Just a few tonight; my teams needed me. Sorry if I missed a big story somewhere.

Braves 6, @Nationals 3 — With Atlanta seeking a 15-game bulge and their best win streak since 2000, Kris Medlen set aside the first 11 batters and led by 2-0. But he walked Bryce Harper, and Jayson Werth made it count with his 16th HR. Jordan Zimmermann had to leave after 4 innings, cause yet unknown. Justin Upton got the lead back with a solo in the 7th, but Medlen couldn’t hold again, and Werth scored that run after singling.

With 2 outs in Atlanta’s 8th, Andrelton Simmons doubled, and Medlen left for a PH, who walked. Jason Heyward singled on 0-2 against the lefty summoned just for him, putting the Braves on top again, and Upton backed it with a 2-run double, his 3rd hit. The finish wasn’t easy, as Harper doubled and Werth walked against Craig Kimbrel, bringing up the tying run with no outs. But Kimbrel whiffed Adam LaRoche and Ian Desmond (16 HRs each), and after a walk, Wilson Ramos lined to Heyward in RF to seal it.

• Upton’s 22-50 in a 12-game hit streak, 5 HRs, 13 RBI, 12 runs.
• Werth’s been rampaging for a month, hitting .426 with a .509 OBP and 8 HRs in the last 30 games. But the Nats are just 12-18 in that span.

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@Reds 6, Athletics 5 — After Andy Pettitte’s Monday meltdown, I was curious about how another drug-rule violator, Bartolo Colon, would fare in his first start after the Biogenesis suspensions were announced. Colon came in with a string of 15 quality starts (11-1, 1.69 in that span), but he didn’t last the 3rd inning and registered his worst start Game Score since last May. His usually fine control was absent, with 3 walks (one to opposing moundsman Homer Bailey) and a 37/30 strike-to-ball ratio. It’s armchair psychology, of course, but it wouldn’t be a shock if Colon and/or Pettitte were not able to focus as keenly as usual, with so much PED talk in the air.

In the bigger picture, the A’s have lost 6 of 7, their once 6-game lead melting to a scant half before the charging Rangers. Josh Donaldson hit his first HR in 18 games since the All-Star Break, but Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick continued their year-long BA slumps, a combined 0-7 leaving them at .226 and .203, respectively. Leadoff man Coco Crisp (0-5) crested at .301 on June 15, but he’s 30 for 164 since then (.183).

Cincinnati got a 2-run shot from Jay Bruce, his 2nd of the series (plus a home-plate assist), and a pair of RBI doubles from third-string catcher Corky Miller. Aroldis Chapman had no trouble in his 27th save, but he’s just 7-4 converting one-run chances.

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Orioles 10, @Padres 3 — Jedd Gyorko’s 3-run HR wiped out Baltimore’s lead in the 6th, but Chris Davis had the answer. He timed the first pitch from lefty Colt Hynes, a roundhouse curve, and clocked it for a major moving violation. The O’s ran away from there, sweeping the short set in San Diego to kick off an 8-game western swing, after a 4-5 homestand. Francisco Rodriguez got 3 outs (2 Ks) with the game tied in the stretch frame, and picked up the win with his first clean inning as an Oriole.

• Davis had been 0-3, whiffing with a man on 3rd and no outs (Eric Stults breezed the side to dodge that bullet) and flying out with 2 in scoring position to end their 5th. The homer was his 41st, leaving him on a pace of 58 HR, 150 RBI.

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Tigers 6, @Indians 5 (14 inn.) — The longest game for either team this year didn’t want to end with just one jaw-dropping moment. Down two runs with 2 outs and the bases empty, the Tribe stormed back against Joaquin Benoit, and got the tying run to 3rd, before Drew Stubbs swung over a 2-and-2 sinker, sealing Detroit’s 11th straight win. But the biggest drama came much earlier.

Cleveland’s Danny Salazar had made a dazzling debut just before the Break, and in his first return he racked up 10 Ks through 7.2 innings, including 3 of Miguel Cabrera. (Who does that?) Salazar had surrendered a 2-1 lead on Austin Jackson’s solo HR in the 6th (a hanging slider that vanished quickly). But he pitched out of trouble in the 7th, picking up Nick Swisher, whose error on a double put the lead run on 3rd with 1 out. Swisher returned the favor in the bottom half with his 2nd tiebreaking double of the game, and Salazar took a 3-2 lead to the 8th, with Cabrera due up 4th.

