Not enough time for a full set. Some Monday notes are included at the end.

@Red Sox 6, Rays 2 — Even with Jon Lester scuffling, the matchup with Roberto Hernandez seemed a good chance to snap the Rays’ win streak. In truth, Hernandez was OK — he’s delivered a steady stream of “half-decent” starts all year — but Boston went up 2-1 in the 3rd on a double-steal led by Shane Victorino. (Note the huge lead afforded to the Hawaiian by the shift on Papi.) Lester gave homers to Wil Myers and Evan Longoria, but he left with a 3-2 lead, and the Sox opened it up with 3 two-out runs off Kyle Farnsworth, who looks to be nearing the end of a long career. Junichi Tazawa got 4 outs (3 Ks), inheriting the tying run on 2nd in the 7th.

• Myers homered and then doubled on the first two Lester deliveries he’s ever faced. He’s 16 for his last 32, with a surprising 3 steals mixed in.
• Alex Torres pitched 2 more scoreless innings, setting down 6 of 7. In 30.1 IP, he’s allowed one run on 8 hits (6 singles, 2 doubles), with 7.2 scoreless against Boston. The lowest batting average ever allowed in 100+ ABs is .111 by Mike Adams, 2009 (14 for 126). Torres is now at .082 (8-98).
• Boston hit 4 doubles, no homers. Some still think of Fenway as a good HR park, but it’s regularly below-average in that respect. It is, however, the best park for doubles, ranking 1st or 2nd each of the last five years (and 1st every year 2003-08). Boston’s averaging 1.8 doubles per road game, but 2.6 at home.
• Anyone else think that the rumored 7 years and $100 million is way below Dustin Pedroia‘s market value?

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Yankees 5, @Rangers 4 — It felt like “what else is new?” in New York’s annus horribilis. Up 3-0 in the 6th, an error by Brent Lillibridge (the latest of many to man the hot corner in Voldemort’s absence) opened a 4-run floodgate, with a go-ahead 2-run HR by Mitch Moreland off just-summoned Boone Logan. Joe Nathan went to the mound for his 32nd save carrying streaks of 15 conversions and 12 scoreless games.

But he walked Vernon wells with 1 out, then slipped while delivering a 2-2 pitch to Eduardo Nunez, sending Wells to 2nd and bringing the outfield in a few steps in case of a single. Nunez drove the next pitch high and far into the gap, and it kissed the wall just beyond Craig Gentry’s reach. Nunez legged out a triple, and Lillibridge ripped a single for the lead and his 2nd RBI. Great glovework by Profar and Andrus kept it a one-run game, but Mo was up to the task — 2 Ks and a daisy-cutter, for his 32nd save and #640 career.

• The game was a defensive highlight reel unto itself. This one brought to mind what Orel Hershiser said during Sunday night’s broadcast: “The game is too easy for Robinson Cano.” And then, there’s nothing easy in Brett Gardner’s approach; just a great read, a dead sprint and a diving roll.
• Rivera is 44/49 in save tries against Texas, including postseason, with a 2.11 ERA in 94 innings.
• Nathan’s blown 4 of 12 career saves vs. the Yankees, including postseason.
• New York OF Melky Mesa made his season debut and doubled in his first trip, starting a 2-run 3rd. He’s here for his power: 20+ HRs per full year in the minors, but with a .244 BA.
• Alexi Ogando fanned 2 in 5 IP in his first start after 7 weeks out.
• New York’s latest homerless streak reached 5 games, their third such this year. They had one 5-game streak from 1998-2012.

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Dodgers 10, Blue Jays 9 — “Inconstancy, thy name is bullpen!” Taking nothing away from their All-Star first halves, Brett Cecil and Steve Delabar are the latest to show how fickle relievers’ results can be. After Delabar allowed 4 runs on Monday, Cecil couldn’t get out of his own way tonight, spitting up 3 runs on 2 hits, 2 walks and a wild pitch to jump-start the Dodgers’ comeback from a 5-run hole. But the crushing blows came off 42-year-old Darren Oliver, a 3-run shot by Adrian Gonzalez and a solo by Andre Ethier.

