Pirates 8, @Marlins 6 (13 inn.) — Someone pinch Gregory Polanco. The wunderkind’s first home run not only gave him five hits in the game, but also saved the Bucs from a potential loss that would have haunted Clint Hurdle all year. They led by 6-2 after eight, behind Jeff Locke’s career-long outing and the big nights by Polanco and Starling Marte at the top of the order. And then the roof collapsed:

Three Bucs relievers issued six walks in the 9th, giving the Fish four runs on just one hit. The grisly details are best left alone — four of the freebies came without a single swing — but the last three walks bear mention. One went to Rafael Furcal, who started at second base for the first time since his rookie year, and finished 0-6 in his first action since August 2012. The fifth pass was intentional, from Jason Grilli to Giancarlo Stanton (who had doubled and slugged his 18th), and pushed the winning run to second with two outs. Mark Melancon entered the fray, a tough spot for his first inherited runners since 2012. He got Casey McGehee into an 0-2 hole, but his next four missed the zone, the last not even close. It was the first time since 2012 that Pittsburgh let in more than three runs in the 9th or later.

After Melancon whiffed Marcell Ozuna to force extra innings, Steve Cishek muffed a grounder with two outs in the 10th, putting two aboard and bringing Polanco’s first crack at five hits and the hero’s crown. But the rookie, in his 4th game, fanned on a full count. A string of 14 straight outs was snapped by McGehee’s 12th-inning double, but Jeanmar Gomez kept him there. Clint Barmes, who came in for defense in the 8th, opened the 13th with his second single, and Gomez bunted him over. Polanco made that stratagem moot by smashing a 2-2 pitch from lefty Mike Dunn more than 400 feet to right field, a flourish for his first extra-base hit. Gomez polished off the Marlins for a well-earned win, with four frames of one-hit ball.
To the numbers:

• Fastest to a 5-hit game, since 1914: Cecil Travis did it in his 1933 debut (5-7 in 12 innings, all singles, no RBI; 27 hits for the Senators). Red Massey did it in his second game — the second game of the 1918 season, his one year in the bigs (6-2-5-3 with a double, in a blowout win). And now Polanco, in game #4. No other did it before his fifth game.
• Five hits, plus a homer: Polanco is the first to do it by his 4th game. Mike Lansing did it in his 5th, Brant Brown in his 8th, and Henry Aaron in his 9th game.
• Of the 15 players with a 5-hit game within their first 10, just three were under age 23: Travis (19.281), Hank (20.079) and Polanco (22.272).
• Honorable mention: Mel Stottlemyre went 5-1-5-2 with a double in his 12th game, age 22.318 — and tossed a 2-hit shutout. Mel had one other 3-hit game in his career, and finished with a .160 BA.
• One other 5-hit game by a Bucs leadoff man since 1991: Warren Morris, 6-0-5-0 in a 2-1 loss. You’d never guess who had their last 6-hit leadoff game; I had forgotten that he even spent a year with them. No, it’s more recent than Rennie Stennett’s 7-for-7.

For what it’s worth … The IBB to Giancarlo scored a lower Win Probability (for the issuing team) than all but one in the last eight years — and that one brought to bat a pitcher when the team was out of hitters. Of course, WPA doesn’t know who’s batting now and who’s to come, but I would not have walked Giancarlo there to face McGehee. Beyond the obvious angles — McGehee’s OBP vs. Stanton’s BA for the tying run, and moving the winning run up to second — I do believe (with no hard evidence) in a domino effect of walk clusters, even when a a new pitcher is brought in.

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@Mets 6, Padres 2 — Youth must be served, but give the elders their due. The 40-somethings Bartolo Colon and Bobby Abreu led the Mets to just their second win in 10 games. Colon set down 18 straight Padres after Rene Rivera’s 2nd-inning homer, earning his 6th win. Abreu led New York’s comeback with a perfect night, while batting 4th for the first time since 2012: 4-2-4-2, with a key hit in all four scoring frames; his 26th 4-hit game, first since 2011.

• Last 40+ with at least 4 hits, 2 runs and 2 RBI was Jim Edmonds in 2010. Last to do that and make no outs was Rickey Henderson in 1999, a monster game his third time out for the Mets.

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@Cardinals 1, Nationals 0 — Lance Lynn was perfect into the 6th, and Matt Adams homered in his first time up after a DL stint. Trevor Rosenthal fanned three for the save, the last after a 2-out boot by Kolten Wong put Denard Span on first. He didn’t try to steal (as far as play-by-play shows), and Rendon swung through a 2-2 pitch.

