@Pirates 5, Cardinals 0 — A showdown for 1st place, but the Cards were a no-show, and the hosts grabbed a share. For the third time this year, Francisco Liriano made St. Louis invisible, zipping through 8 innings on two harmless 2-out singles.

Garrett Jones’s first 4-RBI game in over a year began with a 2-run double, redeeming a 1st-inning threat that had almost flamed out. A graceful Jones parabola opened the 4th, the first of two straight Pittsburgh homers. Shelby Miller fell to 0-4 against the Bucs this year, 15 runs allowed in 22 innings; the Cards totaled one run in those 4 games, the last two against Liriano.

• Liriano vs. Cardinals: 2 runs and 10 hits in 24 innings. He’s 15-6 overall, with a 2.57 RA/9.
• Jones had just 2 RBI in his last 15 games, both on solo shots.
• Pirates are 16-10 in games decided by 5+ runs, Cardinals 28-15.

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@Yankees 8, Orioles 5 — When CC coughed up the lead in the 5th, it was feeling a lot like wait ’til next year for Yankees fans. But they routed Miguel Gonzalez in their half with 5 straight hits, 4 extra-baggers, and a go-ahead 2-run HR by Ichiro, who looked like he got what he guessed on the first pitch. Gonzalez left trailing 5-4, bases full and no outs, and Cano knocked in two more.

Sabathia set down the first 10, and had 1-2 on Chris Davis with 2 outs in the 4th, but lost him to an RBI single. Alfonso Soriano gave CC the lead in the home half with an oppo 2-pointer after a 2-out walk to Cano — the first hit off Gonzalez, and Sori’s 12th HR and 35th RBI in 32 games with New York. But that didn’t last two batters, as Danny Valencia popped one worth a pair — his 6th HR and 15th XBH in just 86 ABs. Manny Machado’s 2nd hit brought the 3rd run of the 5th with 2 outs, but he was picked off/CS to end the inning with Adam Jones up. After New York’s big inning, Jones led off the 6th with a double, and scored on Markakis’s hit that sent off Sabathia.

Interesting move in the 7th: Up 2 runs with 1 out and none on, Joe Girardi used Boone Logan to get Nate McLouth, then went to David Robertson. I thought he’d save Logan in case the inning got to Chris Davis with men on; Crash has a big BA gap against lefties, though still plenty of power. But Joe went for the outs up front, and was happy to have Robertson start the 8th against Jones and Davis. He got one of those two, and had to retire Valencia with 2 on and 2 outs. By then, the Yanks had bought some insurance, with a 2-out rally cashed by A-Rod’s single off K-Rod; Alex was 2-20 with 10 Ks in that matchup. Mariano closed up with his 2nd straight 1-2-3 outing.

• Ichiro’s had similar results against K-Rod, now 2-25 after grounding out in the 8th.
• In 15 games at the Stadium this year, Soriano is 17 for 59, 8 HRs, 24 RBI.
• Jones has good career numbers vs. CC, but he’s one of the rare righty batters who fare significantly worse against southpaws.
• Valencia has 11 hits in his last 17 ABs. He’s an MLB no-name, but Valencia can really hurt LHPs.

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@Tigers 7, Indians 2 (7 inn.) — Somehow, you don’t expect two rain-shortened games in one week of a pennant race … As in their last meeting, Detroit mugged Zach McAllister in the 3rd inning, each with a key double by Victor Martinez. This time, V-Mart’s 2nd two-bagger of the night was a lights-aided 2-run job that built a 4-1 lead and brought his BA to the brink of .300 for the first time this year, on a 43/101 spree. Rick Porcello was good enough for the win, but he ran out of gas just short of his 4th straight quality start against Cleveland. Playing with house money and a 5-1 lead, Jim Leyland brought in Al Alburquerque with 2 outs in the 6th and the bags full after two walks by Porcello. True to form, Al-Al walked home a run, but he got Yan Gomes to ground out. Three of six walks given out by the Tribe came full circle, as they fell to 3-14 against the Tigers, outscored by 110-61.

• Jose Iglesias bailed out Porcello in the 2nd, magically turning a hit into a 6-4-3; a run scored, but the benefits were clear when the next man doubled and no damage ensued.
• Miggy started, but he didn’t get far, and he looks like he needs a rest.
• Can this really be true? — Bruce Rondon got a save for getting the last out of the top of the 7th, even though Detroit hit in the home half before the rains took over? It’s already ludicrous that a save can be earned for getting one out with the tying run only on deck. To award a save in that spot, when it doesn’t end the game, and nobody even thinks that it could end the game, is just bananas.

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@Red Sox 4, White Sox 3 — Both starters had early control trouble, but only Ryan Dempster pulled out of his nosedive in time. Hector Santiago survived 2 walks in the 1st, but surrendered all 4 Boston runs in the 3rd and 4th innings, with 4 more free runners figuring almost as large as the 2-out hits by Pedroia & Papi. Dempster was charged with 3 runs in 6.2 IP, the last coming home on a triple of Junichi Tazawa. Koji Uehara got the last 4 outs all in a row for his 10th straight save, with no runs in 23 IP, 7 baserunners and 29 Ks during that stretch.

