A very long day’s journey, indeed.

@Blue Jays 4, Rangers 3 (18): Just eighteen innings? Bunch o’ pikers!

Rajai Davis ended the longest game in Rogers Centre history with a 2-out single, after Emilio Bonifacio had gone 1st-to-3rd on a pickoff error by Ross Wolf, in his 7th inning of work. Davis entered for defense in the 8th, when the Jays had a lead, and wound up with 2 hits in 5 ABs, and his 4th game-ending RBI. Brad Lincoln, a former starter, went 4 scoreless innings (14th-17th) in his best relief effort. Aaron Loup, who’s been lights-out for almost a month, earned the win by working around a leadoff double in the 18th.

A full accounting of the wasted chances would take as long as the game itself. The Rangers blew one in the 8th (tying men in scoring position with 1 out), but rallied to tie in the 9th against Casey Janssen. The table was set with a 1-out single, and a walk to PH David Murphy (batting .216 with a .266 OBP). A.J. Pierzynski singled for one — their only hit all day with a man in scoring position — and Elvis Andrus tied it with a sac fly, giving Janssen his first blown save. He’d walked just one in 18.2 IP before today.

Davis singled and stole with 2 outs in the home 9th, but died there. He made the last out in the 11th with the winning run on 2nd, one of the 8 extra innings that saw a man reach 2nd without scoring. The teams combined to leave 33 men on base, and went 3 for 36 with RISP.

In the 10th, Texas filled the sacks with no outs, on a leadoff walk, an error by 3B Mark DeRosa (fresh in the field after pinch-hitting, and a HBP. But Jeff Baker struck out, and when Leonys Martin flied to right, Lance Berkman was gunned down at home by Jose Bautista. In the 18th, apparently giddy, David Murphy tried to steal 3rd with 2 on and no outs; he was thrown out, and the rally fizzled.

Janssen’s hiccup cost Mark Buehrle a win after 7 strong innings. He had earned a decision in all 17 prior starts against Texas, going 12-5. He won his first 7 starts against them, and tossed his first no-hitter against them in 2007 — the only one against Texas since Mike Witt’s last-day perfecto in 1984.

Way back when, Toronto had 2 aboard in each of the first 3 innings against Yu Darvish (with a walk in each threat), and finally broke through on a 2-out triple by Colby Rasmus, who reached 5 for 8 off Darvish. The Texas Twister had beaten them in 2 of 3 prior tries, but active Jays came in with a .302/.897 line off him. Edwin Encarnacion, who came in 5 for 8 with 2 HRs, drew 2 of the 3 early walks and scored the first run. Darvish settled in, with just 1 more hit and no more walks through 7 IP, but his mates couldn’t solve Buehrle, save for a solo shot by Baker.

• Baker, playing for his 4th team in just the last 2 seasons, has 8 HRs in 84 PAs, the best rate since Bonds 2001 for those with at least 8 HRs in a season. Baker has demolished southpaws, with an MLB-best 7 HRs in just 50 PAs, 16 for 42, slugging .940. Three others have 6 HRs off lefties this year, all every-day players with 62 to 78 PAs against southpaws. The season high since 2003 is 18 HRs off lefties, by Albert in 2010 and David Ortiz in 2006.
• Bautista went 1-for-8, and is 3 for his last 37, dating to the 17-inning game last Friday.
• Adam Lind had 4 hits and a walk, raising his BA to .342 and his OBP to .423.
• J.P. Arencibia had 3 Ks and no walks, but raised his OBP slightly to .240 with a pair of singles. He has 72 Ks against 5 walks this year. There’s been just one qualifying year with strikeouts > 13 times walks, by Whitey Alperman in 1909 (44/2). For years with 100+ Ks, the worst SO/BB ratio and the fewest walks was 113/14 by Juan Encarnacion in 1999, a ratio of 8.07.
• Have opponents noticed that Lance Berkman has just 6 HRs in 320 PAs since 2012, batting .266? He’s still getting scads of walks, as if he were still the 30-HR man of bygone days.
• Jays have won 3 in a row (3rd time this year) and pitched 79.2 IP in their last 7 games, with a 1.69 ERA. Seven straight games of 4 runs or less is their longest since July ’09.

