@Padres 2, D-backs 1: The Snakes reached Eric Stults for a double and a run in the opening minutes. And though they wouldn’t reach safely again until the 9th, for most of that time it seemed the early scratch would suffice. Escape artist Trevor Cahill — .274 BA/.795 OPS with the bases empty, but .193/.479 in RBI spots — had stranded 4 in the first 5 innings. Now, with one more strike, he’d have the ultimate escape: 3 straight whiffs and 3 ducks orphaned with a 1-0 lead.

But Cahill’s payoff sinker floated, and Logan Forsythe short-stroked it into center for a deuce and the upper hand. And Stults would not let relent. If not for an error, he would have retired 25 straight from the 1st into the 9th. Yet from the moment he got the lead, it was a question of when, not if, Paul Goldschmidt would come up — and whether he would take Stults deep, as he did in their first encounter a year ago. The chance came with 1 out in the 9th, after Willie Bloomquist‘s ground single had doubled the tension. Goldy went for the first pitch and gave the mid-range fastball a ride to right, but this would not be his 2nd opposite-field tater. And when Cody Ross bounced to third at his first convenience, Stults had completed a 2-hitter on 104 pitches, and the Padres had 4 straight wins to start their homestand, coinciding with Forsythe’s call-up.

• Forsythe has 5 RBI over 4 games, on a HR and two 2-run singles in as many bags-full chances.
• Stults’s last 9 starts averaged just over 7 IP, just under 2 runs.
• Did you ever see a pitcher get 6 assists? How about in a span of 5 innings? Stults handled 2 grounders in each of the 2nd, 5th and 6th. Just for variety, he snared a liner to start the 7th.
• If not for Huston Street‘s injury and Luke Gregerson‘s recent stumbles, Stults might have been gone as soon as the home 6th, when he came to bat with 2 outs and the bases loaded. All things considered (including his .204 career BA), it seemed right to give him that chance.
• Four games separate the top 4 teams in the NL West.

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@Astros 2, White Sox 1: Few Astros even made contact off Chris Sale, who fanned 14 over 8 innings. Of those who did, several put it in range of the crackerjack SS Alexei Ramirez, who did this to end the 4th. But Sale’s toy surprise in the 5th was a pair of cheap boots by Ramirez, first to start the frame, then a heinous wild throw that should have ended the inning but instead scored the leveler from 2nd, sending the lead run to 3rd. A final defensive letdown put Houston on top, and when Ramirez got his chance to atone in the 7th, 2 on and 2 down, he was all tapped out. Erik Bedard allowed an unearned run in 6 strong innings; most amazingly, he’s managed to stay on schedule for 2 straight months, and despite mixed results, he could reach 130 IP for the first time since 2007.

• Fourth game this year with no earned runs at all, but just the 2nd in the last 11 seasons where both sides were scored upon. The last 7 no-ER games were all 1-0, including 2 games last Sept. 11, and consecutive Braves wins over Colorado on Sept. 5-6.
• Sale went the route on 5 singles, a walk, 85 strikes. He’s the first this year to lose with as many as 14 Ks. His ERA fell to 2.43, his record to 5-5.
• Ramirez, who rates in the first tier of defensive shortstops over the last 5 years, had his first 2-error game since 2010.
• ChiSox have lost 4 games when allowing exactly 2 runs, tied with the Yanks for the AL high.

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Phillies 8, @Rockies 7: Colorado gave Kyle Kendrick his worst game of the year, 7 runs in 4.1 innings. But they stood pat on that hand, while the Phils drew 3 each in the 6th and 7th, each with a 2-run triple by Freddy Galvis, the latter tying the game with 2 outs. Jimmy Rollins came off the bench with a line single, his 3rd hit in 4 pinch tries this year, and the Rox came up short in 4 chances from the 7th through 9th with the tying run one hit away. Six Phils worked scoreless relief, none bigger in retrospect than Jeremy Horst, who bailed out Kendrick with a DP to end the 5th with 2 aboard.

