braves 1: Denard Span doubled twice in the first 2 innings, scoring one and driving in two, as the Nationals rallied to split this quad set despite a total of 8 runs scored. Even with a season-low 4 strikeouts, the Braves could barely mount a threat against Dan Haren.

• Span began the day with 3 extra-base hits in 102 ABs.
• Since 2012, teams that struck out exactly 4 times are 235-150 in regulation games, a .610 W%. I thought that would be higher. Teams that fanned exactly 12 times (as did the Nats) are 71-109, .394.
• Season-high 8 Ks for Kris Medlen, but 7 came after he allowed 3 runs in the first 2 innings. Whatever the role of luck (if any) in Medlen’s ERA last year, his run support of 6.0 R/G (2nd in NL with 10+ starts) helped him go 9-0 in 12 starts. No such luck this year; with his support chopped in half, Medlen is just 1-4 despite a solid 3.38 ERA. If the Braves had scored exactly 4 runs each game while he was in, he’d probably be 4-1, even 5-1.
• It’s no consolation to Braves fans weary of B.J.’s oh-fers, but Martin Prado leads the NL in outs made.

Orioles 5, @Angels 1: Baltimore brought a 3-0 lead into the 9th, but Nate McLouth‘s pinball HR really iced it: The Ha-lose are now 0-15 when allowing 5 runs or more. They went 17-51 in such games last year, the 7th-best W% for that situation. Since sweeping Detroit with 3 strong starts, they’ve gone 3-8, allowing 6 runs per game.

• It’s been a long time coming, but if Chris Tillman really has made the leap to quality big-leaguer, it’s just the latest payoff on Baltimore’s decision to cash in Erik Bedard at the peak of his market. From the 2nd through the 8th, the Angels managed just 2 singles off Tillman.
• McLouth’s rocking a .333/.949 beat. Through 2012 he averaged 1.7 SO/BB, but he has 15 walks and only 9 Ks in 103 PAs this year.
• By now, you’ve probably heard multiple dissections of Mike Trout being thrown out at the plate, trying to score from 2nd on a 2-out single to right (his first ever out in that situation). All I can add is this: He sure didn’t look so fast in the last 90 feet, even before he mistakenly slowed up at the end. (And by the way, Markakis took a long time getting rid of that ball.)

Tigers 7, @Astros 3 (14): When you’re sitting on zero RBI for the year and they walk two guys to get to you, it sure feels good to deliver. Only 10% of Don Kelly‘s career PAs have been against LHPs, and he’d hit .192 against them before finding the “3.5 hole” to break a tie against the league’s worst team. Houston went 6 for 47 with 2 walks; after Jason Castro’s HR in the 1st, they didn’t have another RISP chance until the 14th (on defensive indifference).

Rick Ankiel’s error in the 8th handed Detroit the tying run; he had no reason to rush that play. But his run-saver in the 11th was an eight-second clinic: (1) playing a RH batter shallow enough to have a chance with 2 outs; (2) fielding the short hop with forward momentum; (3) keeping his throw low enough to be cut off, if necessary; and (4) delivering it on one easy hop, just a little to the 3rd-base side.

• Remember Brandon Moss‘s 3-hit, 4-K combo last week, just the 9th such game ever? Austin Jackson became #10, and just the 2nd to do it in 7 PAs. (Nine of the 10 came in wins.)
• Rick Porcello has 12 Ks in 13.1 IP over his last 2 starts … against the two whiffingest teams in the majors.
• Matt Tuiasosopo was having a rough night before his insurance double in the 14th. Entering as a PH in the 8th, he struck out with the lead run on 2nd; got thrown out at the plate in the 11th (not his fault, especially, but it sure feels bad); and whiffed again with the lead run on 2nd in the 13th. There’s no strong sign that he’s a MLB-caliber hitter, but with their left fielders producing a .235/.629 mark to date, the Tigers will cherish every hit he gets. Tuiasosopo has 7 RBI in 30 PAs while playing LF; the rest of the bunch has 3 RBI in 80 PAs.
• Detroit is 5th in AL scoring, but their batting order still seems inefficient. Spots 2, 3 and 4 have reached base at a .425 clip, but the 5-6 have been dreadful — .225 BA, 2 HRs, 21 RBI. But there’s no clear solution, and hardly any options that even might work for a while. They just have to hope that Victor Martinez rediscovers his line-drive stroke. His contact rate is the same as ever (11% Ks), but the hits aren’t falling — .239 BAbip against a prior average of .316.
• Since 2002, there have been 2 games wherein both teams fanned 18 times or more. Both are 14-inning Tigers games this season.
• Houston has whiffed at a 26.8% rate. All other teams combined have a 20.0% rate. The Rangers are lowest, 16.0%.