• The previous longest game in the former SkyDome, July 28, 2005, ended on Orlando Hudson’s hit with 1 out in the home 18th.

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Angels 9, @Red Sox 5 (day game): Just 9 innings, but almost every one a slog. Down 9-2 in the 9th, the Red Sox got 5 straight 2-out hits before Jacoby Ellsbury went down swinging at the game’s 370th pitch, ending the contest exactly at the 4-hour mark — and that’s just the day shift. The Halos led early, and pulled away with 6 runs in the 7th and 9th combined, all with 2 outs, 3 of them walked in.

Look who’s back in the leadoff spot, for the first time since April 10? Mike Trout doubled to start the 3rd, then pulled off a double-steal with Josh Hamilton that set up 2 run-scoring outs. Trout doubled in the 7th and scored an insurance run when Mark Trumbo doubled after a 2-out IBB to Albert Pujols. (What game has John Farrell been watching?) The inning came apart at the seams when Franklin Morales walked 3 more in a row, plating 2 with a skein of 10 straight balls. Boston issued 8 walks and fanned just 4, with no Ks in 22 batters by the bullpen. Trout reached 4 times, including an RBI walk, and pushed his BA back to .300.

• Hamilton started a game in the #2 hole for the first time since his rookie year.
• In the home 1st, Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a single and stole 2nd, then got nailed trying for 3rd on a grounder to the pitcher. Dustin Pedroia then doubled, but the Sox didn’t score. In the 3rd, Ellsbury took a 2-out walk, stole, and scored on a single. Out of 23 steals, Ellsbury has scored 6 times afterwards, including one game-winning run. I’ve no idea if that’s a good or a bad rate, since the Event Finder — wonderful as it is — does not allow searching for stolen bases, or for inning sequences. Anyone have an idea for this?
• David Ortiz went 0 for 5, stranding 5 men, 4 in scoring position.

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Marlins 2, @Mets 1 (20): The longest game in the majors in 3 years wound up as Miami’s 7th win in 10 tries against New York. Once upon a time, it was a rematch of Matt Harvey and Jose Fernandez. The Mets scored in the 2nd on a double by Juan Lagares, the game’s only extra-base hit until the 17th. Miami tied in the 4th on a sac fly. Then bushels of zeroes, not even a warning-track fly until the game’s final out.

A fantastic throw in the 12th by Marcell Ozuna cut down the winning run at home, but he was helped by Daniel Murphy’s blunder: He first broke towards home on the liner to RF, then dashed back and tagged up. He might not have lost any time, but he certainly squandered some energy, and he was out easily. Lagares threw out a Fish at the plate during Harvey’s time with a sweet one-hop strike.

Shaun Marcum, whose last scheduled start was rained out, worked 8 valiant innings, but fell to 0-7. He’s allowed at least 2 runs in all 8 starts this year, but he was near-perfect for 7, allowing 2 singles and no walks, with 7 Ks and a stretch of 16 straight outs. But a trio of 1-out hits in the 20th gave Miami the lead, as Marcum crossed 100 pitches. Marcum is a junkballer, but he was on today, and it was worth watching. The Mets record for scoreless relief still stands at 8 innings, by Jerry Cram in 1974, working the 17th through 24th in a 25-inning loss.

Kevin Slowey went 7 innings for his 2nd win, allowing 8 hits but never the big one. A leadoff double in the 17th went nowhere. Mike Redmond saved his closer just in case, and Steve Cishek set down the Mets in order for his 6th save.

Miami went 2 for 4 with RISP, while the Mets were a model of futility at 0 for 19, leaving 22 runners.

Rick Ankiel entered on a double-switch in the 13, but still managed 3 Ks (8 swing-and-misses) plus a popout with the winning run on 2nd. John Buck and Rob Brantly both caught all 20 innings.

Miami again had good swings off Harvey, with 6 hits through 5 innings. But a couple of baserunning goofs kept them to 1 run in that span, and a low pitch count let him go 7 IP without further trouble; no further run support, either. Huzzah for another Harvey no-D, the 8th in his last 9 starts: 1-0, 2.66 ERA, 63 Ks and 10 walks in 61 IP. He left after taking warmups in the 8th, apparently strained his back running the bases the previous inning. Brandon Lyon came in and immediately gave up a hit, a steal and a walk (after 1-and-2). But when Juan Pierre bunted through the first pitch, Adeiny Hechavarria got picked off 2nd, and Pierre hit the next pitch into a tailor-made 4-6-3, just his 2nd GDP of the year. Hechavarria redeemed himself with the game-breaking hit.