Carlos Gonzalez was back in the lineup after Thursday’s foul-ball incident, and he reached in all 5 trips, including his 19th HR and two late singles, plus a steal with 1 out in the 9th. But Jonathan Herrera, Tulo’s replacement at SS, went 0-5 in front of CarGo, and Todd Helton went 0-3 with RISP, stranding 5 men, including the potential equalizer in the 7th & 9th.

• Rollins was 2 for 25 in the pinch before this season.
• The Rox fell to 3-5 on this 10-game homestand. They won their first 8 at home this year, but have gone 13-17 since.
• Last with 2 multi-run triples in a game: Matt Tolbert, 2010-09-04.
• Searchable Phillies with at least 2 triples and 4 RBI in a game:

(Any list with Coaker Triplett and Possum Whitted is all right by me!)

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@Reds 5, Brewers 4: Jay Bruce connected with 1 out in the 10th, sending a low-and-away pitch over the LF wall and sending a big crowd home happy. That scooched Cincy a little bit closer to the Central’s top dogs, who fell in Miami.

Kyle Lohse needs a solid infield behind him, and he didn’t get that tonight. The Reds cashed two Brew Crew miscues for runs, including the 6th-inning go-ahead. But with 2 outs in the 8th — prime danger time for the Reds this year — Bronson Arroyo surrendered a tying HR to Martin Maldonado, then 2 hits (for his total of 12) and his first walk. Sam LeCure faced just one man but got the game’s biggest out, popping up Jean Segura to keep it level. Milwaukee had 2 GDPs and left 11 men on base, including the tying run on 3rd with 1 out in the 5th, as Ryan Braun sat for the 4th straight game.

• Yuniesky Betancourt went 0 for 5 and made that costly throwing error in the 6th, sending the runner from 1st to 3rd on a pickoff/CS. In 33 games since his last HR, Betancourt is 17 for 111 with 3 runs scored.
• Scooter Gennett‘s hometown debut brought his first career HR — he later doubled and singled — but also his first error, which led to a run.
• Gennett is the 206th player to homer off Arroyo.
• Joey Votto was out of the starting lineup for the first time this year, but he pinch-hit and drew his 52nd walk.
• The clubs combined for 2-19 with RISP.

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@Marlins 5, Cardinals 4: It looked like business as usual when the NL’s best scored 2 in the first off Jose Fernandez. But the Fish fought back against a rusty Jake Westbrook, who returned from the DL allowing 8 hits and 5 runs (3 ER) in 5 IP, with no strikeouts. Two unearned runs in the 2nd tied matters, capped by Fernandez’s 2-out hit. In the 6th, a 2-run double on 3-and-0 by Giancarlo Stanton (remember him?) bulged the lead to 5-2. (It’s a long way to the left-center wall in Miami, but Stanton’s line drive hits the base of it.) The relentless Cards made it close with 2-out RBI doubles in the 6th and 8th, but Steve Cishek worked a smooth 9th to seal Miami’s 20th win. Fernandez (4-3, 3.11) went 7 with a career-high 10 Ks, and the Cards fanned 13 times in regulation for the first time in over a year.

• Beating Giancarlo is all about getting 2 strikes, where he’s batted .167 and slugged .337. In all other counts for his career, he’s hit .394 and slugged .802 (through Thursday). Check out the rest of his count splits.
• St. Louis went 3-9 with RISP, just a hair off their season average.
• LHRP Kevin Siegrist worked a scoreless 9th for the Cards. He’s fanned 9 of 15 batters, with 1 hit and 1 walk (intentional). Before coming up from AAA, he fanned 44 of 104 batters (14.3 SO/9), with a 0.76 WHIP. In none of his 5 prior years did he average even 8 SO/9 — but that was while starting.

