Should I script my 4,000th comment, maybe swing for the fences along these lines? Or just go with the pitch? Ah, decisions….

@Angels 6, Cardinals 5 — The Halos didn’t let Wednesday’s smackdown slow their roll. In their first look at Adam Wainwright, they trailed 5-3 in the 9th, when Albert started something with a 2-strike bingle against the ex-mate he’d shared two title parades with. That ended Adam’s CG quest, and brought on Edward Mujica to face Josh Hamilton.

Lefties were 9 for 57 with a walk and a homer off the perfect closer, and Josh hadn’t hit a crucial big fly in the 9th or later in over a year. Two pitches changed all of that. After the HR, the next 5 men due up could all remember a hit off Mujica (6 for 11 combined), and the first two singled to perch the winning run on 3rd with no outs. He almost escaped, with a pop and a shallow fly. But Eric Aybar’s soft liner found a seat in left, and the Angels had their 4th walk-off win and first since April.

• The Halos are 41-43, their best W% since they were 1-1, and are 6.5 games out of a wild card.
• Cards have lost 8 of 11, but still have a firm hold on their future.
• Allen Craig‘s 3-run shot raised his RISP average to something like seven bajillion. OK, it’s .469 (38-81). His 2-3 off Joe Blanton raised that mark to 5 for 8, with a HR in each of their three meetings.

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@Nationals 8, Brewers 5 — Wilson Ramos is the latest Nat with a triumphant return from injury. After missing 6 weeks, his 3-run HR broke a tie with 2 outs in the 7th, giving him 3 hits and 5 RBI for the day. It also defused another bomb by Drew Storen, who relinquished a 3-run lead in the top of the 7th on 2 HRs, hiking his ERA to 5.40.

• Carlos Gomez left in a double-switch after his tying HR in the 7th, with he and his manager not reading the same script on the cause of his removal. His spot came up as the tying run in the 9th, and Aramis Ramirez whiffed in the pinch.
• With Bryce Harper hitting .170 off lefties, Ian Desmond was intentionally walked to load the bases with 2 down in the 6th, and Harper grounded out.

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Phillies 6, @Pirates 4 — Cole, hard facts in Steeltown: Hamels survived an early cave-in to claim his 3rd win (escaping his 12th loss), while Gerrit‘s start-of-career win streak stopped at 4 and he took his first lumps. Down 2-1 in the 6th, the Phils seized the lead after Cole left with 2 on and 1 out. Vin Mazzaro gave up 3 straight hits for 3 runs, then plunked Hamels with an 0-2 pitch and was gone. Carlos Ruiz had the tiebreaking hit after fighting from 0-2 to full, and Ben Revere had 3 knocks and 2 ribs.

• Revere led off the game with a single, but was thrown out by Russell Martin during J-Roll’s AB. Then Rollins singled, and he was cut down by Martin, who’s nabbed 21 of 41 thieves this year.
• Last year’s .540 slugging came out of nowhere for Ruiz, who slugged .393 in 2,000+ prior PAs. The power’s back in remission — 3 doubles, no homers in 27 hits so far.
• G. Cole and C. Hamels are SoCalis from Newport Beach and San Diego, respectively, about 100 miles apart.

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@Royals 10, Indians 7 — A double by Salvador Perez cleared the bags of gift runners in the 8th, and the Royals captured the series with their second straight come-from-behind win, scoring all 10 runs in their last 3 times up. Cleveland led 5-0 in the 6th and 7-5 in the 7th, but a passel of walks set up all the big hits.

I was obviously wrong when I recently said that Ubaldo Jimenez is on a leash that reads “yank at the first sign of trouble in the 6th.” Had that been so, he would have been gone after one or the other of the two walks that started the 6th, leading 5-0, or surely after his error loaded the bases. But he stayed to face Lorenzo Cain, fell behind 3-and-1, and eventually suffered that Royal’s first grand slam. That finally brought in Cody Allen, and one pitch later, another blast tied the game.

But KC’s J.C. Gutierrez came back with a leadoff 4-pitch walk to Kipnis, and soon Carlos Santana was slugging a 2-run double on the first pitch by Aaron Crow for another Tribe lead. That vanished when Joe Smith walked his first man, then gave up a full-count homer to Hosmer, who’s heating up (8 HRs last 19 games). Cleveland’s last wild man was Bryan Shaw, who walked the first man in the 8th (duh), then ad-libbed by hitting a man. Santana got into the act with a passed ball, which led to an IBB and Perez’s big hit.

