@Yankees 6, Rays 5 — GTFOOH! The Captain homered on the first pitch he saw from Matt Moore, and Alfonso Soriano’s 4th hit of the game won it in walk-off style, turning Hideki Matsui Bobblehead Day into an Old-Timers’ shindig.

Jeter’s clout snapped their 9-game tater famine, and sparked a 3-run 1st inning that matched their season high. Moore came in off a 2-hit shutout and a 6-start win streak, and he hadn’t allowed a HR in 7 games. But the Yankees knocked him around for 8 hits and 5 runs in 5 IP. Phil Hughes would give back the first lead on a Wil Myers 3-run hanger-banger to left. But then Jeter beat out a grounder, and Soriano delivered his first Yankee HR since game 2 of the 2003 Series, just past Myers’s glove, putting New York back on top. Hughes gave up that lead, too, when Myers parked one the other way starting the 5th. Hughes finished with 4 IP, 5 runs, 9 hits, 2 walks, and lucky to get away tied.

• In the 9th, with Gardner on 2nd and no outs, Jeter was intentionally walked … bringing up Robinson Cano … who fanned on 3 pitches, watching strike three from lefty Jake McGee. Cano’s clutch performance is another discussion, but it’s hard to imagine any other current Yankee being passed in front of Cano in that spot.
• Jeter’s HR was their first in the 1st inning since July 1. They’d gone 6 games scoreless in the first 2 frames.
• Ichiro notched his 50th four-hit game, and first of this season. He’s the 17th with 50 searchable 4-hit games. For age 27-39, only Ty Cobb (55) and George Sisler (54) had more. Pete Rose had 49 for that age range, and a searchable record of 73 overall.
• You may disagree, but I find this Wil Myers “I gotcha” bat-flip more than a little provocative. Would it be a surprise if some foe should express umbrage in a physical manner? I see that he hasn’t been hit by a pitch yet….

__________

@Dodgers 1, Reds 0 (11 inn.) — Well, sure … but did a shower of sparks rain down on the left-field pavilion? Yasiel Puig’s home run with 2 outs in the 11th secured L.A.’s longest shutout win ever against the Reds, and their 9th win in 10 games built their NL West lead to 2.5 games. It’s the latest walk-off HR for a 1-0 win in L.A. Dodgers history; they’ve had three in the 10th inning, all since 2002.

Scoring chances were scarce all day. Cincy’s Tony Cingrani fanned 11 in 7 innings and yielded one hit — to opposing starter Chris Capuano, who was 0-for-13 this year. The Reds got just 3 hits off Capuano (who worked into the 7th), and none afterwards. Devin Mesoraco led off the 6th with a double off Capuano and reached 3rd, but he was cut down easily on a grounder to 3B Juan Uribe, and Joey Votto’s leadoff double in the 7th went nowhere. Shin-Soo Choo pinch-hit for Cingrani in the 8th and was hit by a pitch for the 22nd time this year (2 shy of the Reds’ record); he stole 2nd with 2 outs, but died there. Puig drew a leadoff walk in the 7th, but was picked off by Cingrani. Uribe doubled with 2 outs in the 8th, the first Dodger to 2nd base, but he was stranded by yet another whiff.

• The Dodgers struck out 20 times, a searchable franchise record for both Reds pitching and Dodgers hitting.
• Four Dodgers fanned 3 times, also a club searchable record.
• Losing pitcher Curtis Partch had a string of 7 hitless innings snapped.
• Here’s the longest searchable “shutout” for each against the other — a 19-inning tie.

__________

@Marlins 3, Pirates 2 — Career-high 13 Ks for Jose Fernandez (no walks), and his 10th straight game of 3 runs or less. Fernandez allowed 2 runs in the 2nd, but then began rolling, fanning 10 of the next 13 batters and yielding 2 singles from the 3rd through 8th innings. Gerrit Cole was good for the Bucs, but Giancarlo made another desert-island delivery, breaking a tie in the 6th. Steve Cishek came on for the 9th, although Fernandez only had 97 pitches, and he put two on before sealing the deal.

• Three days from his 21st birthday, Fernandez stands 7-5 with a 2.71 ERA, and 13 quality starts in 20 outings.
• At 40-63, Miami now projects under 100 losses. They’re 25-22 since June began.

