Rays 5, @Red Sox 1 — David Price is making up for lost innings. With just 97 pitches, he logged his third CG in 5 starts to reach 4-1, 1.76 since missing 8 starts on the DL. He’s 5-1, 1.90 in 6 Fenway starts.

Tampa got no extra-base hits, but they went 4-8 with RISP, with a 2-run hit from Wil Myers for the lead in the 3rd, and 2-out RBI from James Loney and Jose Molina in the 8th, offsetting Mike Napoli’s HR in the Caroline frame. Ben Zobrist stole 3rd with 1 out ahead of a sac fly. Tampa’s the 3rd team to 60 wins, and Thursday’s another crack at first place.

• Napoli is 8-24 with 2 HRs off Price, but also 12 whiffs.
• Price (2) and Matt Moore own the last three CG wins by southpaw guests in Fenway. There’s just 2 others since 1998. (The last by a Yankee? Shane Rawley, 1982.)
• Price and Jon Lester are the only lefties with more than one CG in Fenway this century. You’d never guess the other active lefty with 2 Fenway CGs.
• Among all games with known pitch counts, there’s just one other 9-inning LHP stint in Fenway on 97 pitches or less — Chuck Finley’s 1-hitter in ’89, his dreams dashed by Jody Reed with 4 outs to go.

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Pirates 4, @Nationals 2 — It was one of the year’s best duels for 8 innings, with 2 hits off each starter. Stephen Strasburg fanned 12 with no walks in 8 stanzas, while Francisco Liriano left with 2 outs in the 8th, up 1-0 with the tying run on 2nd base after a sacrifice — just the second Nats runner to get that far.

Pedro Alvarez lashed one just over the high right-center wall in the 2nd; he came in 0-5 with 4 Ks off Strasburg, who poured in a career-high 80 strikes. The Bucs tacked on 3 in the 9th against Drew Storen and Fernando Abad, and Jayson Werth’s 5th HR in four games made it just close enough for Mark Melancon to notch his 3rd save. Liriano walked 3 and whiffed 7, and trimmed his ERA to 2.23 with his 4th scoreless game of 7+ IP, tied for 4th in the majors.

• Nats have lost 6 in a row, with 13 total runs. They’ve scored 32 in their last 13 contests (2-11).
• Strasburg’s 12th time in 20 starts backed with 2 runs or less.
• Storen’s strikeout and walk rates this year are better than his career average, but his BAbip’s about 75 points higher.

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@Royals 4, Orioles 3 — Highs and lows for Eric Hosmer, and the 2nd career game-winning hit for Alcides Escobar. Hosmer homered early, but his 4th-inning error set up Matt Wieters’s 2-out, 2-run homer. Wei-Yin Chen rolled into the 8th up 3-1, his third straight strong start since his 2-month layoff. But Lorenzo Cain singled on 0-2 with one out, and Hosmer clocked another to tie. In the 9th, David Lough singled with 1 out off Darren O’Day, and Escobar laced the next one for a double to left and the happy huddle. Luke Hochevar (1.95 ERA) got the win for one scoreless inning, his 11th straight.

• Ervin Santana went 8 on 1 ER; he’s averaging just under 7 IP per start.
• Hosmer didn’t hit southpaws at all in his first two years, and this season just one of his first 9 homers came off a lefty. But overall he’s hit them better than righties this year, coming in at .327/.780.
• Nate McLouth led off the game with a double, and Manny Machado bunted. McLouth took 3rd and it went as a sacrifice, but that’s not a good play for a .300 hitter. They didn’t score the runner.

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@Angels 1, Twins 0 — Jered Weaver allowed a single in the 1st, another in the 8th, and a walk in the 7th, ending his day with a K to strand the tying run on 2nd. Exciting Ernesto Frieri bounced back from Tuesday’s 5-run wallop, sort of; he walked two and hit one, but finished with a 3-pitch whiff.

• 11th game this year with all singles for both sides; first involving either of these teams. The Angels last played such a game in 2008, beating Mariano in the 9th. There were 12 such games last season, with three in the last two weeks that featured Pittsburgh.
• Twins are giving a cuppa to a 12-year minor league utility man who shows up in box scores as “D. Bernier.” If you listened to Harry Caray in the summer of ’84, you’ll know why I’ll always see that name the wrong way ’round.

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Indians 10, @Mariners 1 — The M’s rode in on 8 wins, their best streak in 10 years, but they were grounded by Scott Kazmir. He went 8 innings for the first time in 5 years (and 7th time in 197 career starts), yielding an unearned run and one single. Asdrubal Cabrera’s wild throw let in the run, but he led the attack with a 4-4-2-3 line, season highs in runs and RBI, and his first taste of two XBH flavors in almost a year. Michael Bourn’s first-ever slam tied his best RBI game, done twice in 2008.

