Blue Jays 6, @Red Sox 2: Two HRs by Jose Bautista (including his 200th) led Toronto back to .500, but the other story was two insanely aggressive dashes by Boston, each cut down at the plate with no outs, a 2-0 deficit and good sticks coming up.

In the 6th, Shane Victorino was nailed trying to score from 2nd on Pedroia’s single to Bautista, with Papi on deck. (Since 2009, Joey Bats-&-Arm has averaged 19 baserunner kills per 162 outfield games.) Ortiz singled, but Esmil Rogers fanned the next two, and Boston didn’t score.

The next inning, a bunt hit put men on the corners with no outs, but another bunt(?) got Jarrod Saltalamacchia erased at the dish. Looks like a planned play (3B coach spoke to Salty just before), and if they felt that was the best way for 9th hitter Jonathan Diaz to help the team in his MLB debut, that’s their call; but I hate to think they meant for Salty to take that risk. The result cut their run expectancy for the inning in half, and by WPA it scored the 2nd biggest positive for Toronto. The Sox did tie the game, on Victorino’s redemptive 2-run knock. Disappointing for the usually solid Blue Jays bullpen, but Steve Delabar kept it 2-all by getting Pedey and whiffing Papi, and Bautista would be heard from again.

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@Pirates 2, Brewers 1: Third win this year by the Bucs when scoring only on solo HRs. That’s tops in the majors (three teams have 2), and matches their franchise high for a season; they had 3 such wins over the prior 7 years.

Pittsburgh’s starting pitching has been very good, especially the last 2 months (2.70 ERA, best in the NL for May/June). But they’ve logged the 2nd-fewest innings in the league. In 57 games, their SP has gone 6 IP or less, 3rd-most in the league; but they’re 34-23 in those games, the most such wins in the majors.

Pirates relievers have logged the NL’s most innings, about 40 more than the average. They have 6 pure relievers with 30+ innings already, tied with Milwaukee for the most in MLB. Four of them are on pace for career highs in games — Grilli, Melancon, Watson and Mazzaro (Melancon and Watson in IP as well) — while Wilson and Morris are rookies. Just something to watch in the 2nd half.

• Previous Pirates years with 50 wins in their first 80 games: 1921, ’29, ’38 (all finished 2nd); 1971 (world champs) and ’72 (lost NLCS). Those with 49 wins: 1925 and ’60 champs, 1927 pennant winners, 1975 and ’91 division winners.
• Past 10 years, teams with 50+ wins in their first 80: 2012 Rangers (lost wild-card game); ’11 Phillies (won division, lost DS); ’09 Dodgers (won division, lost CS); ’07 Angels (won division, lost DS); ’06 Tigers (lost WS); ’06 White Sox (finished 3rd); ’06 Red Sox (finished 3rd); ’05 White Sox (won WS); ’05 Cardinals (won division, lost CS); ’04 Yankees (won division, lost CS); ’03 Yankees (won division, lost WS); ’03 Braves (won division, lost DS) ’03 Mariners (finished 2nd).

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Orioles 11, @Yankees 3: At least it didn’t happen on Fox Game of the Week. (Oh, it did? Well, then … at least it wasn’t as bad as this one.)

• Chris Davis already had the most HRs ever by an Orioles #5 hitter; now he has 2 more, having hit 29 of his 30 HRs from that spot in the order. The prior mark was 25, by the rookie Eddie Murray.
• O’s are 5-3 against New York. They haven’t won that season series since 1997, the last year they reached the ALCS. From 1998-2012, Baltimore went 88-169 vs. the Bombers.

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@Rays 4, Tigers 3 (10): Justin Verlander gave up a tying HR to Luke Scott with 1 out in the 8th, on his 111th pitch. That’s not a terribly high pitch count for him, although he finished with 119, his 2nd-highest this year. But he hasn’t been himself lately (5.52 ERA last 10 starts), and was far from on top of this game, allowing 8 hits and 4 walks through 7 innings, with 4 Ks. The 7th had been challenging, escaping the tying run on 3rd with a 1-out DP. Since the southpaw Drew Smyly wound up pitching the 9th, it’s hard not to wonder about bringing him in to face Scott.

