@Giants 4, Nationals 2 (10): What’s better than a game-tying triple with 2 outs in the 9th? Panda-monium, of course. Matt Cain worked 7 strong for the 3rd time in 4 May outings (the good ones all at home), and the Giants took the MLB lead in walk-off wins, each of their six delivered by a different driver.

Rafael Soriano threw a terrible 1-and-2 pitch to Gregor Blanco for that tying triple. And maybe Bryce Harper is still just a tad out of balance; his first move was sideways. But that play shouldn’t happen with 2 outs and a man on first. Nevertheless, Nats-centric stories that focused on Harper being wall-shy left me mystified: “He admitted … that last week’s collision affected his route to the ball. ‘I don’t want to hit the frickin’ wall full-on,’ Harper said. ‘Of course that crosses your mind after you jam into a wall. … It [stinks] that I couldn’t make the play. I totally put that loss on me.'” Affected his route? I’ve watched that clip ten times, and I can’t imagine any way in which a thought of the wall could have played a role. He misread it for an instant, which isn’t so unusual with a ball hit that hard more or less straight at you. Once he adjusted, he pursued it on a straight and true path. He hadn’t even reached the warning track at the moment of truth, when he made his futile leap. I do think he was playing too shallow, but was that due to wall-shyness?

And some free and obvious advice to Soriano: (1) You make a pitch that bad on 1-and-2 with a chance to seal the deal against a banjo hitter … and he plates a run that you let on by failing to glove a comebacker … shut up and own it. Blanco might just as well have parked that in McCovey Cove. Bark about the misplay to your wife, not to the press. (2) Remember who commands the defense, as Jim Leyland eloquently put it: “I read in the paper: ‘The ball, well, it could have been caught.’ That’s weak [], I’ll tell you that right now. … Put them where you want them. You want them here? Put them there. We’ll put them anywhere you want them. I don’t want to hear that bull[].” (3) Never sell out The Franchise. In any language.

• Still, Harper’s judgment does seem clouded … or is it me? Twice he bunted with a man on base and no outs — most egregiously, in the 8th, man on 2nd, Nats leading 2-1. The game accounts I read took no notice of this, so steer me right if I’m all wet on this. But I think, if you’re not ready to try and drive in that run, get out of the lineup. The ensuing events were predictable, with tough lefty Javier Lopez on the hill: Ryan Zimmerman was walked, Adam LaRoche whiffed (as he has in all 7 tries against Lopez), and it was left to Danny Espinosa (hitting .159 this year and .232 career), who tapped out. I can’t believe Davey Johnson ordered that bunt, so it was a complete misjudgment of the situation by Harper, who’s 1 for 3 with a walk and a double off Lopez … and, you know, the team’s best hitter and all.
• Pablo Sandoval has one other walk-off event in his career, a May 2009 game against the Nats, started by Matt Cain. The only other position player in both games was Ryan Zimmerman.

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@Angels 12, Mariners 0: Jerome Williams turned in his 3rd strong start in a row and Josh Hamilton scored twice for just the 2nd time this year, as the Halos circled the bases at a season-high clip for the 2nd time in 3 games.

• There’s a 21-year-old rookie playing every day and sporting a .931 OPS and 157 OPS+, on pace for 122 RBI, 112 runs, 32 HRs and 32 steals. Oh, that’s right — Mike Trout‘s no rookie. In that case, I’m bored with him … even if he is the 5th-youngest cyclist since 1916, at 21 years, 287 days. (Only Mel Ott and Cliff Heathcote did it before turning 21; Arky Vaughan and Cesar Cedeno did it at 21.)
• Last Angel cyclist: Chone Figgins, 2006. He did it the hard way, bagging the triple in the 9th.
• Teammates with a HR and a triple: 62 times since 1916, but twice already this year. It’s never happened thrice in a season.
• 3 straight starts with 6+ IP and 2 runs or less is a Williams first since 2005, the last time he made 20 starts in a year.

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@Orioles 3, Yankees 2 (10): Nate McLouth, the AL steals leader(?!), watched a ball and a strike from rookie southpaw Vidal Nuno, then waited on a slider and slugged it out to right, ending the contest and Baltimore’s 6-game skid. The O’s scored all their runs on solo shots; the others came from Chris Dickerson in his first-ever meetings with Phil Hughes, including a 10-pitch AB. It’s the first 2-HR game by the utility man, who came in with 12 HRs in his 6-year career. Jim Johnson got back on the horse (again) and picked up the win with a clean inning.

• Nuno had not allowed a run in his 8 prior innings.
• McLouth has been platooned this year, starting only once against a lefty. But he has 2 HRs in 11 PAs off relief southpaws.
• The Yanks are 12-6 when scoring 3 or 4 runs (no other team has more than 9 such wins), and 16-0 with 5 or more.
• Preston Claiborne extended his career-starting scoreless string to 9 innings in 7 games. The searchable Yankee records are 12 games, by Matt Smith in 2006 (traded in the Abreu deal after those 12 games), and 14.1 IP, by Joba Chamberlain, 2007.
• Curtis Granderson (0-4, 4-23 in 6 games) is still in search of an extra-base hit or RBI.