• The Royals began tied for last in AL walks received, but accepted 8 walks in all, their most in over a year, and had their first 3-HR home game since last September. The Indians are 2nd in walks issued and 3rd in walks drawn, both around 3.5 per game.

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@White Sox 3, Orioles 2 — Atoning for a costly error, Adam Dunn cracked a game-winning homer on a full count from Tommy Hunter. Dunn’s 9th walk-off HR was his first for the ChiSox, and his 3 hits raised his batting average over .200 for the first time since April 7 — which was, by coincidence, the date of Chicago’s last game-ending tater.

• Hunter retired his first 4 men, 3 of them righties, who are now 9 for 82 (all singles). But lefties have hit 6 HRs in 88 ABs off Hunter this year, with 2 game-winners.
• Seven innings of brilliance by Jose Quintana: no runs, 2 hits, 11 Ks and a walk. But Nate Jones came in and walked the first man, and with the help of Dunn’s error, the lead got away.
• Jones walked.

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Diamondbacks 5, @Mets 4 (15) — It did end before dawn’s early light, after all. Cliff Pennington‘s single capped a 2-out, 3-hit rally off Scott Rice for Arizona’s 3rd straight go-ahead inning, and that one finally stuck — though the Mets died with their boots on and the winning run in scoring position.

It’s probably very unusual to have 5 scoring half-innings in extra time, but I’m too exhausted from watching this game to bother.

Dillon Gee‘s RBI single squared things at 2 with 2 down in the 5th, and the needle stayed stuck for 7 more innings. The alarm rang in the 13th, and the Snakes slipped ahead on a no-out bags-full walk from David Aardsma (who retired none of four). But they screwed up their chance at more, and it cost them when Anthony Recker (0-5 on the day, 10 for 60 this year) parked a Heath Bell grooveball onto the Party Deck with 2 outs in the bottom half. Arizona’s rally was snarled by a 3-2-3 DP, batter Gerardo Parra called out of the baseline when the return throw hit him. Then Wil Nieves singled to right, but Marlon Byrd‘s throw home and Recker’s windmill tag just caught up to Eric Chavez for the 3rd out. (Byrd’s second to Parra with 6 RF assists.)

Pennington led off the 14th with a hit, moved up on a sac, and scored on Martin Prado’s 2-out doink. But Chaz Roe came on to save it, and the Mets had seen plenty of him in this series. Their opening bid was rebuffed by Cody Ross. But a Kirk Nieuwenhuis gapper improbably carried the wall, balancing the books once again. Roe escaped with the winning run on 2nd by wrapping a 3-2 curve around the plate, leaving Byrd beside himself at the cash register.

Way back when, Gee led 1-0 in the 4th when he walked Ross leading off. Parra, an accomplished bunter, dragged a hard one that scooted straight to the outfield, and he legged out a rare bunt double (first of this year, according to B-R splits). Nieves cashed in those chips for a 2-1 lead; his 4-hit day left the aged catcher 25-for-63 this year (.397).

• Gee’s hit was New York’s lone success in 13 RISP tries.
• Josh Satin‘s hit streak reached 10. His patient approach had mixed results, with 2 called strikeouts (once when he seemed to guess wrong on a down-the-pipe fastball), but also an all-take walk leading off the 15th when they needed a runner.
• 3 more scoreless innings for Carlos Torres; one run, 10 runners in 13.2 IP. That probably played a role in the postgame DFA of Brandon Lyon.
• Half a year should be enough to see that Rice must not face a righty in a big spot. They were out of options this time, so when the lefty Parra singled with 2 outs in the 15th, Rice faced 2 RHBs and both singled, producing the winning run. Righties are 17 for 42 off Rice, plus 14 walks, for a .554 OBP, with just 4 Ks. He’s handled lefties pretty well, but his outings have to be shorter.
• Ian Kennedy didn’t get his 5th win in 5 tries vs. the Mets, but he went 7 on 2 runs, with 8 Ks.
• Snakes are 19-12 in one-run games, 9-3 in extras. I don’t see the bullpen to support those numbers.