The game saw just six men reach safely, with 205 total pitches, and was clocked at 2:03. Three of the other five who got on safely were immediately erased on double plays. No other Cardinal reached second base, and just 25 came to bat,

Jordan Zimmermann threw 76 pitches (19 balls) in his 8-inning CG. Fewest pitches since 2007 in a CG of at least 8 IP, and the 7th with so few since 1988 (the start of full pitch data). Five in that span have finished 9 innings on no more than 76 pitches. Zimmermann faced three batters in every inning but the 2nd.

• Six safe times on base for both teams combined … Three other games in the last 10 years: Last August 23 (LAD 2, BOS 0); August 15, 2012 (King Felix’s 1-0 perfecto); and June 22, ’06 (CHW 1, STL 0).
• The last two games with only five safe reaches came on consecutive days in April ’01: Schilling over K.Brown, and Maddux over Rick Reed.
• Six teams have thrown more than 205 pitches in a regulation game this year.

Moving on to more hard-luck losses:

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Rangers 1, @Mariners 0 — A “neighborhood play” was stretched to an area code, but still Seattle couldn’t turn a DP in the 9th to help Fernando Rodney bail out King Felix. Hernandez took a 3-hitter into the final chapter, but Elvis Andrus stroked a one-out hit, then swiped two bases during a walk to Shin-Soo Choo. The M’s poked just 2 hits off Nick Tepesch, who sailed past a leadoff double in the 6th, then watched Justin Frasor notch two big whiffs in the 7th to preserve his first scoreless start.

• 5th time this year Seattle’s had 2 hits or less, two more than any other team.
• For the third time in his career, Hernandez has logged six straight games with 7+ IP and 2 runs or less, one shy of Randy Johnson’s franchise standard. Besides Johnny Cueto’s nine to start this year, no other in the last three seasons has run off more than six in a row.
• Despite what you might guess, it’s just the fifth loss in which Felix gave up one run, first since 2010, and second of at least 8 IP. Eleven pitchers have suffered more such losses in the last 10 years, led by Matt Cain and James Shields with seven each. But he’s lapped the field with 29 non-winning starts of 7+ IP, one run or less.

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Twins 2, @Tigers 0 — Kyle Gibson scattered five hits and skunked the Tigers in six tries with RISP, while 9th-place hitter Eduardo Escobar homered and drove in both runs. Gibson held Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez to a harmless single in six trips, getting Miggy twice to end big threats, including a bags-full DP. Joe Nathan’s troubles deepened: With two outs in the 9th, after a leadoff error, Nathan hit one and walked two, to force in the insurance run and cause another boo-filled mid-inning departure. Escobar fouled off five in a row on 2-and-2, then took two balls and strolled.

• Second straight 7-inning shutout for Kyle Gibson, and his 5th this year in 13 starts, tied for #2 behind Adam Wainwright’s seven. Two blowup games account for almost half the runs off Gibson; a double-mulligan would put his ERA at 2.15.
• I hope Drew Smyly’s teammates got him a cake, at least; they didn’t give him much to celebrate on his 25th birthday.

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Blue Jays 4, @Orioles 0 — Baltimore out-hit the Jays by 9-4, but Toronto accepted 6 walks, the O’s none. Two of those passes were cashed in, one on Juan Francisco’s 11th homer.

• Drew Hutchison and Kyle Gibson (see above) each have five scoreless starts, tied with Yu Darvish and Max Scherzer for the AL lead.
• Francisco was a surprise powerhouse through May, hitting .275/.961 with 9 HRs, 24 RBI in just 126 PAs. June’s been cruel, so far: 5 for 33, 4 RBI, no walks and 11 Ks. He’s still way above his career norms this year, but his K/W rates have found their level, and the rest will usually follow suit.
• Oriole infielders (including catchers) hit .261/.767 last year, .248/.675 this year. Rates per 650 PAs have dropped in HRs (25-14), RBI (84-61), Runs (75-67) and extra-base hits (60-44), while GIDPs rose from 10 to 16. Matt Wieters got hurt in the midst of a terrific start. 2B Jonathan Schoop has easily bested Brian Roberts’s defense and durability, but has a .268 OBP with 45 Ks and 7 walks. Chris Davis, J.J. Hardy and Manny Machado are way off from last year’s numbers.