He got the first two men with ease, but Torii Hunter singled. Would they let him face Miggy a 4th time, with 102 pitches on his ledger? They would, and he started Cabrera with a fastball. He’d rung up Miggy earlier with triple-digit heat, but if this one came in that fast, it left at warp speed — a mammoth blow, departing Cabrera’s bat as off a well-struck driver on a long par-5.

But Drew Smyly couldn’t hold the lead. In his first appearance both of the series (and first since his 13-game scoreless string was broken), Smyly had pulled them out of trouble in the 7th, getting 2 outs with a man on 2nd. But back-to-back doubles started the home 8th, though Michael Brantley had to stop at 3rd on Carlos Santana’s drive. Hard-throwing Bruce Rondon came on and fanned Ryan Raburn, but Yan Gomes (who homered earlier) made contact, grounding to short as Brantley came across. Rondon got through with just that run, a fine job under the circumstances. But the game was tied, and Cabrera had been lifted for defense.

The Tigers filled the sacks with 1 out in the 9th, but Cody Allen got two flies to right that brought only Bengal frustration. Rondon blew through another frame, and Jose Veras handled one. In the 11th, Jeremy Bonderman entered for Detroit. I didn’t know that such a thing was possible; it seems the Mariners cut him loose in July, and the Tigers stashed him at AAA, where he logged 9.2 scoreless innings of relief. Jeremy worked 3 strong innings on just 27 pitches, with 3 strikeouts and a GDP. The last two turns by Cleveland’s lineup had produced 18 outs.

In the 14th, Bryan Shaw’s 3rd stanza, Austin Jackson led off with a double, and moved up on Hunter’s fly to right. Hernan Perez, Cabrera’s stand-in, worked a walk from 1-and-2, and lefty Marc Rzepczynski was called on to face Fielder. Prince took one strike, missed another. But he’s no pushover on 0-2, with 9-for-37 and 2 doubles on that count this year. Rzepczynski’s slider wasn’t sharp; Fielder punched it towards left-center, and it split the pursuit, hopping to the wall for a 2-run double.

• Who fans Miguel Cabrera 3 times in a game, indeed? I checked all his 3-K games with Detroit, back through 2008, and found just two others: Ervin Santana (2012-09-07, 10 Ks total), and David Price (2010-07-29, 9 Ks). Cabrera now has seven games of 3+ Ks since the start of 2009. Salazar caught him looking on a full count (no swings), then on 6 swings over 7 pitches in the next two trips (3 missed).
• Smyly has allowed 14 runs in 62 IP all year — but 5 in 7.1 IP against the Indians.
• Fielder’s had a disappointing year so far, but he’s hitting lefties better than usual.
• Detroit’s played 3 games of exactly 14 innings this year, winning all.

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@Royals 5, Twins 2 — With a short start by fill-in Danny Duffy, five K.C. relievers kept Minnesota off the board for the last 5.1 innings. Alex Gordon’s tying homer and RBI double (both off the southpaw Samuel Deduno) paced a balanced 14-hit attack, as the Royals took the rubber game. Duffy no doubt received the stock instruction: Go as hard as you can, for as long as you can. A leadoff triple led to a quick run, but two of his 7 Ks got him out of further trouble with 2 on. He fanned three more after a single in the 2nd, then with 2 on to start the 3rd, two more Ks helped him off the field. Duffy left with 2 outs in the 4th, after Brian Dozier drove in a run with his 2nd extra-base hit. Six hits, 2 walks and 93 pitches in 3.2 IP, but the punchouts limited the damage.

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@White Sox 6, Yankees 5 (11 inn.) — Twice, Chicago rallied from their final breath, scoring in the 9th and the 11th from 2 outs with the bases empty. Alejandro De Aza struck the winning blow, a 2-run triple off Adam Warren that offset Robinson Cano’s HR from the top half and gave the Sox a 3-game sweep. The Yankees fell to 57-56, winless since deploying their new/old third baseman.