• Shane Victorino singled and scored in both rallies; in the last 11 games, he has 14 runs & 14 RBI.
• Boston’s win in the East added pressure to Tampa’s later start in Oakland. The division’s a 2-team race, as Baltimore now trails by 7.5 games, and the Yankees stayed 8 back.

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@Athletics 4, Rays 3 — If this was a play-in-game preview, we could be in for an October treat. Tampa led early, then scored twice in the 8th to tie, but they left 2 in scoring position from 1 out, and the A’s took advantage. Coco Crisp singled off David Price, and with 1 out, Jed Lowrie pulled Joel Peralta’s 2-0 pitch down the RF line for the lead — just the 3rd of 23 inherited runners to score off Peralta. Grant Balfour burst from the ‘pen breathing fire, seeking salve for yesterday’s meltdown, and he blew off Jose Molina on 3 pitches en route to his 34th save.

Price brought a 1-0 lead to the 5th, looking to go 8-1 since his DL stint. But the once-and-future A’s catcher Kurt Suzuki had contrary notions. A boot and a walk set things up, and after two straight 7-pitch ABs, Suzuki drilled the first one far and away to LF, for a 3-1 lead. But the Rays would be heard from.

With a run already home in the 8th, James Loney fouled away four with 2 strikes from Ryan Cook, then poked a liner that a diving Chris Young couldn’t corral, and Ben Zobrist scored the tying run, leaving Loney at 2nd and Longo on 3rd. Cook had let in both runners handed off by Jarrod Parker, but he stranded these two RISP with two Ks, an awful called strike ending the inning.

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Mets 3, @Nationals 2 — The Nats have no margin for losses like this one. Jordan Zimmermann gave up Ike Davis’s just-enough 2-run jack in the 4th inning, erasing a 1-0 lead, and he lost to New York for the 3rd time in 4 starts, his mates totaling 2 runs in the losses. Washington missed a chance to gain on the Reds, who got stonkered in Denver.

Daniel Murphy padded the lead with 2 outs in the 8th. He grounded a double past Ryan Zimmerman, then scored on an infield hit that Zimmerman gloved going behind the bag and should have eaten. That run played up when Steve Lombardozzi demolished an inside fastball for 2-out pinch-HR in the home half. Dillon Gee had been cruising, allowing 3 hits and a walk, but the bomb was followed by an infield hit and a meet on the mound. If New York was playing for something (or if Terry Collins had a better bullpen), Gee would not have faced Ryan Zimmerman with his pitch count pushing 100 (here’s why). But he stayed, and Zim singled, moving the equalizer to 2nd for Bryce Harper. Scott Rice fell behind, but Harper fouled off a 3-0 pitch and then bounced to 2B for the 4th time.

Gee beat the Nats for the 4th time in 5 tries this year, with a 2.16 RA/9. He’s 7-2 career, with a 2.80 ERA.

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@Blue Jays 3, Royals 2 — Trailing 3-0 after 7, the Royals rallied and got the tying run to 2nd base with 1 out in the 9th, but Casey Janssen pulled through. Mark Buehrle won his 6th straight decision, with a 1.93 RA/9 in those 8 starts. He strung up 7 zeroes and left after just 99 pitches, then sweated Brett Cecil’s rough 8th (3 hits, 2 runs). Adam Lind gave him an early lead with a 2-run single off Ervin Santana, after an error by Emilio Bonifacio and Encarnacion’s double.

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Twins 3, @Rangers 2 — Yu-know-who was at it again, no safeties and 10 Ks through 6 innings. But he lost his command in the 7th, walking Brian Dozier on 5 pitches. Chris Herrmann took two balls, got one in his wheelhouse and unloaded — and on 2-and-1, Justin Morneau followed suit on a hanging slider. Darvish left after a 2-out double.

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@Dodgers 9, Padres 1 — Hyun-Jin Ryu worked into the 7th on one run and backed himself with a tying double in the 2nd, and the bats put it away with a 5-run 7th featuring Yasiel Puig’s 4th hit, Hanley’s 2nd double and A-Gon’s 2nd so-long.

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Phillies 6, @Cubs 5 — Roy Halladay put the Phils in a 5-0 hole, but they roared back off Jeff Samardzija, behind Kevin Frandsen’s pinch-triple & subsequent home run, and Michael Young’s 4 hits, including the go-ahead knock off Kevin Gregg with 2 outs, 2 strikes in the 9th.

It would seem rare to have both a triple and a HR in a game entered as a pinch-hitter. But the Play Index finds 13 prior games since 1916 (actually, all since 1951), most lately last May in a Cubs game (David DeJesus, 4 ABs, 13-inning game). Harold Baines did it in 1999 (2 ABs, 5 RBI, scored the tying run with 2 outs in the 9th after tripling, then hit a walk-off slam in the 10th). Bob Boyd did it in a big-impact game in 1957, adding a double. Frandsen was the 10th to do it in regulation.

• Nate Schierholtz is the 4th Cubs RF with a 20-HR year since Sammy Sosa. Can you name the other three?
• Dioner Navarro seems to have lost power somewhere between 3rd and home, trying for the go-ahead run in the 7th. That’s a three-hop throw that nabs him.