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Yankees 7, @Athletics 0 — Seven runs, no extra-base hits: Second time this century for the Bombers.

• Josh Donaldson is 0-25 his last six games.
• Ichiro’s current pace would give him 91 hits this year, and leave him 167 hits away from 3,000 in MLB. He has adapted to a reserve role this year, starting just 29 of the first 66 games, but still batting .305 in that role, and 4 for 5 plus a walk when pinch-hitting.
• Dellin Betances fanned two of his four men, keeping his K rate above 45% (65/144). Only Craig Kimbrel has reached that mark in a season of at least 100 batters faced. Late-starting Aroldis Chapman has whiffed 31 of 56 so far, 55%.

“Tell us more, Mr. Geometry”: The blowout loss made a small correction in the gap between Oakland’s actual record and that predicted by their +123 run differential (i.e., pythagorean record). But that minus-.100 gap in winning percentage — .597 actual, .697 pythag — still would be the largest in modern history. The biggest shortfall was set by the 1993 Mets at -.090 (59 actual wins, 74 pythag), with no other greater than -.080. Biggest overachievers were the 1905 Tigers, +.091 (79 actual wins, 65 pythag). At their current pace, Oakland would miss their pythag expectation by 16 full wins … but still win 97.

Pythagorean gaps normally even out over the long haul. But is Oakland’s feast-or-famine scoring trend random, or is there an organic cause? They’ve scored 8 runs or more in 16 games, six more than any other AL team, and won them all. But they’ve been held to one run or none 10 times (0-10), a pace of 24 for the year. In the past two years, the four AL teams that scored about 5 runs per game (like this year’s A’s) averaged 20 games with one run or none, so 24 would not seem terribly significant. Boston lost all 20 such games last year (and dropped the ALCS opener by 1-0), but they still won the World Series. Four of Oakland’s ten “one-or-none” losses came in their last 8 games, suggesting a mere slump and not a general pattern.

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Rockies 7, @Giants 4 — Bruce Bochy’s team was ahead, 4-2, with one out in the 9th. But the tying runs were in scoring position, and he didn’t like the left-right matchup of Corey Dickerson (.349 vs. LHP this year) against sidewinding Sergio Romo, the MLB saves leader. Bochy still had a lefty in the bullpen, but chose instead to walk Dickerson, putting the lead run aboard in exchange for a double-play chance. Righty Josh Rutledge was due up, and the Rockies’ bench was thin. Walt Weiss called on the little-used Ryan Wheeler. The count went to 1-and-2, and Romo’s sinker was tailing right towards his target. But Wheeler was protecting that corner. He got the bat head out, and ripped a grounder that “Charlie Brown’d” Romo, beat the middle infielders, and tied the game. After a wild pitch, Romo threw a cutter up, and D.J. LeMahieu poked it off the end of his bat, softly but safely into center field.

That was all for Romo, but his orphans both found homes, closing his line at 5 earned runs, one out recorded. It’s the first time he’s surrendered 5 runs in a save chance, and the first time since 2009 that SF let in at least 5 runs in the 9th or later. First MLB blown save in a year and a day allowing 5 runs while facing six or fewer.

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Reds 6, @Brewers 5 — Since blowing a one-run lead on May 19, Aroldis Chapman has converted five straight one-run saves, and nine overall, with 2 hits and one walk against 22 strikeouts.

• Cincy is 4-1 against the Crew this year. They started Milwaukee’s slide from a 20-7 start by taking 3 of 4 at home as May began.
• Batters are 8 for 69 off Jonathan Broxton (.116 BA), despite a career low K rate. His BAbip is .145 in 22 innings; the lowest ever in a season of 40+ IP was .157.

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Royals 7, @White Sox 2 — The first six Royals all hit safely in a 5-run 1st inning, a season high for one of the AL’s weakest in the opening frame (.230 BA, one home run).

• Since his brief demotion to AAA, Mike Moustakas is 7 for 38 with one homer.

How do they do it? KC is last in slugging and OPS+ in the AL, and next-to-last in OBP. That’s usually a lethal combo, but their actual scoring is just a quarter-run below the AL norm. Their ratio of BA with runners in scoring position vs. bases empty is among the highest this year, but such efficiency is generally random.

