Just a few for me tonight; you can help fill in the blanks. We’re back to the Central divisions.

Reds 6, @Pirates 0 (box): Two of May’s hottest teams, and only one could go out a winner. For the 3rd time in 4 nights, a righty’s assault knocked the Bucs for a loop, and this time they couldn’t get off the canvas. Johnny Cueto faced the minimum in the 2nd through 8th, after working out personal issues in the 1st, and Sam LeCure finished off the combined 1-hitter. Cueto has owned them as no other since 2008, now 13-4, 2.44 ERA in 21 starts — 21% of his career wins, in 14% of his starts — and 13 straight with 3 runs or less.

Wandy Rodriguez allowed 2 runs in 7 IP (the rest came off Wild Mike Zagurski), but saw the end of his 4-start win streak and the growth of his Cincy frustration — 6 straight team losses for Wandy vs. the Reds, the last 5 all quality starts. Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips each homered in hitter’s counts; Rodriguez came in with a .369 BA/1.163 OPS with batters ahead, more than the sum of each figure for pitcher’s or even counts.

• The NL’s runaway leader in batters’ walks accepted 8 more, half in the 9th to force in the last 2 runs. Joey Votto took two, widening his MLB lead over teammate Choo and making a 135 pace; no one’s gone there since Barry’s record 2004.
• The Pirates flailed at Rick Porcello on Tuesday (8 scoreless, 11 Ks), Doug Fister on Thursday (7 donuts and a dozen Ks). But this was their first shutout since falling to Greinke and Kershaw back-to-back in the opening week.
• Pittsburgh has been involved in the fewest blowouts among NL teams, now 5-4 in margins of 5 or more.

__________

@Cubs 7, D-backs 2 (box): Not even a hit for this Cubs pitcher, but no one was shocked when Matt Garza fanned 3 times on 9 total pitches. He’s the only big-leaguer ever with 100+ PAs and at least 60% Ks (78 Ks in 126 PAs, .081 BA). But with Scott Hairston on slam duty, Garza could focus on Job One, a quality start — the 4th straight by a Cub with 6+ IP and 2 runs or less, and their 25th this year (tied for 6th in the majors).

Five straight wins is Chicago’s best since 2011, with the last 4 all by 5+ runs. They’re 8-2 in blowouts, but 7-12 in one-run games, accounting for the 5-win gap between their actual and pythagorean records (biggest in MLB).

• Unlucky 7’s for southpaw Wade Miley, who channeled his inner Billy Pierce — author of the only other searchable game where IP, H, R, ER and SO all equaled 7. (Pierce wins this round on a tiebreaker: 7 walks.)
• Scott Hairston has 99 career HRs, matching the total of brother Jerry, Jr. (69) and papa Jerry, Sr. (30).

__________

Brewers 8, @Phillies 5 (box): Someone was going to get well for a night, the reeling Crew (5-22 in May, 6-game skid) with Yovani Gallardo (loser of 4 straight starts), or the frustrated Cole (5-start slide backed by 7 Philly runs).

Early returns favored the lefty, who hit the high notes in the opening stanza, then basked in Domonic Brown‘s 3-run HR on a 3-0 count. But the late precincts made it a landslide for Jonathan Lucroy. He started the comeback with an RBI double in the 2nd, and capped things off in the 9th with his 2nd HR of the game, completing a 5-3-5-4 evening, 2 hits more than his prior career best. Hamels suffered a career-high 12 hits and fell to 1-9.

The Lucroy explosion more than offset Brown’s longball rampage. The Philly hacker homered again in the 6th, his 12th of May and 7th in 7 games. Could he be the first with a dozen HRs and zero walks in any month? Kudos to him for swinging 3-oh; he’s killing it in hitter’s counts, plus another 4 HRs in 29 first-pitch PAs. But no one stays hot all year, and his K/BB ratio of 38/9 might catch up to him as pitchers get more careful. He’s scored only 10 runs all year outside of his 15 HRs.

• Francisco Rodriguez closed up for his 2nd save and 296th of his career, and has allowed just a single and a walk in 6.1 IP. After last year, both he and Valverde looked dicey for reaching the 300 mark, but both made strong comebacks this month. (Then again, such things can change very quickly.)