New York built a 4-0 lead with homers from Alfonso Soriano and Eduardo Nunez, the club’s 6th and 7th HRs in 18 games since the Break. But Chicago chipped away against CC Sabathia, and trailed by one when Mo strode to his stage. Two outs came quickly (Alex Rios now 0-16 against The Great One), then Gordon Beckham doubled. But Adam Dunn had little hope: 4 prior trips to Doctor Sandman’s office, 4 strikeouts, the last 3 looking. Adam took strike one, then Mo painted the corner with a pitch you couldn’t hit unless your whole approach was just to cover that one spot. Dunn stepped out; perhaps he pondered life’s challenges, maybe he surveyed the defense. He took his stance, and Mariano targeted that spot again — but the brush slipped, and Dunn slashed it past the diving A-Rod, delivering the tying run. So, on they played….

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@Mets 5, Rockies 0 — Matt Harvey’s done a few things in his short career, but he had not yet logged a shutout, nor even a complete game. He also hadn’t won when the Mets scored 1 or 2 runs, and that seemed to be his first challenge, as they led 2-0 with 2 outs in the 8th. With a man on 1st, Marlon Byrd creamed a double to dead center, but it hopped the wall, stopping the runner at 3rd. Ike Davis was passed, filling the cup for rookie Wilmer Flores, who had lined his first big-league base hit earlier and scored the game’s first run. On 2-and-2, Flores raked a back-up breaker down the LF line, scoring all 3 runners and taking the heat off Harvey.

Matt was working with a lead since the 2nd, allowing two clean hits through 7. Then an infield single broke his string of 11 straight retired — wrong call at 1st, but too close to knock the ump — and brought up the tying run with 1 out. But he induced a DP grounder from the next man, and headed to the 9th having thrown just 91 pitches (67 strikes, no walks). With the lead widened, Harvey got the first two grounding out to short, then had an 0-2 count. But on the 100th pitch, Charlie Blackmon scorched a liner that caromed flush off Harvey’s leg and into right field. Time stopped, but Harvey shrugged it off; the ball had just missed his knee. Troy Tulowitzki took the count full, as Blackmon waltzed unchecked to 2nd base. “Indifference,” yes, but every Mets fan wanted that man stopped from scoring. No worries: Tulo popped it up, completing his 0-4 and Harvey’s first true shutout. In all, 78 strikes in 106 pitches, and 24/30 first-pitch strikes.

• Harvey had gone 9 innings once before, the near-perfecto in May when the Mets didn’t score until the 10th. He’d gone 8 three other times, each with 1 run scoring.
• As for no wins when the Mets score 1 or 2 runs, it’s not for lack of trying: In 10 such outings, he’s thrown 70 IP on just 14 runs (12 ER), a 1.54 ERA. (Don’t know how many times he left with a lead, or the Mets scored after he left.)

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Tuesday extras

Twins 7, @Royals 0 — The big-league debut of Saskatchewanite Andrew Albers was no rough ride. The 27-year-old southpaw came within 2 outs of a whitewash, bowing out after issuing his only walk. Otherwise, he was a groundball factory: Of the 26 who put the ball in play, 17 hit grounders (including 3 of the 4 hits), and 4 popped out on the infield.

In the last 5 seasons, only Albers and Jarred Cosart had scoreless debuts of 8 or more innings — in fact, the only 8-inning debuts, regardless of runs allowed. Albers is the first ever to do so for the Minnesota Twins, and only he and Mike Fornieles had such a debut in the searchable history of the Twins/Senators. Fornieles, who had starred for his hometown Havana Cubans (Washington’s class-B affiliate in pre-revolutionary times), tossed a one-hit shutout against the Athletics, allowing a 2nd-inning single to Joe Astroth (as well as 6 walks), while retiring the last 14 men.

(Incidentally, 1952 was the Senators’ only post-WWII winning season before they left the capital for Minnesota in 1961, and the only season between 1933 and 1969 when both they and the Athletics posted winning marks.)

Albers was called up from AAA Rochester, where he was 11-5 with a 2.86 ERA and 3 complete games, including his last 2 starts. Drafted in 2008 by the Padres, he barely pitched for them before needing T.J. surgery, which cost him all of 2009 and his spot on the roster. He re-established himself with a year in the independent Can-Am League, serving as closer for Les Capitales de Quebec. The Twins signed him for 2011 and began his move back to starting duty. He fit the organizational profile, walking just 61 batters in 331 IP over 3 seasons (1.7 BB/9).