• Detroit is 2-9 in extra innings. They’re hitting .202 (19-94), no HRs, 5 runs in extra time. Foes are hitting .295 with 4 HRs, 14 runs.
• By innings, Detroit’s hitting .303/.828 in the 1st-3rd, .309/.870 in the 4th-6th, but .229/.639 from the 7th onward. (Torii Hunter has been invisible in late innings, batting .132 with no HRs in 87 PAs.) Against starting pitchers, they’re hitting .307 with 21 HRs and 92 SO per 650 PAs. Against relievers, .236, 11 and 133.

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@Marlins 7, Padres 1: First complete game for Jacob Turner, age 22 years, 39 days, and the first for Miami this year. He’s the 2nd-youngest Marlin to go the route. Only Dontrelle did it younger, a one-hitter in his rookie year. Turner shaved his ERA to 1.76 through 6 starts, averaging about 7 IP. Nine teams still have no regulation complete games.

• Someone has to set off that sculpture; I nominate Giancarlo. The Fish have 16 HRs at home this year, 6 by Stanton, no one else more than 2. Justin Ruggiano has hit all 11 HRs on the road — 3 in Philly, 2 in Cincy and SF. Last year, he hit 9 of 13 away
• Have to call this the lowlight for SD: Nick Hundley makes the first out at 3rd base in the 5th, trailing 6-1.

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@Dodgers 4, Phillies 3: And the Dodgers finally have a walk-off win, after 5 games on the losing side. They’re 5 games from 1st place, 1 behind the Giants.

• Chase Utley‘s 20th two-HR game, but first in almost 2 years. He had a dozen in 2005-06 combined. He’s the first to get Ryu twice.
• Hanley‘s games with both a steal and an extra-base hit, by season: 17, 13, 12, 10, 9, 2, 4, 2.
• From 2006-12, here are the top 12 in games with both a SB and an XBH (group average of 9 per year), and their 2013 count in parentheses: Reyes (0), Rollins (3), Crawford (1), Hanley (2), B. Roberts (0), Rios (4), Rajai (2), Braun (0), B.J. Upton (1), Ichiro (3), Kinsler (2) and Figgins (0). This year’s leaders are Segura, CarGo and Ellsbury (8 each), and Marte, McCutchen and McLouth (7).
• St. Louis is the last team without a walk-off win; all have suffered such a defeat.

What do you think of the scoring on Puig’s error that helped set up the tying run in the 9th? I’m not defending Yasiel (bad mistake on his part), just discussing the scoring. The rulebook standard of “ordinary effort,” plus the de facto standard in place these days, make it interesting. If Michael Young hits that same ball 100 times, with a normal distribution of right fielders, I think he gets 80 doubles. And if Young hadn’t shown that he was going to stop at first on that particular play, it might have been scored a double. I think Puig’s speed in getting to the ball, and his deadly arm, convinced Young to stop initially, and thus, ironically, are the main cause of the error being charged.

• Kemp’s throwing error (same clip), on the other hand, was just awful. How can you miss the cutoff man that much on a short throw?
• It also feels weird that Young’s run, though aided by 2 separate errors, winds up earned, because of Domonic Brown’s 2-out triple. There’s no leeway in the rule — you simply reconstruct the inning without the error(s) — but you can’t help thinking that Jansen might pitch Brown a little differently had there actually been a man on base.

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Cardinals 7, @Athletics 1: Adam Wainwright‘s 91st win ties him with hoopster Gene Conley for the 6th-most wins by a RHP listed at 6′ 7″ or taller. Rick Sutcliffe laps that field with 171 wins; Mike Witt‘s 2nd at 117, then Aaron Harang (108), J.R. Richard (107) and Jered Weaver (103). The southpaw contingent has just four with 91+ wins, but their top 3 all have more than the top righty: Randy Johnson (303), CC Sabathia (199) and John Candelaria (177).