• Fernandez has faced the Mets 4 times in his 12 career starts, allowing 3 hits each time, totaling 4 runs in 22 IP, with 27 Ks.
• Harvey’s run support is above the NL average, both by overall game and while he’s been in the game. But that was mostly in his first 5 outings, when they scored 7 three times and 8 once, and Harvey went 4-0. These last 9 starts have seen 22 total runs, and just one time over 4 — that being when Harvey left with a 6-4 lead and the ‘pen gave up 7 runs.

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Twins 4, @Nationals 3 (11): A leadoff walk to PH Chris Herrmann led to Ryan Doumit‘s go-ahead hit, and the Nats fell 2 games under .500 for the first time since 2011. The NL’s stingiest team with walks, Washington issued 7 passes in all, 4 by starter Gio Gonzalez in 6 innings, while the Twins (2nd-fewest in the AL) gave none. The Nats are 12th in NL walks drawn and now -1 net for the year, while the Twins are +55. Rookie Anthony Rendon had 2 hits and scored the tying run in the 7th, but he made the last out with the leveler on base. Glen Perkins earned his 13th save.

• Joe Mauer had 3 hits, a walk and his 6th HR, but none of Minnesota’s 16 ABs with RISP went to him.

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@Tigers 6, Indians 4: Is Rick Porcello‘s K rate for real? The one question mark in Detroit’s rotation fanned 7 in 6 sturdy innings (3 hits, 2 runs, 1 ER), his 3rd straight start with at least 7 strikeouts. The Tigers sent Cleveland to their 6th straight loss overall, 10th straight on the road and 4th straight to Detroit, dropping them under .500. The Tribe had Porcello in a 1-0 hole after just 4 pitches and threatening more (double, single, steal), but he set down the next 12, and meanwhile the bats went to work.

Two outs and 2 on in the 3rd, Carlos Carrasco got ahead 0-and-2 on Miguel Cabrera, then bounced one that moved up the runners. Three fouls and 3 balls later, the bases were loaded, and Prince Fielder cleared them with a deep double. It was 6-2 in the 7th when Ryan Raburn homered after a Peralta boot, and that set the stage for another nervous 9th with Papa Grande: A hit and a 10-pitch walk worked by Yan Gomes (just his 3rd this year in 90 PAs) put the tying runs on, but Valverde fanned Raburn and Mike Aviles to end it.

• Carrasco’s 4 career starts against Detroit: 9.50 ERA, 18 IP, 36 hits, 10 walks, 9 Ks.
• Porcello has career-best SO and BB numbers, 7.7 SO/9, 1.9 BB/9 … but his ERA’s still 4.86. Detroit has the AL’s best SO and SO/BB rates, by far, and have allowed the fewest HRs, by far; but they’re tied for 2nd in ERA. That is one bad defense. But, given those gloves, this is the right kind of staff to have.
• V-Mart popped up with bags full and 1 out in the 1st. He’s 0-for-9 with the bases loaded, counting a sac fly.
• Nick Swisher‘s hitless streak is 6 games, 0 for 23.
• Pitching has sunk the Tribe during this slump, a 5.73 ERA and 3-12 record since they held 1st place alone on May 23.
• Anibal Sanchez will miss his next start for Detroit. Expected to take his place is Jose Alvarez, the current strikeout leader in the International League. Alvarez is a 5’11” lefty, signed by the Red Sox at 17 out of Venezuela. Now 24, he’s in his first year at AAA, with a 2.42 ERA through 12 starts, 1.01 WHIP, 9.2 SO/9 and 1.8 BB/9. It would be the first lefty start by a Tiger this year. There’s been just one year in Detroit history with zero starts by southpaws.