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@Orioles 2, Red Sox 0: Chris Tillman (7-2, 3.61) walked one in each of the first 4 innings, with leadoffs in the 2nd and 4th. But he skated on 2 hits through 6 shutout frames, before a double in the 7th bade him adieu. Chris Davis homered his first time up for the lead, his 22nd; and after Nate McLouth moved to 3rd on a flyout, Adam Jones beat out a grounder to 3rd for the other run, Baltimore’s only hit in 12 tries with RISP. The Oriole bullpen got 9 outs from 9 batters, with a game-ending 6-4-3 from Jose Iglesias, who had 2 of Boston’s 3 hits. Winning the first 2 of these 4 has moved Baltimore within 1.5 games of the East leader, whom they lead 4-1 head-to-head this year and 17-6 since 2012.

• 29th and 30th doubles for Manny Machado. He’s the 14th player since 1916 with 30 doubles through 68 team games, including Earl Webb in his record season (32 doubles at this point) and Paul Waner in 1932 (36 doubles through 68 games, 62 for the year). Joey Votto had 30 at this point last year, and Magglio Ordonez had 33 in 2007 (finished with 54).
• The age-20-and-under record is 54 doubles by Alex Rodriguez; no one else under 23 ever hit 50 doubles in a season.
• Seventeen Machado doubles came on the road, where he’s batting .348/.911.

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@Indians 2, Nationals 1: With 1 out in the 9th, singles by Drew Stubbs and Michael Bourn — and Bourn’s steal to moot the DP chance — set up a game-winning grounder to 1st by Jason Kipnis (or should we say, game-winning dash by Stubbs?), as the Tribe and the Nats alit on .500 from opposite directions. Joe Smith (3-0, 1.16) got the win with a scoreless 9th, and the last 13 Nationals went down in order. Loser Fernando Abad allowed his first run after 10 scoreless outings with Washington. Ryan Raburn‘s 8th HR (and 3rd in 5 games) tied it in the 4th.

• Starters Justin Masterson and Gio Gonzalez fanned 10 and 8 through 6 innings, but it cost each over 100 pitches, and they left after 7, tied at 1. One of Masterson’s 4 walks — to weak-hitting Kurt Suzuki to start the 3rd — cost him the run, on his wild pitch.
• Raburn is 7 for 13 with 3 HRs off Gonzalez. He has a .941 OPS this year in half-time play.
• Gio’s 127 pitches were 8 more than his prior high.

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Royals 7, @Rays 2: KC’s hot streak moved indoors, and Matt Moore‘s June swoon continued with a 4-run 5th keyed by the bottom of the order. Elliot Johnson tormented his ex-mates again with a tying triple, and 3 more RBI events followed before Moore could sit down. Luis Mendoza went 6 for the win, and the Royals’ streak of allowing 3 runs or less reached 13, the longest since San Fran went 18 in September 2010 en route to their championship.

• Billy Butler drove in the first run of the game, the last run of the 5th, and a 9th-inning capper. It’s his first multi-RBI game in a month (5 RBI in 27 games), and his HR drought reached 29 games.
• Mendoza won for the first time in 6 starts, though he has a 2.38 ERA in that span.
• I love George Brett as much as a non-Royals fan can, but the club’s June about-face has been 95% pitching. They’re 10-3, averaging 4.15 runs scored (still below league) and 1.92 runs allowed.
• Matthew Joyce is Mr. May –a career 1.010 OPS in the flowery month, about .770 in all others — but he hit his 3rd HR of this June.

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Tigers 4, @Twins 0: The transformed Rick Porcello struck out 4 of the first 6 men, notched his 5th K the first time a man reached 2nd base, and went on to blank Minnesota for 7 innings on 3 hits, no walks. Detroit scored their runs in the 6th off Scott Diamond (5.2 IP, 1 SO), starting with a walk to Austin Jackson, who was welcomed back after a 30-game absence. Prince Fielder had been 1 for 15 off Diamond before doubling harmlessly in the 4th, and he doubled again in the 5th to score 2 and punish a 2-out IBB to Miguel Cabrera. Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta tacked on RBI doubles, and the 4-0 margin let Jim Leyland dodge for now the question of who’ll handle the next close 9th.