So strong was L.A.’s rallying power, it overcame the first Dodgers appearance of Carlos Marmol. He got out of his own jam after relieving with 1 out in the 5th, but then gave a double, a wild pitch, a single and a home run by Jose Reyes, boosting the deficit from 2 to 5 runs.

• Oliver had yielded just 2 HRs to lefties each of the last 3 years, but these made 4 this year and an OPS over 1.000 to LHBs.
• Cecil and Delabar have let in 11 runs in 11.2 IP this month, with 17 hits, 8 walks and 2 HRs.
• Toronto’s latest relief-stats goggler is Juan Perez — 22 IP, 11 hits, no earned runs (but 4 UER). He’s 4 innings shy of the no-ER record for a season, by Earl Moore of the 1908 Phillies. (Ah, for the days of the three-nickname minimum.)

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Reds 9, @Giants 3 — NL teams getting exactly 4 hits and 1 HR from their #7 hitter are 43-7 since 2000, winning their last 12. Adding 3 hits and a HR from #8 makes a pretty unbeatable combo.

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Late Monday

Padres 5, @Brewers 3 (Day 1 of Cream City’s “Yes, you did disappoint us” era) — San Diego reversed a 3-1 deficit with 4 in the 6th, started by bunt hits from Andrew Cashner (the pitcher) and Everth Cabrera. Tom Gorzelanny had retired 15 of 17, but the lead got away on 2-run doubles by Carlos Quentin and Jesus Guzman. Three Padres relievers were near-perfect over the last third, securing the club’s 4th win in the last 20 games. Guzman’s homer in the 2nd broke the Crew’s shutout string at 3 games and 36 innings.

• Cashner owns 3 of the 8 bunt hits by pitchers this year (via B-R’s Event Finder), and has another as a pinch-hitter. Cabrera’s 6 bunt hits are tied for 2nd among all players.

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Cubs 4, @Diamondbacks 2 — Junior Lake’s 4 hits were a Cubs leadoff first this year, and lefty Chris Rusin won with 5 solid innings in his second July outing in place of a traded starter. Dioner Navarro’s 9th homer tied his career high; his HR rate was 1.8% in more than 2,000 prior PAs, but 6.2% this year, helping him to a 140 OPS+ in part-time play.

• Didi Gregorius had half the Snakes’ 6 hits, plus a walk, from his #8 spot; he was at .196 in his past 30 games.
• Four Cubs earned a hold (including Pedro Strop, who’s been almost perfect since coming from Baltimore). Four holds tied the team record, but is 2 shy of the overall mark done 3 times, including last Friday.
• C.J. Edwards, part of Chicago’s return in the Matt Garza deal, has raised his profile tenfold since going as pick #1,464 in the 2011 draft (round 48). In 160 innings at class A and rookie ball, Edwards has an 0.95 WHIP and has yet to give up a home run.
• There are some guys in the majors who were drafted in the 48th round — Jeremy Hefner (2005), Paco Rodriguez and Vidal Nuno (2009), Rob Scahill (2008), Jake Elmore (2007) — but very few who actually signed after being drafted that late; most, like Hefner, went to college instead, and were drafted much higher in a couple of years.

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Athletics 4, @Astros 3 — Josh Reddick’s 5th homer capped Oakland’s late scoring, as they rallied from a 3-0 hole to reach 10-0 against Houston, more than one-sixth of their season total. Dallas Keuchel held the A’s to a run through 6 innings, but three straight relievers from the majors’ worst bullpen each was charged with a run. Oakland’s relief trio got 9 outs (and 6 Ks) from 9 batters. Houston’s gone 7-21 since a June 4-game win streak. Reddick’s HR (and a great catch in RF) redeemed his earlier ABs, a pop-up with a man on 3rd and 1 out, and a GDP.