However, this would be the third straight year KC posted a similar RISP gain. For 2012-14 combined, they’ve hit 19 points better with RISP than bases empty, and 10 points better when sac flies are counted as ABs. Both gains rank 3rd among all teams, after the Cards and A’s. For the latter measure, the MLB norm is a 4-point drop, so KC is 15 points ahead of the game in this regard. And that’s with mainly the same regulars over all three seasons: The seven Royals with at least 800 PAs since 2012 have combined to hit 14 points better with RISP than bases empty (sac-fly adjusted). Their four best hitters overall — Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Sal Perez and Lorenzo Cain — are +58, +33, +28 and +38, respectively.

If this effect is real, making contact is probably the main cause. The Royals have the lowest K rate over the last three years, 16.7% of PAs. The AL average is 19.6%, so they’ve fanned about 440 times less than expected in their number of PAs. Thus, the Royals have been among the AL’s best in measures of baserunner advancement, such as scoring a man from third with less than two outs, and advancing a man from second with no outs — about four percentage points above the AL norm in both. Analysts are right to scorn the notion of “productive outs” in general. But in a very low-run context, efficiency in advancing runners can make a small difference. KC leads the AL in run prevention over the last two years at 3.8 runs per game, or half a run below the norm. That context gives a bit more value to situational hitting.

There’s still no doubt the Royals would fare better with corner infielders who could actually hit, and a few more batters who would take a walk now and then. It’s unlikely they’ll stay in contention with their current slash rates. But they’re interesting.

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Thursday: “Anything Yu can do…”

Tigers 4, @White Sox 0 — Max Scherzer was the first starter to claim the Cy Young Award without a single complete game that season. He was the all-time leader in career starts with no route-goers. And after Yu Darvish spun a shutout Wednesday, Max was the last remaining pitcher who had ever fanned 200 in a season yet had never gone the distance.

No telling if he knew or cared about such stuff. The task at hand was tall enough: to best Chris Sale and spare the Tigers from another sweep. But in the eyes of many, Scherzer shrugged a monkey from his shoulders with a 3-hit shutout.

First on the bump was the lithe lefty, and he faced the minimum through five, thanks to his improved pick-off move. But he hung a slider to Victor Martinez, leading off the 6th with a 2-and-1 count; and since V-Mart had suffered his 16th strikeout the night before, prior custom bound him to restore the equilibrium.

Meanwhile, Max yielded just one hit through seven. But his three walks and a Miguel Cabrera error made him work to strand a pair in both the 3rd and 4th to keep his shutout. Sale’s voyage ended after seven (10 Ks, no walks), and Miggy’s 2-out, 2-run single prised the lead a little wider. Chicago scraped up two more safeties, one by overturn, but their hopes of getting into Detroit’s porous bullpen died when Scherzer froze Dayan Viciedo for the last out, pitch #113. His first quality start in five tries lifted his line to 8-2, 3.05.

• ChiSox are Scherzer’s most frequent foe, and patsy: 11-5, 2.40 in 21 starts, .213 BA, with six of 17 outings scoreless since 2011.
• The one-run effort trimmed Sale’s ERA back under 2 and pumped his K/W ratio to 68/9, but dealt him his first loss in nine starts this year.
• Sale’s third loss since last year when yielding just one run tied him with Alex Wood for 2nd in that unwanted distinction; Darvish leads with four.
• Runners stole 19 times on Sale last year, tops among AL southpaws, with only two thieves nipped in the act and one picked off. Just four have tried such larceny this year, and two repented of their crime.
• 13 of V-Mart’s 16 strikeouts this year “connect” to a home run in the game before, the game after, or that same game. His HRs and Ks have been tied at one, two, five, nine, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 16.

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@Reds 4, Dodgers 1 — Zack Greinke’s early lead was gone in just four pitches. Todd Frazier’s high fly found his home field’s friendly right-field seats, after Skip Schumacher had singled. Then Alfredo Simon said “Don’t score” through LA’s 8th, earning his 9th win by spacing four more singles after the Dodgers’ three had nicked him in the 1st. Devin Mesoraco’s peg nabbed Yasiel Puig to end the 6th, and Frazier helped to thwart a bigger threat the next frame: juggling a hopper at the hot corner, he found the handle in time to catch Matt Kemp well shy of scoring. Cincy scored twice on Brandon League to make it easy for Aroldis Chapman, who got fans’ teeth grinding with a leadoff walk, but fanned the last two when a homer could have tied it.

