@Cardinals 9, Astros 5 — Does anyone still think Matt Harvey should start the All-Star Game? Adam Wainwright‘s 12-5, 2.30. Clayton Kershaw‘s 8-5, 1.89. St. Louis is back in 1st place after a lull, helped by a gentle stretch of schedule that has 11 more against losing teams before they travel to the Braves, Bucs and Reds starting July 26.

• Matt Carpenter has led off just 65 of 88 Cards games, but his 32 RBI in that role are already among their top 60 leadoff seasons since 1916. Just two Redbirds have ever topped 62 leadoff RBI — Taylor Douthit (84 in 1930, a huge scoring year) and Lou Brock (76 in 1967). Carpenter’s also tied for the MLB lead with 69 runs.
• No one’s beaten sub-.500 teams more than St. Louis (39-19). They’re 15-15 against others. No reason that won’t play just as well in the 2nd half.
• “What a save!!!” Edward Mujica got one out, not against the tying run. Maybe he needed a confidence booster?

I recently cited a stat without the context to appreciate it: St. Louis is batting .327 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position (116 for 355). To show just how absurd that .327 average is:

• The NL average is .229 with 2 outs and RISP. The next-best NL teams are at .256 and .246. Last year’s NL best was .260, by the Mets.
• The highest known team mark ever (splits begin in 1945) was .314 by the 1950 Red Sox, who hit .302 overall (9 regulars at .294+) and scored 1,027 runs. These Cards are hitting .276 overall.
• The top two batters in 2-out RISP average are Allen Craig (20 for 41) and Carlos Beltran (16 for 33) (30+ ABs).

It’s preposterous!

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@Brewers 2, Reds 0 — First career CG for Wily Peralta, a 3-hitter. They let him face Brandon Phillips as the tying run for the final out. First shutout by a Brewer since April 2011. Ten Ks for Tony Cingrani, but a walk preceded the first career HR by #8 hitter Logan Schafer.

• The Reds have a little slump, dropping 4 of 5, 11 of 17. Still 4 up on the Nats for wild card #2, but the lumber’s been a-slumber for a while, 3.2 R/G in their last 25.
• Zack Cozart (0-4) is obviously unsuited to bat #2, but his .283 OBP there is better than most the Reds have tried this year. Cincy’s .268 OBP from #2 would be the worst of any team since 2001.

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@Padres 2, Rockies 1 — Back in his friendly confines, Eric Stults snapped his own 2-game slide and the club’s 10-gamer with a 3-hit CG, while collecting 2 knocks himself. He lost the shutout with 2 down in the 9th, but struck out Josh Rutledge with his 122nd pitch. Alexi Amarista drove in both San Diego runs with a triple in the 2nd and a single in the 7th, the latter after a no-out squeeze had failed.

• For Stults, it’s the second CG 2-1 win this year wherein he finished the game with the tying run on base. Just two other starters this year have faced a batter with 2 outs in the 9th and a 1-run lead, Justin Masterson and Brandon McCarthy.
• Stults at home is 4-1 with a 2.56 ERA and .194 BA. Away, he’s 3-6, 4.31, .292 BA.

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@Phillies 4, Nationals 2 — Break up the Fightin’ Phils! No, wait — that’s what they’re playing not to do. With speculation rampant on potential deals of Michael Young (who drove in 2 insurance runs) and Jonathan Papelbon (who sat out this save chance after 2 straight workdays), Philly won their 5th in 6 games, 4 of those against the teams they need to beat to keep hope alive through the Break. Cole Hamels won his 2nd straight with 8 strong innings (1 run, 1 walk), and Antonio Bastardo closed it despite his usual walk.

• Cliff vs. Gio tonight. Gonzalez has faced the Phillies 5 times before, all quality starts, and brings a 7-QS run into this meeting.

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White Sox 11, @Tigers 4 — It was 1-all after 7 innings, I swear. Chicago racked up 10 runs on 15 hits in the last 2 frames — 2 HRs, 13 singles, 3 on the infield, 3 hits by Alex Rios. Six hits in all for Rios, tying the AL regulation record done 32 times since 1916 (Doc Cramer the only repeater).

• Chicago’s 23 hits in regulation is the majors’ most since 2011.
• 23 hits, no doubles, ties a searchable 9-inning record, done once before.
• 11 runs is the fewest (by 2) with 23 hits and 3 HRs in 9 innings.
• Rios is the first known to have 6 hits with a triple and 2 steals.

Justin Verlander‘s strikeout drought reached 5 games with 5 Ks or less, his only streak of more than 2 within the last 5 years. He scattered 8 hits through 7, but everything caught up with him in the 8th (including Al Alburquerque‘s putrescence), when the Sox scored 7. Adam Dunn broke the tie with a 2-run shot.

• The All-Star Break falls late this year, so Detroit will have played 94 games by then. Miguel Cabrera‘s 29th HR gave him 92 RBI in their first 89 games, and an outside shot at 100 by the Break. In the All-Star era, just two players have reached 100 RBI by that artificial midpoint: Hank Greenberg, 103 in 1935 (76 team games, finished with 170); and Juan Gonzalez, 101 in ’98 (87 team games, finished with 157). Lou Gehrig had 102 RBI in what B-R has deemed the first half of 1927, the Yanks having played 82 of their 155 games.
• Storm warning: Matt Tuiasosopo‘s HR in the 5th raised his slashes to .347/.467/.640 in 92 PAs. Just one part-timer with 150 to 300 PAs has ever topped that 1.107 OPS — the one, the only, Hurricane Hazle.