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Rays 7, @Astros 5 (11) — Yunel Escobar‘s double delivered Jose Lobaton after a leadoff walk and passed ball, and Tampa went on to capture the series (3 of 4) after blowing a 5-2 lead in the 8th. But just to keep himself interested after the long wait, Fernando Rodney walked the leadoff man, then retired 3 straight as the tying run. The Won’t Go A-Rays have won 8 of 11 to reach 46-40, but remain 4th in the AL East and 2 games back of the wild-card pack.

• Brett Wallace‘s 3-run HR, his second of the day, answered Tampa’s 3-run top half (capped by Escobar’s 2-run double). Wallace was 6 for 47 with 22 strikeouts this year.

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@Athletics 1, Cubs 0 — Dan Straily was skipped the last time ’round the rotation, and today he responded with 7 innings of dominance, holding the Cubs to one hit on just 87 pitches. Travis Wood was near as good, 6 scoreless in his 7th straight quality start. But the A’s broke through in the 7th off Matt Guerrier (just acquired for Carlos Marmol), with a 2-out walk, Seth Smith’s single, and the NL-high 7th passed ball by Welington Castillo. (Drop the gate; your fundies are showing…)

• Wood has MLB’s best QS rate, 16 out of 17 starts. The most quality starts since 1987 is 30, shared by Saberhagen ’89, Maddux ’92, Big Unit ’02 and King Felix ’10. All won the Cy Young Award.
• Chicago’s lost Wood’s last 6 starts, scoring 10 runs total. Wood allowed 12 runs in 38.1 IP. They’ve lost 10 of his quality starts, tops in the majors. The most QS team losses this century is 14, by Matt Cain ’07.
• The broadcaster said, “I thought he was going to score by ten feet!” Credit the quick release by Cespedes, a good block by Norris, and a pretty wimpy slide.
• Oakland has one other 1-0 win in the last calendar year — May 21 in Texas, when Straily bested Yu Darvish. Both produced 78 Game Scores, Straily’s career best by far.
• With Edward Mujica‘s late hiccup, Grant Balfour (21 for 21) is now the only closer with 8 or more saves and none blown.

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Tigers 11, @Blue Jays 1 — With the top dog out of action, the whole lineup responded, and Justin Verlander returned from the missing with 7 shutout innings on 3 hits. Staked to a 2-0 lead before his first pitch, Verlander set down the first 11. And after he skirted the first threat in the 5th, his mates made it a 7-0 coaster. Torii Hunter carried the #3 banner for the fallen Cabrera and drove in 3, giving their non-Miggy 3rd hitters 4 RBI in 10 PAs this year.

Austin Jackson scored in Detroit’s first 4 tally innings (HR and 3 singles), and walked during the final rally. That gave him 51 runs in 53 games played this year, or 0.96 R/G. Since 2001, the best runs rate with 50+ games was 0.93 by Mike Trout last year (129 runs in 139 games). Since WWII, just 4 players have averaged 0.96 R/G or better: A-Rod ’96 (141 R, 146 G); Molitor ’87 (114/118); Rickey ’85 (146/143); and Teddy ’49 (150/155).

J.V. had allowed 7 hits or more in his last 3 games and 4 in a row before that — his only two streaks of 3 or more such games since 2010 began. Even with the strong outing, he’s fanned 5 or less in 4 straight, his only streak of 3+ since 2009 began (153 starts).

Verlander’s now faced the Jays 8 times. The first 3 were duds (19 runs in 15 IP), but the last have each been 7+ IP on 2 runs or less, totaling 6 runs and 20 hits in 41 IP, with one for the books.

Casey Janssen never walks no one, nohow, but he’s not used to pitching in blowouts, either. After a double in the 9th, Janssen hit his first batter this year, then issued 2 straight walks and was pulled. It’s just the 2nd time in 2 calendar years (119 games) that Janssen has walked 2.

When I saw Detroit up 2-0 in the first, it felt about 50-50 that Miggy had homered; he’s tied with CarGo for the MLB lead at six 1st-inning taters. But for the first time since last August, Cabrera was out of the lineup, resting his sore back. It’s just the 3rd game he’s missed entirely since 2011, and his 36th game missed out of 1,672 team contests (counting 41 postseason games) since his 2003 debut. That’s a play rate of 97.8%, or a miss rate of 3.5 games per 162.