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Pirates 6, @Cubs 2: Or, why you should never bet based on pitching lines. (Except you, Timmy.) In Jeff Samardzija‘s 4 prior starts against Pittsburgh (all since last July), the worst was a CG 4-hitter with 3 runs allowed. In all, he’d given them 10 hits (no HRs) in 32 IP, 4 walks, 31 Ks. But the Cubs ace had no answers today; he couldn’t solve .200-hitting Pedro Alvarez, who delivered a 2-run jack and an RBI single.

• Then again, maybe you just have to know which line carries the signal. A.J. Burnett came in 6-2, 3.21 in 9 tries vs. Chicago, and had won 4 straight starts in Wrigley, with a 1-hit shutout in his last visit. A.J. took a 2-hit shutout into the 9th, leaving after Soriano‘s HR.

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Yankees 3, @Mariners 1: Of the 16 teams Andy Pettitte has faced at least 11 times, only the Mariners have a winning record against him. This efficient win (7.1 IP on 85 pitches, no walks) was the 250th of Andy’s career, but left him 12-13 against Seattle, and he won’t get another chance this year to even that out.

• Unless, that is, you count Pettitte’s 3-0, 3.21 mark in 4 postseason games vs. Seattle, winning the opener and the clincher of the 2001 ALCS against the 116-win M’s.
• Yankees are 216-171 all-time against Seattle, 106-89 as visitors. I thought it would be even better.

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@Rays 8, Orioles 0: Tampa scored in the 1st and 2 in the 2nd, the O’s never got in it, and the Rays hopped into 3rd place. Scuffling Ben Zobrist had his first 3-hit game since April, with 2 doubles and 2 runs, and Jeremy Hellickson bounced back from 2 rough starts against Baltimore (totaling 13 runs in 14 IP, though the Rays won both) with 6 scoreless innings and no walks. Young Kevin Gausman turned in his 3rd clunker in 4, and the entire Oriole attack consisted of 4 singles.

• 7th shutout for Tampa, tied for 2nd in the AL. Every team but Milwaukee has at least one.
• Biggest loss margin this year for Baltimore, biggest shutout loss since 2009.
• The O’s were blanked for the 3rd time, once each month. Every team has suffered at least 2 shutouts, except the Diamondbacks (none).
• After Sunday, these AL East rivals won’t meet again for 2 months.

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@White Sox 4, Athletics 1: Tied at 1 since the 2nd, Chicago broke through at last the moment Sean Doolittle replaced starter Tommy Milone in the 8th. Alex Rios, 9 for 42 with RISP, singled home the tiebreaker, and Paul Konerko followed with a 2-run shot on the next pitch, just his 6th of the year. John Danks went 8 innings for the first time since a 2011 shutout, and ran his lifetime mark against Oakland to 6-1 with a 2.12 ERA in 9 games.

• Small samples can make a Sean Doolittle seem to swerve from unhittable (9 hits in his first 23 IP) to human pinata (13 hits and 10 runs in his last 3.2 IP). At the end of the day, he’s about what he was last year, a pretty good lefty.

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@Brewers 4, Phillies 3: Erstwhile reliever Tom Gorzelanny gave the Crew a rare credible start (1 run in 4 IP) and paved the way for their first walk-free game since April 28. Jean Segura bagged his 9th HR and 17th steal (2 CS), and Ryan Braun, Carlos Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy all had RBI hits in the 6th/7th. Francisco Rodriguez worked a clean 9th under pressure for his 298th career save. Domonic Brown drove in all Philly’s runs with his 19th dinger (3-and-1 count) and a 2-out, 2-run double in the 8th (1-and-2).

• Brown may seem a hacker because he doesn’t walk, but he’s done the bulk of his damage when ahead in the count: .437 BA, 11 HRs. On 3-and-1, he’s 5 for 8, with 4 HRs and a double. When behind, he has 1 HR and a .187 BA. The 1-and-2 double was his 2nd XBH and 7th hit in 43 ABs in that count.
• Sunday, the Brewers will go for their 2nd series win since May began (the other was against the Phils last weekend), and their first 3-win streak since the 9-gamer April 14-23.
• There’s 100 games left, but … If the Brewers stay out of contention, would Gomez or Segura get any MVP support? They began the day ranked 1st (tied with Goldschmidt) and 10th in NL WAR, respectively, and certainly their offensive numbers are eye-catching for a CF and SS: .317/.926 for Gomez, .342/.926 for Segura, and with Gomez perhaps hitting his way to Gold Glove recognition.