_______________

Late Wednesday

Rockies 7, @Dodgers 3: Colorado captured the rubber game behind 5 scoreless innings from their excellent relief staff, which ranks near the top in all the important categories. Troy Tulowitzki returned to action after 2 games out and started the scoring with a 2-run double off Josh Beckett, who lasted 4 innings and fell to 0-4. CarGo had the tiebreaking hit in the 4th with 2 outs; he’s kicking butt on the road so far, with 4 of his 5 HRs and a 1.039 OPS (.757 career through last year).

• Matt Kemp struck out in the 3rd with 2 tiebreakers in scoring position and 1 out. He’s 5 for 30 with RISP, all singles. Carl Crawford missed his 2nd straight game with a sore hammy.
• What’s the average shelf life of a truly dominant reliever? From 2010-12, the converted catcher Kenley Jansen was approximately unhittable, allowing a .148 BA with 41% strikeouts. It’s been tougher sledding in his 4th season, with a .231 BA and 27% K rate. That’s still enough to be effective, but with rates like that come rough patches. Jansen’s allowed a hit in 5 straight outings, tying his longest streak. He faced 2 Thursday and both got hits, including a loud RBI double on a 2-2 count. He had never before allowed 2+ hits while facing fewer than 5 batters.

@Mariners 8, Orioles 3: Who said the O’s were the only team without a blowout loss? The M’s gave Wei-Yin Chen his first real beating of the year, and Aaron Harang had his first quality effort. Jesus Montero legged out the first (ahem) “triple” of his career and scored on the first of 3 hits by leadoff man Michael Saunders.

• Mike Morse wired his 9th HR in game #30, matching the fastest start for a Mariner since 202 (Mike Cameron). In the past 3 years, no other had more than 4 at this point, and no one hit more than 20 in a season. That’s really all Morse has done, though; he’s plated 13 runs on those 9 HRs, but only 1 by any other method. He’s 3 for 30 with RISP, and his .303 OBP is below even the team’s paltry standard.
• Early returns on the new fence lines: Through 17 games, Seattle’s hit 15 HRs and allowed 17; last year at the same point they had hit 9 and allowed 10. Their home record is 1 game better (9-8), but their overall record after 30 games is the same.
• The batting blahs haven’t hurt Dustin Ackley afield. He’s errorless
• Since 1964, Adrian Beltre is the only 3B age 20 or under to qualify for the batting title. Just 2 have ever done so with an OPS+ above 113; Manny Machado is at 127 so so far.

Giants 9, @D-backs 6: Bullpen blues deepened for the D-backs, blowing another lead via 5 runs in the last 2 innings. With 2 outs and 2 on in the 8th, David Hernandez grooved an 0-2 fastball, a cinch for Brandon Belt to circle the bases with the go-ahead run. And this time, the Snakes had no comeback; they had won 6 of their prior 9 blown saves, including 4 of 5 that occurred in the 8th or later.

• Hernandez has allowed 4 HRs already, matching his total for each of the past 2 years.
• Heath Bell had issued just one walk before passing the first 2 he faced last night, which led to a pair of insurance runs. What do you make of his stats so far? His K% is 32%, better even than his peak years with the Padres, but the BAbip is a cool .500. Bell had high BABip in his Mets days — .371 from 2004-06 — but then a 5-year run at .286. Now it’s .366 since the start of 2012. Small samples, I guess.
• Pick your poison: Tim Lincecum avoided his most frequent bugaboo by walking none, but tied a career high with 10 hits allowed, out of just 23 batters. Belt’s blast ended his 6-start losing streak to Arizona, but he hasn’t beaten them in his last 8 tries. Timmy owns 42 games with a Game Score of 73 or better, but none in his last 21 starts (counting postseason).

White Sox 5, @Rangers 2: Chris Sale was about to have one of those Arlington innings. He’d already surrendered his 2-0 lead, and had the bases full and a 3-0 count on Elvis Andrus. After a called strike and 4 straight fouls, Andrus swung through the 9th pitch, and Lance Berkman bounced out on the next offering, the 34th pitch of the inning. Sale faced one past the minimum in the next 5 frames, but Nick Tepesch was also cruising. Then Conor Gillaspie confirmed the axiom about lefty hitters, and after Alejandro De Aza added an insurance blow, all that was left was the de rigueur A.J. plunking to thank him for all his years of service. (First time you see him, second pitch — isn’t that how the unwritten rulebook says to greet old mates?)

• Let’s hope this clip gets viewed by hitters and umps at every level. I’m glad it was an honest strike, ’cause I think Culbreth would have rung him up on anything that didn’t bounce or hit the screen.