Grant Balfour has converted all 26 save tries this year, and 44 in a row since last May. That’s already the longest in A’s history (Eck had 40 in 1991-92) and 10 short of Tom Gordon’s all-time #2 mark — but barely halfway to the record 84 of Eric Gagne (2002-04, spanning his Cy Young year). Balfour has 5 saves against Houston this year.

• Oakland’s the 2nd team with 10 wins against one foe this year; the Rockies are 10-3 vs. the Padres.
• The Astros are 1-20 vs. the AL’s division leaders, 6-32 against all teams currently in playoff slots. Their .321 home winning percentage (17-36) would be the worst since the 2003 Tigers went 23-58. Houston’s worst home record was 30-51 two years ago.
• Houston went 1-9 with RISP, now hitting .225 in that spot; only the Pirates(!?) are worse.
• There are 95 relievers with 20+ innings and an ERA under 3.00. None are Astros; every other team has at least two.

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@Mariners 2, Indians 1 — Kendrys Morales tied it with a leadoff bomb in the 4th, and Mike Zunino opened the 5th the same way, leading the M’s to the 7th straight win. Aaron Harang went 7 on 4 hits for his 8th QS in 11 career games against Cleveland (5-2, 2.79).

Zunino, a .590 slugger in his brief minor-league time (52 extra-base hits in 91 games), added a double for his first multi-XBH game in the majors. Both of his HRs have broken a 1-1 tie past the game’s midpoint.

• Seattle came in 0-4 against Cleveland, swept in May at the start of their year’s-worst 8-game skid.
• Michael Bourn averaged 51 steals and 12 CS for the past 5 years; he’s 13-7 this season.
• I still double-take when I see this name pitching for Cleveland.

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Twins 4, @Angels 3 — Glen Perkins fanned Pujols and Kendrick with the winning runs on base, as he took over the southpaw saves lead with #24. Sam Deduno (7 IP, 2 R) got past a leadoff triple in his final frame, with 2 of his 5 strikeouts. Clete Thomas tied things with a 2-out double in the 2nd, then homered to break the tie in the 4th. The Angels fell into a 3rd-place tie with Seattle, 9.5 games out of a wild card. The time to rest Albert’s aching foot is coming….

• One sign of how Pujols is hobbling: From 2001-12, he took 49% of all possible extra bases on others’ hits, with the same mark last season. This year, he’s at 22%, and has gone first-to-third on a single just once.
• Deduno is 6-4, 3.50 in 11 starts, and has given the Twins much-needed length. They have the fewest SP innings in MLB, averaging 5.4 per start, but Deduno’s averaging 6.3. He has five wins of 7 IP, more than all of his teammates combined, and he only came up in late May. When backed by at least 3 runs, he’s 6-2, 2.64.
• After Perkins and Chapman (23), all other lefties combined have 27 saves. Righties lead lefties in saves this year by 700 to 74. In 1989, the biggest year ever for southpaw saves, the RH margin was 744-325.
• Joe Blanton is 2-13 in 20 starts. The Angels record is 19 losses, last done in 1991 by Kirk McCaskill. For the Halos, only Jim Abbott (with 18 L’s in 27 games, 1996) has ever lost at a rate such as Blanton’s.
• Minnesota’s 3-0 vs. the Angels this year, with 12+ hits in each game (twice against Blanton).

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Marlins 3, @Rockies 1 — Miami scored early — not the shock you might think — and Tom Koehler spread 8 hits over 7 innings for his 2nd career win. Steve Cishek closed neatly on 8 pitches for his 13th straight save, with two 3-pitch Ks. He’s not been scored on in 18 of his last 19 games, with 1 walk in that stretch.

• The Fish are last in scoring by nine miles, but they’re 6th in 1st-inning runs.
• Drew Pomeranz, pick #5 in the 2010 draft, still hasn’t translated his minor-league success into the big leagues. Since last July 15, he’s started 19 games, lasting 78 innings and allowing 56 earned runs for a 6.46 ERA, with a 1-10 record.