• In 9 starts since a career-worst beating, Porcello has a 2.84 ERA in 57 IP, with 55 Ks and 10 walks. Tonight, he handled nemesis Josh Willingham (7 for 13, 2 HRs, 2 doubles) with ease, 2 Ks and a groundout.
• Fielder is crushing lefties this year: 27 for 72, 4 HRs, 5 doubles, 18 RBI, OPS over 1.050.
• Twins rookie Caleb Thielbar worked the 9th and ran his career-opening streak to 10 scoreless games, a club record, and 11.2 IP, 2.1 IP shy of Hod Lisenbee‘s mark. (Farm me out if I ever miss a legitimate chance to name-check the Hodster; ditto the only Caleb in MLB since the dawn of the National Association.)

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@Pirates 3, Dodgers 0: LA got the tying run to the plate with no outs in the 9th, but Jason Grilli coolly fanned 2 of the last 3, with a foulout between, lifting the Bucs to their accustomed result at home, while the Dodgers’ road blues ran to 9-18. Pittsburgh leads the majors with 11 team shutouts.

Starter Jeff Locke (6-1, 2.19) got a DP after Puig‘s leadoff bunt hit, and another in the 4th after his only walk. He allowed just one other runner in his 75-pitch, 7-inning cruise against the foundering Dodgers. Andrew McCutchen provided the lead, lashing a 2-run double to the RF line, his 20th. After Mark Melancon fanned Juan Uribe to end the 8th with the tying runs in scoring position, the Bucs quickly padded their lead.

• Some hits are starting to add up off Melancon (27 in 32 IP), but he’s kept the dish clean by not walking folks and nailing the big outs — 2 for 25 with RISP overall, 0 for 11 with 2 outs. He and Grilli combined: 7 runs in 62 IP, 85 Ks, 10 walks.
• No live-ball team has had 2 pitchers with 50+ innings and ERA under 1.50.
• Hanley Ramirez started his 6th game this year and went 0-4 with a GIDP.

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Giants 6, @Braves 0: Madison Bumgarner was as dominant in Atlanta as he’d been in SF last month, or more so. The first hit came in the 6th, a single by Chris Johnson. Another single in the 7th off MadBum, who left with 10 Ks and 1 walk, and a scratch hit in the 9th were the extent of the Braves’ attack. They lost their 4th straight, just their 8th home loss of the year, and were bageled for the 9th time, tied with Miami for the MLB lead. Meanwhile, an early sign that it wasn’t going to be Kris Medlen‘s night: first batter Gregor Blanco turned on a 2-and-1 fastball, crushing his first HR of the year. The Jints tallied singly in 4 of the first 5 frames, with 6 of their 9 hits off Medlen going for extras. Buster Posey hit 3 doubles, Hunter Pence reached 3 times, and SF had their 2nd straight blowout away from the Bay and their 4th win on this road trip, their best of the year.

• Medlen had allowed just one prior homer at home this year, and 3 first-inning runs in 13 starts.
• That is one schizoid offense: Atlanta’s also scored 5+ runs 33 times, 2nd in the NL.

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Blue Jays 8, @Rangers 0: Mark Buehrle‘s career-long command of the Rangers rolled on through the Arlington head, with 7 shutout stanzas for his 177th win. He’s 13-5 with a 3.00 ERA in 19 starts against Texas. Colby Rasmus started the scoring with a 3-run HR in the 4th; Edwin Encarnacion doubled and scored twice; and the Jays rose to 7-4 in June, seeking their first winning month.

• The Rangers have dropped their last 4, all at home, scoring 2 or less each time (5 total runs). It’s just the second time in this ballpark (opened in ’94) that they’ve gone 4 straight home games with 2 runs or less, and one short of their record.
• J.P. Arencibia hit his 13th HR, and did not draw his 7th walk. At this pace, he’d hit 31 HRs with just 14 walks. The fewest walks in any 30-HR season was 19, by Andres Galarraga in a strike year; the fewest in a full season is 22 by 3 players.
• Texas is 196-194 all-time against Toronto, but 1-4 this year.