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@Pirates 5, Cubs 4: The Cubs were glad to see Matt Garza back, and the Bucs were gladder still to see him go. They rallied from 0-3 in the 6th, with 2 walks forcing in a run ahead of Travis Snider‘s 2-out slam, the first of his career and his first HR as a pinch-hitter. The Cubs got 6 men on against 3 relievers over the last 3 frames, but left 2 on in the 7th and 9th, and Jason Grilli whiffed Anthony Rizzo to end it with the tying run on 3rd.

• Just like Chicago’s last game, the first half was all about their starter dominating on both sides of the ball. Garza held the Buccos hitless until the 5th, and lashed a 2-out, 2-run double that built a 3-0 lead. Garza had just 1 RBI, 1 double and 8 hits in 105 past ABs.

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Athletics 1, @Rangers 0: As the saying goes, when you go into Arlington and “beat” Yu Darvish with Dan Straily, you’re ahead of the game. The A’s have taken the first two of this series behind strong starts covering the first 7, and shutdown relief that allowed just 1 runner in the 8th and 9th. Yoenis Cespedes slipped during his swing and staggered on the follow-through, but need not have hastened from the box, as his drive found the green hills of Goneville. Darvish churned through 101 pitches in 6 innings, while Straily logged his longest and best start (7 IP, 2 singles, no walks) with just 88 tosses and 72% strikes.

• It’s the 13th 1-0 game in the 20 seasons of Rangers Ballpark, but the 4th since last year began. No visiting team had won such a game since 2004 (Roy Oswalt). The Rangers weren’t blanked at home last year; twice so far in 2013.
• A’s setup lefty Sean Doolittle has held righties to 5 singles and a walk in 44 PAs.
• Darvish allowed no HRs in his first 5 starts (1.65 ERA), but at least one in his last 5 games (3.97).

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Tigers 5, @Indians 1: The Tribe had won 18 of 22 (13-2 at home) and led after 5, bundling their only 2 hits off Max Scherzer along with a sac fly in the 1st for the game’s lone tally. But Detroit had the top of the order in the 6th, and things changed quickly. Andy Dirks parked a 3-and-1 split in the RF bleachers to tie, and Torii Hunter’s double brought up Miggy the Menace. Despite the open base, any rational analysis says you have to pitch to him, with no outs and Fielder up next.

But Cabrera, like Billy Pilgrim, has come unstuck from the bounds of reason. Corey Kluber’s sinker came in at the knees, and with an effortless swing, Miggy golfed it straightaway, clearing the hazards but finding the brush, with just a slight fade at the end. Scherzer remained in command through the 8th, fanning the last 4 swinging to finish a run of 22 straight outs.

• Scherzer (7 Ks, 1 walk) went 7+ for the 5th straight game, a personal best, and logged an 80 Game Score, his 6th time at that level. He has 13 games of 10+ Ks, but only one of those reached an 80 GS. There is something to be said for pitch efficiency.
• They did walk Cabrera with a base open in the 9th, and Fielder (who had fanned in all 4 trips) answered with an RBI single.
• 49 RBI through 43 team games is tied for 3rd in Tigers history. The top marks came from Hank Greenberg (53) and Gee Walker (50 ?!), both in 1937, when the Tigers averaged 6.0 R/G. Greenberg finished with a club record 183 RBI in 155 team games; Cabrera’s current pace is 185.

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@Braves 5, Twins 4 (10): Well, sheee-iiit. The Braves had blown it cold, with Luis Avilan giving up the lead in the 8th, and the meat of the order going meekly in the bottom half. When Dan Uggla watched strike 3 in the 9th, with the pitcher’s spot due, Atlanta’s hopes were nearly tapped out. But they still had The Kegger. The beast with the fastest wrists around waited out the slider’s break, then torqued his truncheon through the zone, accelerating from zero to game tied in an eyeblink. Then with 2 gone in the 10th, J-Hey doubled deep and Free-Free flared him home.

• The Braves last year had 6 tying or go-ahead HRs in the 8th or later. Gattis alone has 4 this year, with 3 of those in a mere 6 times up in the pinch.
• With 9 HRs in his first 36 games, Gattis is tied for 3rd in Braves history, after Wally Berger (14) and Jeff Francoeur (10).

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Reds 4, @Mets 0: Foes were hitting .307 off Mike Leake, but he carved up the Mets on 3 hits over 7 innings, and has consecutive scoreless starts for the first time. The Reds grabbed 3 in the 1st starting from a 2-out clean slate, thanks to 3 walks and David Wright’s error. The Mets have a .270 OBP in their last 24 games and a 7-17 record. Jon Niese allowed little else over his 6 innings, but there was scant hope of a comeback; the Mets have scored 3 or less in 12 of their last 15, with a high of 5. Just once this game did they get 2 men aboard, and (of course) that came with 2 down and Ike Davis up.

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Last year, Jim Johnson led all relievers in Win Probability Added. This year, he’s 26th out of 30 who have 5+ saves.

Craig Kimbrel, Eric Gagne, Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen, Billy Wagner, Shawn Kelley: The only pitchers to whiff at least 43% of batters faced in a season of at least 15 innings. Kelley’s working on a skein of 18 Ks in 29 batters.