• It’s been almost 11 years since the last debut CG shutout, and the author of that one would never win another game.
• Folks are happy for Andrew Albers in the Twin Cities, in Lexington, KY and in points north.
• Brian Dozier led off the game with a home run, Minnesota’s first such HR in more than a year. Two batters later, Justin Morneau went deep with a man aboard, his 11th of the year but 4th in the last 10 games. It’s their first multi-HR 1st inning in almost 2 years.
• Just two Royals hit safely, 2 hits apiece for Eric Hosmer (who also walked) and Alcides Escobar.
• Despite the blanking, James Shields had no kick over run support, getting blistered for 3 HRs and 7 runs, one coming on his first balk of the year.

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@Pirates 4, Marlins 3 — The lonely lot of the multi-inning reliever: Mike Dunn brilliantly extricated Miami from a 3-on, no-out quagmire in the 8th, and by throwing only 7 pitches, he was deemed fresh enough to start the 9th, especially with a lefty batter leading off. But Garrett Jones stood down for righty Josh Harrison, who was 6 for 16 against southpaws, with a HR, a triple and 5 RBI. On a 1-1 count, Dunn’s target was inside at the knees, but he missed by a foot in two directions — thigh-high, outer half. Harrison didn’t realize he’d gotten all of it, but Dunn knew.

• It was Pittsburgh’s first game-ending pinch-homer since … surprise! — it’s not 1992 (as most “last time the Bucs did something good” notes have been this year), but 2001, when a rookie named Craig Wilson did it in the midst of a 10-for-34-with-7-HRs performance in the pinch.
• Before the dramatic denouement, it was a little of this Cutch and a little of that Cutch keeping the Bucs in the ballgame.

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@Mets 3, Rockies 2 — Now, that’s a pop-up slide! A roller to second base was just slow enough for Juan Lagares to beat that throw, and for Eric Young to motor all the way from 2nd base, breaking a tie in the home 8th. Young led off with a single, then tagged up and raced to 2nd on a fly to deep center, catching Dexter Fowler just a little unawares. After a pass to Ike Davis, Lagares stepped in with 2 outs; he had drilled a 2-run triple with 2 down in the 1st. This time, he caught just enough of a 2-2 pitch to chop it out of reach of pitcher Wilton Lopez. Second baseman DJ LeMahieu was shading up the middle, and although he made his second superb barehanded play of the game, it was not in time to get Lagares. Todd Helton shifted his gaze towards 3rd to check the runner, but Young had never stopped, and the split-second lag in Helton’s realization was all Young needed to steal the run.

As a fan, I often marvel at all the different efforts that go into winning just one ballgame. Lagares drove in all 3 Mets runs, yet he only got those chances because Ike Davis kept the innings alive. (Ike had a shift-beating double in the 1st and reached in all 4 trips, and in 30 of his last 60.) Jenrry Mejia had another solid outing (7 Ks, 2 walks in 5.1 IP), yet it took several defensive gems to keep New York in the game:

• John Buck nabbed Fowler straying off of 1st after a leadoff walk;
• Daniel Murphy made a tough backhand pickup and a quick cross-body feed to start a DP;
• Young flew in for a head-first stab of Helton’s sinking quail to strand the 3 Mejia left behind;
• Marlon Byrd employed a safety-slide to pick off a low liner while maintaining body control, with a man aboard; and
• Davis laid out to snag a foul line drive, ending the game with two men on.

Carlos Torres inherited the full load from Mejia (who faltered after a long ump-injury delay) and got 5 straight outs; he’s allowed 2 runs in 23 relief innings (0.74 WHIP). And with Bobby Parnell finally landing on the DL, LaTroy Hawkins earned his first full-inning save in 4 years. It took all these efforts just for the home team to win by one run, over a team that came in on a 1-6 road trip, and 21-35 in all road games. OK, I’m talking about the Mets, but still….

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Blue Jays 7, @Mariners 2 — That nutty friend of yours, who thinks that every sporting event is fixed? Games like this are what fuel his fantasies. Felix Hernandez against Josh Johnson? But that’s why they play the games … and why we never bet on sports.