• The Tribe homered twice for the first time in 13 games. They led in April taters, but have fallen to 7th in the AL.
• Kazmir’s 83 Game Score was his 3rd-best ever, and highest since 2006. He has a 1.60 ERA in his last 7 starts, with a .150 BA. He’s the second this year with two games of 7+ IP on 1 hit or less, joining Matt Harvey and Shelby Miller.
• Justin Smoak had the hit off Kaz in the 5th. He’s been quietly effective since getting back to the lineup in June, batting .306/.938 with 6 HRs in his past 27 games.

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Athletics 4, Astros 3 — Was it an encore showing of Monday’s game? Once again, Oakland trailed 3-1 after 6, got a HR in the 7th off ex-mate Travis Blackley, and took the lead on a 2-run shot from a slumping batter, this time Coco Crisp.

Ryan Cook, who couldn’t get anyone out for a fortnight in June, bailed out the 8th with the go-ahead runs on, then finished the game to give Grant Balfour a breather after his first implosion. Cook’s allowed one unearned run in his last 10 games, and still hasn’t surrendered a HR in 43.2 IP this year. His 69.2-inning homerless streak is the longest active right now.

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@Cardinals 11, Phillies 3 — After Matt Carpenter fouled off five 2-strike pitches with 2 outs in the 4th, Jake Westbrook stole second — so of course Carpenter drove the next pitch into center for a 4-0 lead. They blew the doors off with 4 extra-base hits and 5 runs in the 6th, capped with a 2-out, 3-run triple. Matt Adams drove in 3, and has 29 RBI in 150 ABs.

• 5th steal by a pitcher this year, and the 2nd in Westbrook’s career. He’s the only pitcher with 2 since 2012.

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@Rockies 2, Marlins 1 — Sure, it’s only the Fish, but Jorge De La Rosa’s 6 scoreless frames gave him a 2.53 RA/9 in his last 15 starts, and he’s 6-1, 2.65 in 10 Coors starts this year. After a nervous 8th from Matt Belisle, Rex Brothers worked an effective 9th for his sixth save (3rd among southpaws). Brothers walked Giancarlo on 4 pitches with 2 outs, none on, but no one will fault him for that.

• Todd Helton passed Wade Boggs with his 579th double, ranking 19th all-time. Cap Anson, Robin Yount and two more would be passed with another 8 Helton doubles.
• Miami’s Christian Yelich went 0-4, after his 3-hit debut.

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Tigers 6, @White Sox 1 (8th) — Six zeroes by Anibal Sanchez and Prince’s 3-run shot in the 1st led Detroit to their 4th straight win, and 2nd without Miguel Cabrera. John Danks stayed for 7, but gave up 6 runs on 11 hits; the Tigers have pummeled him four straight times, totaling 27 runs and 40 hits in 19.2 IP.

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@Rangers 3, Yankees 1 — A.J. Pierzynski came in 10-32 off Andy Pettitte, and he drove in the first 2 runs with a single and homer. The tater answered New York’s tying run, set up when Matt Garza’s error sent Brett Gardner galloping. The newest Ranger allowed 5 hits and no walks in 7.1 IP, just his 2nd win in 12 starts vs. the Yankees; the Rays lost his last 9 starts in that matchup from 2008-10.

• Pettitte’s previous start made him New York’s career leader in HRs allowed; he now leads Whitey Ford, 231-228.

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@Brewers 3, Padres 1 — Carlos Gomez shook off a 3-42 slump and carried the offense with 4 hits, 2 doubles, 2 RBI, and his 22nd steal, with another run scoring on that overthrow. Kyle Lohse isn’t discouraging trade speculators with a 2.30 ERA over 10 starts.

• The games go on, but we don’t forget what a bounder Ryan Braun is.

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Dodgers 8, @Blue Jays 3 (10 inn.) — The latest Toronto relievers toasted by L.A. were Casey Janssen (unfairly) and Juan Perez (unmercifully), as the NL West leaders rallied for their sixth straight win and a 23-5 stretch that’s put them 6 games over .500. The Jays had slipped ahead in the 8th, 3-2, on a pinch-steal by Rajai Davis, Jose Bautista’s infield hit and an Adrian Gonzalez error. But Janssen walked Yasiel Puig on 5 pitches starting the 9th, and after whiffing Gonzalez and Hanley, he gave up Andre Ethier’s single to center which eluded Colby Rasmus, and Puig came all the way home.

Perez had allowed 11 hits and no earned runs in 22 innings, but the Dodgers smoked him for five. He walked Juan Uribe with 1 out, and Mark Ellis took him deep for the lead. Puig homered an out later (his first in 17 games), and eventually Ethier brought in 2 more with his 4th hit. The Dodgers won the hits battle, 16-5, giving them 60 knocks over 4 straight games of 8+ runs — their first such streak since 1985.