__________

@Athletics 3, White Sox 0 (box): The last time Bartolo Colon faced the ChiSox was just before his 2012 season ended in a 50-game suspension for elevated testosterone. Who knows what was muttered in the frustrated visitors’ clubhouse tonight, after the 40-year-old Colon tossed a CG 5-hitter with no walks — the 2nd individual shutout against Chicago this week — giving him 18 straight scoreless frames and a 6-2 record, while dropping the Sox at the corner of Skid Row and 4th. But anyway … Dylan Axelrod matched Colon out for out through 7 innings, with only 2 bingles on his account, hoping to win his 4th start in a row. But Jaso and Reddick opened the 8th with doubles, the only extra-base hits for either side, and the bullpen let in 2 more on Crisp’s single after Rosales pinch-sacrificed. Oakland’s won 12 of 14, averaging 2.6 runs allowed in that glide.

It’s old hat by now, but still: Oakland’s payroll this year is just under $58 million (per B-R), with none of the top 100+ individual salaries ($9 million and up, counting only those who’ve actually played in the majors so far). The young SPs have regressed from last year; Brett Anderson‘s hurt again; and their only position player who’s ever been an All-Star is batting .180 with a 72 OPS+. But they’re 3rd in AL OBP (#1 in walks), 6th in R/G (ahead of Texas!), 8 games over .500 and in the thick of the playoff chase.

• Coco Crisp‘s having a sweet year so far, with a .381 OBP (50 points above his career mark) and 34 runs in 38 games.
• The Sox showed off their last-in-the-AL scoring and OBP skills. Even Adam Dunn doesn’t walk any more, on pace for 60. He hasn’t drawn less than 74 walks since his rookie year, and even in his recent two sub-.200 seasons he averaged 90 walks.

__________

Mariners 3, @Twins 0 (box): Hisashi Iwakuma, Hisashi Iwakuma, Hisashi Iwakuma, Hisashi Iwakuma, Hisashi Iwakuma.

Granted, he got a little wild, walking 2 in his 7.2 innings (dropping his SO/BB below 6), and erasing just one of those with an immediate DP. And he came close to allowing a run; he had to get 3 grounders after a leadoff double in the 3rd, and he stranded 2 in scoring position in the 5th. He even allowed a hit in 6 tries with RISP, raising his BA to .140 in those spots (7 for 50).

All 3 M’s runs came in the 6th off Mike Pelfrey, with a 2-run shot by Kendrys Morales breaking the scoreless tension. Morales finished the month with 23 RBI in 25 games and a high-9’s OPS. Pelf’s inning splits are interesting, as are his 2-strike numbers.

• Sweet Jesús had his first 2-hit game. Nick Franklin followed his 2-HR affair by reaching 3 of 4 times, with 2 walks; no doubt he was called on the manager’s carpet afterwards.
• Seattle’s won 9 games this year scoring 1 to 3 runs (9-23). Four of those wins were started by Iwakuma, with a total of 2 runs allowed in 26.1 IP.

What do the Twins expect to achieve with all these low-K starters, really? Since 2011, 15 AL pitchers amassed 200+ innings with K rates of 6.0 or less; four were Twins, and now they’re taking a flyer on Pelfrey. Their current 5-man staff are all averaging less than 5 SO/9, and — no foolin’ — closer Glen Perkins leads the team with 31 Ks. I get that money’s a factor; when you shop in the bargain bin, there’s a lot of Pelfreys and Kevin Correias. But it also seems intentional. How does Vance Worley go from 7.7 SO/9 in his NL career to 4.6 with the Twins? Correia averaged 4.7 last year, 6.0 in his NL career, but 3.7 now. Their AAA team is average in Ks, but their AA and A+ teams are well below. Do they try to draft guys with low K rates? Do they really preach and teach “pitching to contact?” If so, what game have they been watching for the last 20 years, and where can I go to see it? I don’t like high-strikeout baseball, but simply ignoring the correlation between strikeouts and success won’t make everyone into Mark Buehrle.