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@Cubs 7, Angels 2 — Albert Pujols broke the shutout in the 7th, but Travis Wood still got his 17th quality start in 18 games. Better, he got his first win since May 30; the Cubs had lost his last 6 starts, despite his 2.58 ERA. All Chicago runs came on homers, four solos and Darwin Barney‘s 2nd career 3-run shot.

• Some guys stage contract drives. Alfonso Soriano‘s seen his last big deal, so he stages “Look, I’m worth trading for!” drives. Sori’s got 8 HRs and 17 RBI in his last 11 games. Last year, he didn’t homer until May 15, then hit 19 in 60 games, still no sale. But that was before the following.

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Royals 3, @Yankees 1 — New York scored in the 1st, but left ’em loaded from 1 out, and this was as close as they came to an extra-base hit. Still, for a long time that looked enough to give James Shields another hard-luck loss. CC Sabathia yielded one hit through 5, but David Lough tied it with a teardrop leading off the 6th. Billy Butler started the 7th the same way, and consecutive doubles in the 8th made a bit of a cushion. CC went the route for the 2nd time this year, 37th career (second to Halladay’s 67 among actives), but he absorbed his 7th loss. Sabathia’s never lost more than 11 in a season.

• Royals are halfway to their first 4-game sweep in the Bronx. Their last 3-game sweep there was 1994.
• Yanks have 3 straight games with 1 run, matching their longest since 1991.
• Shields is 4-6, but KC is 7-2 in his no-decisions.

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Athletics 2, @Pirates 1 — Brandon Moss’s 2-run HR in the 4th off Gerrit Cole turned around an early deficit, and Dan Straily (6.1 IP) and the bullpen made it last. Grant Balfour gave up a leadoff single, then whiffed McCutchen and Alvarez (who homered in the 2nd) before sealing to stay perfect through 24 save tries (5 this month, 4 by one run). A’s have won 10 of 13, Pirates lost 5 of 6, with just 3 hits tonight.

• In my mind’s eye, these teams met in a ’70s World Series — but of course the Bucs were upset in ’72 NLCS (as defending champs) and in ’74.

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Rangers 8, @Orioles 4 — One go-ahead HR by Adrian Beltre didn’t stick, so he cracked another off Zach Britton, this time with 2 on and 2 outs in the 5th. Summer’s here, and Beltre’s hot on schedule — 6 HRs in 6 games (5 of those Texas wins), up to 20 for the year. Manny Machado‘s homer left him one off the 21-and-under first-half mark of 49 extra-base hits, by Mel Ott in 1929.

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@Rays 4, Twins 1 — Putt-putt-putt, Tampa motored on for their 6th straight win, keeping pressure on Boston while making some space between themselves and the other would-be contenders in the East. Chris Archer walked none and allowed one unearned runs in 6 innings; he’d passed 21 in his first 36.2 IP. Kyle Gibson had 5 good innings and one bad, walking 3 in the 4th, who all scored on 2-out hits.

• Alex Torres tossed another perfect inning, and this is getting crazy. He’s allowed 6 hits and 1 run in 26 IP, retiring his first batter in 14 of 15 games (10 Ks). When he’s begun another inning, he’s set down all 7 leadoff men. He’s picked up 3 wins, but this was his first hold. Hitters are 0 for 14 since he gave up his only run on June 24.

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Red Sox 11, @Mariners 8 — Must have been a manager’s special at Safeco. Home runs were flying off the shelves, 5 in the first 3 innings. Boston trailed 5-1 after 2, then walloped Hisashi Iwakuma (3 IP, 8 hits, 3 HRs) and most of his followers, finishing with 5 taters. David Ortiz got his entree in the 2nd, then hit the salad bar, adding 2 doubles and a steal; he’s 3-0 in SB this year, after swiping 2 in the prior 5 years.

• HR, 2 doubles, SB — 4th time by a DH; the first was Billy Williams.
• Hisashi Iwakuma‘s yielded 4+ runs in 5 straight games, .936 OPS in that stretch, with 10 HRs in the last 4 games (and 20 for the year). “No walks” can only get you so far in the Show, it seems.
• Allen Webster didn’t survive the 3rd, allowing 7 runs. Second time this year a team won despite such a start, both against Seattle. Second time that’s ever happened in Safeco.
• 4 RBI for Brad Miller. Number of such games by M’s shortstops: A-Rod, 21 games in 5 seasons as their starter; all others, 22 in 37 seasons.

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Dodgers 6, @D-backs 1 — Quick returns from Ricky Nolasco: He drove in the first run with a 2-out hit, doubled and scored his next time. Not bad on the slab, either.

• Yasiel Puig walked twice, and he ran a full count before singling his first time up. But he also got thrown out on a mad dash for home, making the first out of the 5th and completing his “outs on bases” cycle. Mamas, don’t let your babies play baseball like this.
• First place by the Break? L.A.’s won 14 of 17, gaining 7 games on Arizona. One more in the desert, then home for 4 with the Rockies.

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Mets 10, @Giants 6 — Had I stayed awake for 2 more minutes, I would have seen the Mets’ first slam since an April walk-off.

• The slam put Marlon Byrd on pace for 26 HRs and 87 RBI. No Mets right fielder since 1993 has reached either 25 HRs or 85 RBI.