__________

Red Sox 5, @Orioles 0 — Jon Lester put up 7 zeroes in his first scoreless outing since his May 10 one-hitter, and David Ortiz kept calm and lumbered on with a HR and 4 hits, as Boston won the rubber game and slipped back atop the AL East. Jason Hammel gave up 3 runs (and 11 runners) in 5.1 IP, and has not won in his last 10 starts. Baltimore got 5 singles, 2 walks, and went hitless with RISP.

• Chris Davis moved up to the #3 spot for the 3rd time this year, but his slump only deepened (0-4, 3 Ks). Since June began, Davis has 80 strikeouts and 12 walks in 51 games, hitting .251 to cut 52 points off his season average (.356 to .304).
• Lester is now 15-2 against the O’s, but the Sox hadn’t won in his last 5 starts against them.

__________

Royals 4, @White Sox 2 (12 inn.) — Alex Gordon shrugged off an 0-5 day with a 2-run HR in the 12th, leading the Royals to a 6th straight win with the help of 6 scoreless relief innings. But Gordon was only the second star. Jarrod Dyson started that 12th with a hit and swiped 2nd, taking 3rd on a bad throw. And none of it could have happened without Dyson’s textbook play in the 10th, cutting down pinch-runner Blake Tekotte at the plate to end the inning. Dyson charged all-out and gloved the skimmer in stride to come up throwing, then laid a one-hop strike in his catcher’s mitt. Salvador Perez almost waited too long on the tag, but he got there — no matter what Alexei Ramirez thought.

• K.C. slouched to the Break on 5 losses, but the streak has them back at .500 for the first time since June 17.

__________

@Tigers 12, Phillies 4 — If their 7-game skid left any doubts about whether the Phils should be deadline sellers, the 6th inning of #8 should resolve them. Playing without Miguel Cabrera again (for a different reason), Detroit scored 8 runs on 2 hits in the 6th, just one hit past the infield. A walk, a thrown-away dribbler, and Ramon Santiago’s 2nd bunt hit of the game filled the sacks with no outs (for the 3rd time), and Don Kelly’s sac fly to left was dropped by rookie Steve Susdorf. The next reliever forced in a run with a 4-pitch walk, and Fielder grounded to 1st, but reached on the inning’s 3rd error. An 11-pitch trip for V-Mart ended in another RBI walk, and on 2-and-0, Jhonny Peralta slammed to left.

Miggy was tossed in the 3rd, while batting with bags full and 1 out, for arguing after two called strikes, and Jim Leyland followed suit. Detroit wasted that no-out threat, after Prince Fielder had ended the 1st with a 2-on DP. Their 4th had 2 on, no outs, but also died in a DP. Each time, Philly scored in their next frame, building a 3-0 lead. The Tigers finally broke through on 4 straight hits to start the 5th, tying it up with 2 RBI groundouts. Fielder would DP again in the 8th, completing an 0-5 nightmare with 12 men on base.

• Susdorf earlier doubled for his first career hit, and scored. The minor-league veteran was hitting .335 at triple-A. His older brother, Billy, played 3 years in the Padres’ system.
• The Phillies’ Jake Dietman and rookie Luis Garcia each allowed 4 runs in the 6th, all unearned. Garcia faced 4 and retired none; he’s the 4th in the expansion era with an outing of 4+ runs, no earned runs, and R=BF. (The last with more than 4 runs in that scenario was Ramon Monzant, on 1958-06-28.)

__________

@Indians 6, Rangers 0 — Ubaldo Jimenez stopped Texas on 2 hits for 8 innings, and 2-out RBI hits in the 6th by Yan Gomes and Michael Bourn widened a slim lead. The Tribe have won 4 straight, and with a sweep they moved past Texas in the wild card race, within a game of the Orioles.

• Jimenez has gone 8 innings twice for Cleveland, both in the last 2 months. His 2.97 ERA in that time has helped the team to an 8-3 record behind him, while trimming his year’s mark to 4.17, the lowest since his first game this year.
• Texas was shut out twice in a row for the first time in 4 years, and the first time since 2004 by one opponent. They’ve lost 12 of 15, averaging 2.4 runs. They’re 22-29 since June began, outscored by 231-179, or 4.5 to 3.5 per game.
• Cleveland regained the MLB lead with their 14th shutout — their most since 1976, and as many as their last 3 years combined.