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Cubs 6, @Mets 3: New York was no match for Edwin Jackson, who came in with a 5.76 ERA but held them to a run in 6 innings. Last time out, Shaun Marcum was a hard-luck loser, allowing a run in his 8th inning of relief. Tonight, he lost on his merits — his 8th without a win, built on 6 runs in 5.2 innings. Mistakes abounded: a fat 2-and-1 pitch to Nate Schierholtz with 2 outs, none on in the 1st and Alfonso Soriano on deck. A 4-pitch walk in the 2nd to Luis Valbuena, loading the bases with no outs. A hanger to Darwin Barney, RBI single. A 2-and-0 cookie to David DeJesus went for 3 bags and a 5-0 Cubs lead. At that point, New Shea — like the Springfield Museum of Natural History — was closed forever due to lack of interest.

• CFs DeJesus and Juan Lagares traded triples off each other’s glove, and both slammed into the gecko sign. DeJesus prevailed in the box score, but his try for Lagares’s drive knocked him out of the game.
• David Wright reached in all 4 trips, but made the game’s worst blunder, thrown out at 3rd when the Mets had just cut the lead to 6-3 with their hottest power hitter about to come up as the tying run.

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This was the preview stuff….

Boston @Baltimore — Chris Tillman faces the Red Sox, the only team he’s faced more than twice and never given a HR to.

Toronto @Texas — The last time Mark Buehrle faced the Rangers, it took a while for things to shake out.

Tigers @Twins — Batter vs. Pitcher:

• Josh Willingham vs. Rick Porcello: 7 for 13, 2 HRs, 2 doubles, 4 walks.
• Miguel Cabrera vs. Scott Diamond: 10 for 19, HR, 3 doubles.

Yankees @Angels — The Bombers went 12-25 in Anaheim from 2005-12 (plus 2-4 in the postseason).

White Sox @Astros: Just when I was almost accustomed to Houston in the AL, they go and stage a rematch of the 2005 World Series, the Rocket’s last. (Good memories, there.)

Nationals @Indians — Ian Desmond carries the longest active hitting streak, 15 games. Ryan Zimmerman owns the only 20-gamer every by a National (30 in 2009).

Dodgers @Pittsburgh — Jason Grilli has allowed 3 runs in 28.2 IP, for an 0.94 RA/9. There has never been a 30-save season with an RA/9 less than 1; Craig Kimbrel‘s 1.01 last year is the record.

Giants @Braves — Hunter Pence is on pace for 25+ in HRs and steals. Only the extended Bonds family has ever done that with the Giants — Bobby Bonds (1969-73), Barry Bonds (1993-98), and Barry’s godfather (1956-60). Pence also hasn’t been caught stealing; the known record(?) for such a year is 23 SB by Chase Utley in 2009.

Diamondbacks @Padres — 4th-place San Diego (32-34) looks to further compress the West standings against top-dog Arizona (37-29). Those teams have split 6 games so far, each scoring 30 runs and winning 2 of 3 at home in a “W-L-W” pattern. The Padres have 9 regulars (2+ PAs per game) with OPS+ of at least 100, tied with SF for the most in MLB.

Cardinals @Marlins — Featuring Jose Fernandez, who started Miami’s only shutout this year. (Unless you count those 18 straight scoreless innings against the Mets.) Can the Fish get to 20 wins before the Cards get 20 road wins?

Cubs @Mets — 11-17 away vs. 13-21 at home. 2-8, 5.76 vs. 0-7, 4.96. Sounds like a good night to revisit the 1984 NL East race.

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Aaron Harang is tied for the MLB lead in shutouts (2) and in disaster starts (4 games with R>IP).