• Remember this fellow, plays once in a while for the Redbirds? That 3-run shot was his first ever off a lefty, not that he’s had much opportunity.
• Wainwright’s SO/BB ratio has taken a beating of late: 5 walks, 23 Ks in his last 4 games. I’m mostly joking, but he has fallen off Bret Saberhagen‘s record rate of 11.0 SO/BB. Adam’s current 9.5 would rank 4th.

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Indians 4, @White Sox 3: At the halfway point, Jason Kipnis has 12 HRs, 19 SB and 51 RBI. The only second basemen ever with 20 HRs, 20 steals and 100 RBI: Morgan, Samuel, Sandberg, Alomar, Soriano.

• Four more games on this trip for the Tribe, against teams they’ve gone 10-5 against so far. Then home for a quad against the sputtering Tigers, and a chance to even their 2-6 mark in that series.

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@Mets 5, Nationals 1: From his first start on June 18, Josh Satin has reached safely in 10 straight games (18 of 33), with 3 of those as a PH.

• 1B Josh Satin fills out a lineup with 2B Cotton Tierney, SS Kim Batiste, 3B Silk Stockings Schafer, LF Rayon Lampe (no foolin’!), CF Ducky Hemp, RF Vernon Ramie, SP Floyd Wooldridge, and RP Jute Bell. Manager, George Tweedy Stallings. Anthem by Mel Tormé.

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@Braves 11, D-backs 5: Tim Hudson couldn’t hold the lead today, 0-6 in his last 10 starts — the first time he’s ever dropped more than 4 straight decisions. But Atlanta won his 4 no-D’s. They scored just 19 runs in Huddy’s previous 9 games.

• Consecutive HBPs in the 8th — the first 2 by David Hernandez this year — touched off your typical 7-run 8th inning (the most in any 8th this year), and a comeback win for Atlanta, moving 6.5 in front of the Nats.

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Reds 6, @Rangers 4 (11): Mike Leake worked 7 IP on 3 hits, a walk, no HRs or HBP — and allowed 4 runs, thanks to a defensive nightmare 3-error, 3-run 3rd inning. Since 2012, there are 152 games where a starter went 6 to 8 IP meeting or beating those criteria. Leake is the only one charged with 4 runs or more, and just 3 others had 3 runs. Joey Votto made 2 of the errors, a boot and a throw. His 10 miscues this year are tops in the majors (by 2) and 1 off his career high.

• Devin Mesoraco‘s HR in the 11th was his 4th this year, and 2nd tying or go-ahead shot in the 9th or later; only Bruce and Bautista have 3. You might recall Devin’s other one.

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@Twins 6, Royals 2: Solid win in the MLB debut of Minnesota’s Kyle Gibson, fitting the company line: 6 IP, 8 hits, no walks, 2 runs. By the way … The other “K. Gibson” ever to play in the majors debuted in 1979 as a PH against Goose Gossage, and struck out to end the game, establishing a pattern. If you’ve ever wondered why Gossage pitched to Gibby in the ’84 Series finale, in a situation that moved Sparky to bet five bucks on an IBB — down a run in the 8th, first base open and a great DP candidate on deck — know that Gibson up ’til then was 1 for 10 off Goose, with 7 whiffs, 2 popouts and a bingle.

• Kyle Gibson is the 10th Minnesota Twin to start and win his debut. Bert Blyleven was the first, in their 10th year in the Twin Cities. The list includes both Scott Erickson and Roger Erickson (who was a nephew of Don Erickson, but not related to Scott). Dave Gassner won his debut in 2005, got rocked in his next, and never pitched in the majors again.