Even in this barrage, Victor Martinez went 0-3 with RISP, and is now 20 for 99 in those spots. Some claim to see progress in V-Mart’s 2 HRs and 9 RBI over the prior 11 games. But his slashes have all gone down since June 9, and the club’s under .500 since then. It’s past the halfway point, almost 350 PAs, and your DH is batting .235/.289/.346, with 13 GDPs. He’s 34, coming off a lost season. Do something, Jim. It’s not as though you’re cruising to the division crown, and the wild cards might not be open. If this team misses the playoffs, you will have failed in your job.

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Marlins 4, @Braves 3 — Tied in the 9th, Donovan Solano fouled off Craig Kimbrel‘s 0-2 pitch, then sliced a 2-out single to right for the deciding run, snapping the closer’s 17-IP shutout string that began after his May 7 two-HR game. Kimbrel had walked leadoff man Ed Lucas, fanned Giancarlo, passed another, and overpowered Marcell Ozuna (5-1-3-2, HR) before the game-breaker. Atlanta had 3 on the board before their 2nd out of the game, then were stopped in their tracks — 3 singles, one walk the rest of the way, with no one past 1st base. Miami scratched in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th to tie, and it stayed so to the 9th.

The Braves seemed a tough match for the Miami debut of homer-prone Henderson Alvarez. They hit 2 long doubles in that opening scrum, but Alvarez faced the minimum for his last 14 outs. Julio Teheran fanned his first 3 men on full counts, using 22 pitches. That set the pace for his 5-IP, 104-pitch day. The Marlins hit 25 fouls off Teheran, including Ozuna on 2 strikes before homering. Miami reached 16 times on the day, with Stanton the only positional starter held silent. He still had a hand in the win.

• Miami captured the series, their first against the top 3 in their division, and are 16-8 after a 16-44 start.
• I know how I’d pronounce it, but I’d like to be sure.

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@Red Sox 8, Padres 2 — Boston scored early, struggling Allen Webster survived 4 walks for a quality start, and San Diego lost their 6th straight, scoring 8 total runs. For the cherry on top, Jacoby Ellsbury‘s hitting streak reached 14 games, adding his first homer since April 7.

• 18 hits and no walks for the BoSox: 2nd time ever. There are 4 MLB games since 2011 with 18+ hits and no passes; here’s the craziest.
• The Friars have matched the longest losing streak of the last 4 years with 2 runs or less in each.
• You’re not ready for interleague play when … your DH is Mark Kotsay. He went 0-4 with a total of 7 men on base.

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@Rockies 9, Dodgers 5 — The battle for NL West sub-primacy(?) went to Michael Cuddyer‘s home team, as the Rox salved the series finale and stayed 2.5 back of Arizona as they head to Phoenix for a weekend set. Cuddyer’s 2-run double broke a tie in the 3rd, and he closed their scorebook with a solo shot in the 8th. The Dodgers went deep twice and had various chances, but went 2-12 with RISP. The RF did nothing of great interest.

• There’s still a few bugs in the system … L.A.’s had 27 quality starts from Kershaw and Ryu in 34 outings, but just 16 others in 49 tries. Their nos. 4-5 starters are a combined 6-17.

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Yankees 9, @Twins 5 — The Yanks came to town struggling on all fronts, but some traditions die hard. Sweeping 4 made them 49-28 in the Twin Cities since 1994, plus 7-0 in the postseason. Debut winner Kyle Gibson was knocked around in his sophomore try and left in to yield 8 runs in 5.1 IP. It’s the 7th time since 1958 that a 2nd career game featured 5+ IP and 8+ runs.

• Ichiro tripled, doubled and singled, but struck out in his last try at his first cycle.
• 3 RBI for Vernon Wells, who had 4 in his last 28 starts.
• That hurt. Save it for a time that matters, Chris.
• Joe Mauer fanned 3 times, now on pace for 136. He’s never whiffed 90 times in a season; 69 this year is already his 2nd-highest total. Still hitting .315.