• Simon’s return to starting duty at age 33 has been a revelation: 11 quality starts in 13 outings, 3rd in the NL. Peripherals suggest his ERA will rise from 2.95, but give him credit for winning despite sub-par run support. The Reds have won 10 of his 13, scoring 4 runs or less in eight of those.
• Frazier has been a solid glove and steady power source all year, leading the Reds with 14 HRs, 34 RBI, 39 runs.
• But those leads speak volumes on the Reds’ weak offense, next-to-last in the NL at 3.46 runs per game. They’ve had more starts of 8+ innings than any other team, but lost four of those 13, totaling one run scored while the SPs let in just four. No other team’s lost more than two such games.
• Tim Federowicz was 7 for 60 this year, then singled on the first pitch he ever saw from Chapman.

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@Giants 7, Nationals 2 — Tim Hudson stifled sweep hopes of the Nats, yielding one unearned run on six singles in seven stanzas. The Giants’ offense woke up late in this series: Facing a fourth straight output of 2 runs or less, they tallied five times in their last three raps, with nothing louder than a double.

• Six straight games of no home runs for the NL’s #2 in that category. SF’s prior longest drought was three games, April 15-17.
• Hudson held the Nats to a couple singles in 10 ABs with men on base, about par for his season’s work: 19 for 124 with men on base, no homers, a double and a triple, .153 BA, .177 slugging.
• Tyler Colvin’s triple gave Tim an early lead. Colvin has just one home run, but 12 of his 18 hits have gone for extras.
• Young Blake Treinen is getting used to low support. He’s let in 3 runs or less in all four starts (2.49 ERA), but Washington’s scored 3 or less each time, losing all four.
• Hudson is one of 12 with at least 90 wins in both leagues since 1901. Pop quiz: Who did that while spending his whole career with just two teams? (Hint: Both teams are in the same state.)

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@Colorado 10, Atlanta 3 — A 14-game winner last year, Jhoulys Chacin notched number one of this campaign in his 8th try. Only Tommy La Stella solved Chacin during his seven innings; the rookie bagged both hits and one of two walks, including a double for his first extra-bagger after 16 singles. Chacin even scored the game’s first run, singling ahead of Charlie Blackmon’s blast that slipped inside the fair pole in the 3rd. It stayed 2-0 ’til Justin Morneau soloed in the 6th; the Rox erupted in the 7th, and things got testy.

• Chacin missed April, then churned out seven mediocre starts, all 5 to 6 IP and 2 to 4 runs.

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@Orioles 4, Blue Jays 2 — Kevin Gausman backed up his first starting win with another sturdy effort, leading the O’s closer to the grounded Jays than they had been since May 27, 3.5 games. Each side put their leadoff man aboard to start the game. But a rare 5-3-5 DP eased Gausman’s pressure, with Jose Reyes running on a full count, caught seeking the extra base by a perfect peg from Chris Davis. Mark Buehrle wasn’t so lucky. Forgotten Delmon Young got a rare start, thanks to strong numbers off the lefty, and that move paid off quickly in his 2nd homer of the year. Manny Machado’s leadoff double in the 2nd led to a third run, and Toronto never got their deficit below two. They got the tying run to bat with one out in the 9th, but a double play withstood postgame(?) scrutiny.

• Baltimore leads the majors with 78 DPs, no other team over 70.
• Bang-bang plays at first are a type of call I think the umps get right more than you’d think a naked eye could do. At full speed, I was sure that Darin Mastroianni beat the relay — but he was out, by an inch.
• Speaking of Mastroianni … Not much of a bat, for the second man off the bench — a career minor-leaguer with no power. Just called up from Buffalo, he took the roster spot of Kevin Pillar, a similar outfielder. Toronto’s strength is in the starting lineup.
• Nick Markakis might never again hit 20 HRs, or regain the stardom of his first three seasons. But his .363 OBP is crucial to a team that came in at .317 (10th-AL), with just two other regulars above that mark. Markakis, Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis had combined for half the Orioles’ 160 walks, worst in the majors.

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@Pirates 4, Cubs 0 —

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@Astros 5, Diamondbacks 4 (10 inn.) — One constant during Houston’s doormat years: If they blew a late lead, it was over. They went 11-58 in blown saves from 2011-13 — a .159 W%, less than half MLB rate of .355 — and 5-34 when it came in the 8th or later. But there’s a different vibe this season. The Astros are 3-6 in blown saves so far, right near the MLB mark, and 2-4 in the 8th or beyond. And when a club begins to pull together, they can even overcome the Trials of Matt Dominguez: 0-5, two bags-full DPs (one a walk-off chance), three whiffs (one a sac-fly chance), and the new worst Win Probability impact in a team victory.