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Random ramblings

CC’s stumble on Friday cost him a chance at win #200 in game #400. Just 8 in searchable history got 200 wins in their first 400 games. His current teammate, Andy Pettitte, also missed that chance in game #400, getting beat up in Boston in 2007. Juan Marichal leads the “First 400” derby with 222 wins, followed by Tom Seaver (209), Mike Mussina (206), Roger Clemens (204), Jim Palmer and Whitey Ford (202), Greg Maddux (201) and Bob Feller (200). Carl Hubbell is the other who fell short in game #400.

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Max Scherzer’s last 33 starts (one year’s worth): 22-2, 2.83 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 255 Ks and 55 walks in 216 innings. 22-2 is a .917 winning percentage, which would be a record for a 20-win season or a year with at least 21 starts. Those marks are held by Ron Guidry ’78 (25-3, .893) and by Greg Maddux ’95 (19-2, .905).

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Since 1931, the three highest batting averages in a 40-HR season were aided by Coors or stronger stuff:

• .372, Todd Helton, 2000 (42 HRs)
• .370, Barry Bonds, 2002 (46 HRs)
• .366, Larry Walker, 1997 (49 HRs)

Miguel Cabrera’s season pace is 49.8 HRs, and he has 52 in the team’s last 162 games. So, the highest BA ever in a 50-HR season:

• .378, Babe Ruth, 1921 (59 HRs)
• .376, Babe Ruth, 1920 (54 HRs)
• .364, Jimmie Foxx, 1932 (58 HRs)

The last 50/.350 was Mickey Mantle ’56, his Triple Crown year. Mantle had a .464 OBP, 1.169 OPS; Cabrera’s at .464 and 1.146.

Miggy’s 1.146 OPS and 203 OPS+ are near the franchise marks — 1.148 OPS by Norm Cash, ’61, and 209 OPS+ by Ty Cobb, 1917. (Cobb owns the #2 mark, 206 OPS+ in 1910, and 9 of their top 11, all in the 10 years from 1909-18.)

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Friday, Delmon Young became the first since 2010 with 6+ RBI but no HR. He’s the only active player to have done that on 3 hits or less.

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Regression may be catching up with Hisashi Iwakuma, who’s allowed 4 runs in 3 straight games (5.40 ERA), and 5 HRs in the last 2. But he still only walked 3 in those 20 innings, and the 5 HRs scored only 6 runs, making 19 runs on his 15 HRs this year. On Friday, he made it through 8 innings on just 90 pitches, just 21 balls over 30 batters.

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Oliver Perez struck out the middle of the order in the 9th, each of whom had an XBH in the game. He’s allowed 3 runs of his own, and just 3 of 18 inherited, in 29 innings, while handling righties as well as lefties.

Friday’s hitting heroes for Seattle reflected the few who’ve done well on a team hitting .227 with RISP: Kendrys Morales, .368/1.030 (25-68, 10 XBH); Raul Ibanez, .340/1.065 (18-53, 9 XBH); and the youngsters Nick Franklin (7-17, HR, 2B) and walk-off hero Mike Zunino (3 for 10). The rest of the regulars are at .235 and lower with RISP.

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The Royals hit 4 HRs Friday at Minnesota. Since Target Field opened in 2010, there are 38 games in which a team hit 3+ HRs. The first 30 of those took 258 games (12%); the last 8 came in the last 23 games there (35%). Just once have both teams hit 3, and that one took extras.

The southpaw leader in saves is … Glen Perkins.

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Has the LOOGY trend tapered off? Appearances may be deceiving. The number of 1-batter appearances by lefty relievers, starting with 2008: 584, 595, 622, 668, 697 — and this year on pace for about 530. The number of righty 1-batter stints has seen a similar drop: 491, 523, 537, 550, 629 — and this year on pace for about 465. But those may heat up with the pennant races: Last year, there were 556 one-batter outings (by either hand) through July 4, the approximate midway point, and 770 in the true 2nd half.

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DFA, Jeff Francoeur. No point in further knocking Dayton Moore for that contract; might as well praise him for finally acknowledging the cost was sunk.