__________

Padres 1, @D-backs 0 — Patrick Corbin allowed 1 run for the 4th straight game, but Tyson Ross made that 1st-inning tally stand up with a career-best outing of 8 scoreless innings, on 3 hits and a walk. Corbin went unsupported for the first time this year and fell to 12-2, though shaving his ERA to 2.24. The Pads gained their first 1-0 victory in over a year.

With 2 outs in the opening frame, Chase Headley tripled to straight-away center, and Carlos Quentin found the 5/6 hole for the only run. The Snakes had a great chance in the 3rd, starting with Cliff Pennington’s triple, but Ross got a shallow fly from Corbin, then a groundout and one of his 7 Ks. Their only other RISP chance came with 1 out in the 5th, but Pennington and Corbin both whiffed.

__________

Cubs 2, @Giants 1 — Travis Wood homered and singled for half the hits off Tim Lincecum (10 Ks), and allowed only an unearned run over 7 innings, tying the MLB lead with his 18th quality start in 21 outings. Wellington Castillo broke the tie in the 7th with a 2-out crusher to left. The Giants have lost 7 of 8, scoring 14 runs, to fall 12 games under .500, alone in the NL West cellar.

• Wood leads all pitchers with 3 HRs, 8 RBI and 7 runs.
• Wood’s trademark is his consistency. His monthly ERAs are 2.25, 3.15, 3.06, 2.61.

__________

@Mariners 6, Twins 4 — Rookie Nick Franklin drove in 4 with 2 HRs, as Seattle salvaged a series split. Franklin has 10 HRs and 32 RBI in 52 games, and joins:

• … Bret Boone, as the Mariners second basemen with two multi-HR games in a season.
• … Jose Cruz, Jr., as the Mariners with two multi-HR games within their first 52 games.
• … Alvin Davis, Cruz, and Danny Tartabull, as the M’s with 30+ RBI in their first 52 games.

And another clean inning for Game Notes mascot Caleb Thielbar: 25.2 IP, 8 hits so far. I know it’s just relief work, and not even very high leverage at that. But through 24 career games, Thielbar has 15 hitless outings of at least one inning — tied with Akinori Otsuka and John Hudek for the known record, and one more than Aroldis Chapman. (So, it’s completely unlike Thielbar’s minor-league work, and we know he’ll crash one of these days; we’re enjoying our Calebs while we can!)

__________

@Athletics 10, Angels 6 — Albert hit the D.L.; Josh moved up to cleanup and went 0-5 with 3 Ks (0-4 with RISP); Oakland rallied from down 5-0 and survived a 7-walk day by Jarrod Parker (jacking their West lead to 6 games); and a great big fork pierced the rump of the Angels’ season: They are done.

• Hamilton is 12 for 76 with runners in scoring position (.158) — not quite the worst in the majors, but close enough.

__________

@Blue Jays 2, Astros 1 — The 15th pitcher to strike out 10 Astros is Todd Redmond, a former 39th-round draft choice who was waived twice this offseason.

__________

@Nationals 14, Mets 1 — Washington’s biggest output of runs and hits this year, and the franchise’s biggest margin of victory since 2000-07-03. The nos. 6-8 hitters Ian Desmond, Denard Span and Wilson Ramos combined for 10 hits, 10 RBI and 8 runs. And now they’re just 7 games out of the 2nd wild card.

• Ramos, the strong-hitting catcher who just can’t stay healthy, hit his first-ever grand slam, officially blowing the doors off in the 3rd inning.

____________________

Late Saturday

@Athletics 3, Angels 1 — The 2-run HR by Derek Norris was the 5th by a pinch-hitter this year that flipped a deficit in the 7th inning or later. Oakland’s other catcher, John Jaso, had one in April, also against the Angels, pinch-hitting for Norris.

• Norris was hitless in 12 prior PH appearances.
• The A’s are not exceptionally hot, but they’ve opened up a 5-game lead on Texas. Oakland trailed by half a game entering July, and have gone 13-8 this month, while the Rangers are 8-14.

__________

@Tigers 10, Phillies 0 — Max Scherzer was the 8th to start on his birthday this year, but just the 2nd to enjoy a team victory. Teams with birthday starters are 90-97 since 2000; the only two complete games were losses. CC Sabathia has started 4 times on his birthday, all team losses, with one QS and three blow-ups.

• After sitting out 4 games, Miguel Cabrera homered on his first swing, and singled in a run on his second.