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@Rangers 5, Mariners 4 — The M’s grabbed a 3-1 lead in their 7th on Raul Ibanez‘s 21st HR, but they’d regret leaving 2 in scoring position with 1 out. Hisashi Iwakuma and his so-called relief gave up 4 after the stretch, including Adrian Beltre‘s second solo shot, and Ibanez’s RBI single in the 8th was Seattle’s last threat. Joe Nathan sewed up his 28th save in 29 tries, and tied Roberto Hernandez for 13th all-time with career #326; a solid second half could leave him 8th by year’s end.

• Texas is 15-8 in one-run games.
• Ibanez has 19 HRs, 40 RBI in his last 45 games.

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And that’s a wrap! Except for …

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Wednesday leftovers (no fancy china here; you’re eating straight from the baggie)

Tigers 6, @Blue Jays 2 — A baker’s dozen for Max Scherzer, tying Bobo Newsom‘s club record for consecutive wins in the searchable era.

#9 hitter Alex Avila‘s full-count HR off Josh Johnson with 2 on, 2 outs in the 2nd.

Jose Bautista vs. Scherzer: 8-14, 5 XBH, 3 walks, 1 K. Scherzer’s fanned 28% of all righty batters in his career.

Dustin McGowan came out chucking in the 9th and fanned Hunter, Cabrera and Fielder, all swinging.

Bobo had 13 complete games, Scherzer none, but times have changed.

Scherzer’s ERA is 3.08 in the wins, 3.10 in 4 no-decisions. Basically, he allows 1 to 3 runs in 6 to 8 innings, and the rest is up to his teammates.

Scherzer has no scoreless games. There’s one longer start-of-year SP win streak in the searchable era with at least one run in every game: Johnny Allen, 15 wins in 1937. Allen had injuries that year and only made 20 starts, taking his only loss in the season finale, a 1-0 CG.

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Brewers 4, @Nationals 1 — Rain shortened Kyle Lohse‘s Sunday start, so he came back two days later with one of his best, blanking the Nats into the 7th and handing the 4-1 lead straight to his closer. Norichika Aoki broke the ice in the 5th with one of his three hits, scoring 2 with a single after Lohse’s 1st-and-3rd sac. Logan Schafer doubled the lead with a 2-out triple in the 6th on 1-2 from Ross Detwiler, who fell to 2-7. Those runs were unearned, after Bryce Harper‘s drop started the frame. Lohse came up with two big backwards Ks, with 2 on in the 2nd and 5th, had little trouble otherwise, getting 22/29 first-pitch strikes and giving just 1 walk. Anthony Rendon broke up the shutout with his 2nd homer, but his bid to tie in the 9th came up a biscuit short.

• Since homering in his first time up off the DL, Harper is 0-11 with 4 Ks. Here’s one of two Harper drives flagged down by Carlos Gomez.
• Washington has one win streak of 4 or more — a 5-gamer from May 4-10 that put them a season-best 5 games over .500.

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Marlins 6, @Braves 3 —

Mike Minor fanned 3 after a leadoff double in the 1st, then retired everyone until another double started the 5th. Two more whiffs, then the pitcher, a .138 career hitter. But Ricky Nolasco worked out a walk, and Justin Ruggiano hit a 3-run HR.

All 12 Ruggiano HRs have come on the road. The searchable highs (since 1916) for all-away HRs are 17, by Goose Goslin (1926); 13, Ken Keltner (1939); and 3 guys with 12. Three of those five were Senators who played their home games in Griffith Stadium; one was in the Astrodome, the other in Cleveland. The highs for all-home HRs are 18, Mel Ott (1943, Polo Grounds), and 17, Cliff Lee (1922, Baker Bowl).

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Dodgers 10, @Rockies 8 — Four hits by Hanley Ramirez, including an “insurance” HR that proved decisive, powered the Dodgers in a traditional Coors banquet. Zack Greinke was behind in the count all night and lasted just 5 innings in his ugliest win to date, yielding 5 runs and tying his career high with 7 walks. One was intentional, preceding another pass that forced in a run in the 2nd for a 4-1 Rockies lead. But after Juan Uribe brought him back even with a 4th-inning HR, Greinke helped his own cause (I haven’t said it all year!) with a double, and a Mark Ellis triple sent him home for the lead.