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@Reds 4, Cardinals 2: St. Louis led 2-1 in the 5th, looking to go 5 games up on the Reds. But Devin Mesoraco tied it with a leadoff HR. He and Joey Votto had RBI hits the next inning, and Mat Latos spaced 8 hits over 7 IP (no walks) to reach 6-0, 2.87. Aroldis Chapman managed to get 3 outs with a 2-run lead.

• Rookie Derrick Robinson collected his first 2 doubles. He came in 16 for 49, all singles, and with just 2 fly balls on his ledger.
• Chapman is tied for 4th in NL saves, but he’s 24th in WPA and 34th in Base-Out Wins Saved, because he hasn’t faced many tight spots and hasn’t been lights-out in those he has seen.

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@Red Sox 7, Angels 2 (nightcap): Three early runs and Clay Buchholz pitching, should be enough for the split, and it was. C.J. Wilson lost a start to Boston for the first time; he had been 5-0, 2.64 in 7 prior meetings. But Pedroia and Gomes had good numbers off him, and they hit RBI doubles in the 1st.

• Buchholz has 9 wins. One was 4-3, another 3-1; the rest by 3 runs or more, with an overall average margin of 4.1 runs. It’s no knock; he’s pitched great. But he mostly hasn’t had to pitch great.
• The legend of Jose Iglesias has hit in 11 straight (16 for 38, .421), dropping his BA to .443 (29/66). Fox broadcast team was all over him, but let’s be real — he’s a .257 career hitter in the minors with no power. He’s not an everyday player for a contender.

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Braves 2, @Dodgers 1: Dag-nabbit! We were one pitch away from Puig–Kimbrel I, one of the few things that could make a Dodgers game worthwhile — but Mark Ellis swung through a full-count pitch with the tying run aboard. And you know that, deep down, Kimbrel wanted it, too.

Atlanta won in what is now classic Braves fashion: 0 for 8 with RISP, but a pair of solo homers and strong pitching. First Tim Hudson, then Mike Minor, now Kris Medlen: The Braves joined the Cubs with 3 home-run hitting pitchers when Medlen connected in the 3rd, one batter after Uggla’s shot. It’s Medlen’s first in the majors; he was just 11 for 93 before this, but his minor-league numbers suggest he can hit the likes of Stephen Fife.

• Bad day on the bases for Andrelton: Leadoff double in the 1st, stranded. Infield hit in the 3rd, caught stealing. Infield hit in the 5th, tried to go 1st-to-3rd on a single to Puig. Ah, callow youth! Puig was playing near the warning track for Heyward, raced in to glove the ground single, put the ball behind his ear and it vanished — only to materialize in Cruz’s glove, in front of the bag, as Simmons slid dead into it. First time he’s been thrown out going 1st-to-3rd, and he shot a glance at his tormentor on his way off the diamond.
• Medlen didn’t face a lot of trouble, but he used 116 pitches in 6.2 scoreless innings, winning his 2nd straight start and 3rd on the year.
• With all the Puig-ha-ha, I didn’t realize that Hanley Ramirez was out of the lineup again. He pinch-hit an RBI single tonight, but Clayton Kershaw pinch-ran for him. Ramirez missed the first 24 games, played 4 games, went out for another month, started 2 games, and has been out of the starting lineup the last 3. That’s it, then; he won’t be healthy this year.
• Yasiel, please, please, please don’t dive into 1st base!

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Padres 4, @Rockies 2: Three more hits and two steals for Everth Cabrera (.300 BA/.377 OBP, 28 SB); a tiebreaking 2-run HR by Kyle Blanks (.300/.910); and another strong outing by 33-year-old southpaw Eric Stults (7 IP, no walks, 1 ER).

The Rox went 0 for 15 with RISP, 0-3 each by CarGo & Tulo. They had at least one man in scoring position in every inning but the 5th. Their runs scored on a SB-throwing error and a groundout. They had 2 bites at the apple in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 9th (the last with the tying runs ready to score on a single), and 3 in the 8th.

• The last Padre with 50 steals in a season was Tony Gwynn, 1987.
• Cabrera is 21 for 43 in a 9-game hit streak, and 40 for his last 102.