Just watch — Friday, Dominguez will steal a base, ceding the active leadership for most games and PAs without a single theft (non-battery division).

Other signs of Astros on the rise:

For 2010-13 combined, Houston’s .304 OBP ranked 29th in MLB (thanks, Mariners). Their .315 mark this year rates a respectable 19th, and a big jump from last year’s .299. No Astro in the past four seasons qualified with an OBP above .351. Their top three regulars this year are at .396 (Dexter Fowler,  .361 (Jose Altuve) and .355 (George Springer); last year’s best were .350, .320 and .316.

Houston’s defensive doldrums went back even farther. The 2009-13 Astros never ranked above 13th in their league in defensive efficiency. But they’re tied for 5th so far this year.

• Chad Qualls lost a 19-game zero string when Miguel Montero parked his first pitch in the Crawford Boxes, tying matters in the 9th.
• David Peralta logged his 6th multi-hit game in 11 outings, a first for Arizona, and tied for 2nd-fastest to that mark in the last two years (Yasiel Puig 7, Tommy La Stella 6).

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Yankees 6, @Mariners 2 —

Sweeping put the Yankees half-a-game on top of the M’s in the wild-card race. Four times in their first 34 years, Seattle had a better record than New York: In 2000 and ’01, the Yankees trounced them in the ALCS. In 1990, New York won the season series, 9-3; flipping that mark would have made Seattle’s first winning season. But they’ll always have 1991, when they finally cracked .500 and whupped the Bombers both overall and head-to-head. What a hopeful time: Junior’s first 100-ribby year, Big Unit’s first with 200 Ks, Buhner’s breakout, Edgar on the rise….

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Brewers 5, @Mets 1 (13 inn.) — Milwaukee’s win raised them back to 13 games over .500, and 20-20 since their 20-7 start. Their division lead is back to 5.5 games, and their next 10 games are against sub-.500 teams.

New York managed six singles in 44 ABs, and only scored thanks to a 2-base boot by Carlos Gomez. Let Joe Maddon have his shaman; this team and this park need an exorcist.

One sign that Terry Collins has been affected by the strain of losing while surrounded by bad karma: He’s working Carlos Torres to the danger point. Torres has been the glue of the Mets bullpen this year, but Wednesday’s stint of 7 batters and 27 pitches gave him the top relief totals in both measures this year, his pitch count almost 10% beyond the next man. Terry brought him back on Thursday, and he worked a high-stress 12th, whiffing two to slip past third-and-first with one out.

So the 13th inning was a lot to ask of Torres: Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Gomez, just three .300 hitters, all with power. Braun beat out a grounder, and Lucroy creamed a hanger. Surely Torres was done now; what was left to gain by pushing him? Combining the unlikelihood of New York scoring twice in their half, and the slim odds that Torres even could get three more outs, it would have been absurd to leave him in. But Terry Collins did. And not just one (line single) … not two (line double) … not three (7-pitch walk) … but four more batters, who all reached safely.

Who lets a man get battered for 7 hits, when he’s working on zero days’ rest? That hadn’t happened since 2012.

This 11-batter, 38-pitch outing gave Carlos 182 batters faced so far — 8% more than #2, and 21% more than #4. It puts him on pace to top 440 batters and 1,750 pitches this year. Relief highs in the past 5 seasons were 400 batters and 1,558 pitches. Scott Proctor in 2006 was the last to face as many as 420 batters in relief; remember how well that worked out for his future? Salomon Torres blew out the year after facing 411 batters in relief (2006); same for Paul Quantrill and Jim Brower, after 424 and 401 batters in relief in ’04. Enough!

Thursday’s extra batters are a symbol of how pointless this overwork is. Carlos Torres cannot lift the Mets into the wild-card chase. It’s shameful that such a load is borne in the mere hope of inching closer to .500.

I hope that Carlos has an agent who’s on top of things like this. He’s 31 years old, and making near the minimum. That dough won’t last long if his arm gives out this year.

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Pop Quiz Answer: The late Bob Welch pitched for just two teams, 115 wins with the Dodgers and 96 with Oakland. Among the 12 with 90 wins in both leagues since 1901, only Hudson has played for exactly three teams.