• Greinke’s career walk rate with the bases loaded is 7.8%. With no one on, it’s 5.1%.
• Starters allowing 5 runs in 5 innings (exactly) are 2-3 in Coors this year, 4-26 elsewhere.

Soapbox: Hanley’s at 35 for 85 with 7 HRs, 8 doubles. He’s played 28 games, same as Yasiel Puig. There’s no doubt of his talent — 3-time All-Star, batting champ, MVP runner-up — and his Runs+RBI are greater than Puig’s. They have almost the same OPS, about 1.200. So if Puig makes the All-Star team, why not Hanley? Is there a difference between missing 55 games with injuries, and missing 55 games while in the minors?

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@Pirates 6, Phillies 5 — Domonic Brown‘s 2-out homer off Jason Grilli was not enough, and Jason whiffed Delmon to end it. Jeff Locke (for a change) was not brilliant, 3 runs and 10 baserunners in 5.2 IP, but he’s now 8-1, 2.12. Two of the runs were bequeathed. Pedro Alvarez had the big blow, a tiebreaking 3-run parabola off lefty John Lannan — his 21st, but just his 2nd worth 3 or more.

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@Red Sox 2, Padres 1 — Jonny Gomes sent the Pads to their 5th straight loss with the majors’ 4th game-winning pinch-homer this year, leading off the 9th against Luke Gregerson. Boston had tied in the 4th on Jarrod Saltalamacchia‘s double that plated Mike Carp, and the Friars were mostly silent after tallying in the 1st with a 2-out flurry. In his last spot of trouble, Jon Lester induced a DP from Kyle Blanks with 2 on, no outs in the 6th, then whiffed Jesus Guzman with the lead run on 3rd. Junichi Tazawa struck out the side in the 8th. Boston’s won 7 of 8.

Three out of 4 Gomes walk-offs broke a 1-1 tie.

All 4 walk-off HRs against righty Gregerson have been hit by righties.

LHB Carp began this year with better numbers off lefties, but he’s thrived in a traditional platoon role, his OPS well over 1.000 against righties.

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@Twins, Yankees —

Minnesota’s shown they don’t believe in pitch-arounds, and Robby Cano has made them pay all series.

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Rays @Astros —

Chris Carter‘s 2nd HR was a 3-run shot, breaking a tie in the 7th after a pair of 2-strike fouls. Seems odd that lefty Jake McGee was brought in for the RH Carter, but neither one has a traditional platoon gap.

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Diamondbacks 5, @Mets 3 — Randall Delgado flummoxed the Mets with his changeup for 9 Ks and no walks in 7, and a big crowd was left with only postgame fireworks to cheer. Matt Harvey also fanned 9, but one hanging slider to Cody Ross cost him 3 runs and the lead with 2 outs in the 6th. He started the 7th looking pretty spent, and let in 2 more. A 10-pitch walk to Miguel Montero, 1 out in the 6th, started a chain where 7 of Harvey’s last 9 men reached base. Montero has struggled all year, but he reached 4 times and drove in the last run with a flyout. The Mets hit 3 solo HRs and a double, but their 6 singles never went anywhere.

• Ross hit the first HR ever off Harvey with 2 or more on base; batters had been 10 for 51 with 17 Ks and an OPS around .500.
• Down 3-2, Eric Young singled to start the home 6th, an apparent should-steal situation. But Delgado held him close and varied his rhythm, and Young never budged.
• Great hustle play to start the 4th by CF Tony Campana (just called up), racing to glove Daniel Murphy’s drive off the wall in left-center, then nailing him at 2nd. That cut the value of David Wright‘s homer, though Josh Satin went deep in the same inning, his first ever, for a 2-0 lead. Campana’s a blazer (55 SB/5 CS in 184 MLB games), but that was just his 3rd assist.
• This is a gem by Omar Quintanilla.

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Orioles 4, @White Sox 2 — Tied with 2 on in the 8th, they brought in the lefty for Chris Davis, who had already homered off southpaw starter Hector Santiago. Davis hit the first pitch for a 2-run double. He does have a big platoon gap, but he also has 23 RBI in 99 ABs against lefties. He also has 83 RBI, 2 off the lead.

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Cardinals @Angels — Four 2-out runs made a 7-spot 2nd, and Shelby Miller rebounded from his worst start