@Cardinals 12, Cubs 0: We’ve seen a 12-run inning before (right?) — but in the home 7th of a scoreless game? It began with an infield single, a pitching change and a failed sac attempt. Then: double, single, triple, walk, double, walk, popout, pitching change, double, double, double, walk, pitching change, double, double, and SO/reached on WP, before the carousel finally coasted to a halt.

• Some records must have been set, but I’ll leave that to Elias.
• Pinch-hitter Allen Craig doubled twice in the inning. Since 2011, he’s 13 for 36 as a PH with 2 HRs, 4 doubles.
• Ten extra-base hits, no HRs: Believe it or not, it’s already happened this year; believe it or not, that was in Coors Field. Last done by St. Louis in 1977, in a loss to the Expos. (But for HR-free, XBH hijinks, you still can’t beat this one.)
• Welcome to Planet Cubs: Acquired 2 days ago, Justin Germano relieved injured SP Matt Garza and put up 3 zeroes in his Cubs debut; at that point, he had tossed 8.1 scoreless innings in 2 long-relief outings this year (one for Boston). Germano left after the leadoff hit in the 7th — and took the loss.
• James Russell and Manny Corpas became the first NL teammates in over a year to each allow 4+ ER in less than an inning’s work. A couple of BoSox did it back in April, and a pair of Padres did it against Boston last June. Russell (6 R in 0.2 IP) had a 2.45 ERA through 44 IP; now it’s 3.63.
• Cards are now 17-9 in blowouts (margin 5+), 11-17 in one-run games. And that’s how the NL’s best Pythagorean record lands in 3rd place in the division and 4th in the wild-card race.

Giants 6, @Phillies 5 (10): If at first you flub the squeeze, safety-squeeze next time. I like to think that Gregor Blanco bunted on his own to plate the winning run in the 10th, to atone for missing the sign in the 8th. Anyway, he’s 5 for 8 on bunts this year (including a 9th-inning game-tyer), plus 2 sacrifices.

• First game since 2002 with 2 pitchers homering; first since 1990 outside of Denver. (The past 3 such games all happened in Coors Field.)
• Except for the CS-home, Buster Posey had a banner day: HR, double, 3 RBI, and he set up Blanco’s winner with an opposite-field single in the 10th that sent Melky around to 3rd.
• … which is not to slight the Melk-Man’s 3-3-2-1/HR/2 walks. The last Giants with OPS+ of at least 160: 2001-04 MVP Barry Bonds and 2000 MVP Jeff Kent. (Or, to put it another way: Bonds did it every year from 1993-2004, except for ’99; Kent ’00 is the only other Giant to do it since 1990.)

@Tigers 7, White Sox 1: Two-out thunder pushed the Bengals into the catbird seat alone for the first time since April. Each of Detroit’s 3 hits with RISP (2 by Austin Jackson) came with 2 away and scored at least 2 runs. Jackson had been just 4 for 28 in those situations this year.

• Before Wednesday, Detroit starters had logged a 70+ Game Score in 15 of 91 games this year (8 by Justin Verlander). Now they have 4 in a row, by Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, Verlander and Porcello, with a combined line of 31 IP, 5 runs, 14 hits, 8 walks and 29 Ks.
• Rick Porcello vs. Chicago this year: 3-0, 1.23 ERA, 0.73 WHIP in 22 IP. Against all others: 4-5, 5.20, 1.72 WHIP.
• Chris Sale vs. Detroit: 0-2, 6.00, 1.50 WHIP in 12 IP. Against all others: 11-1, 1.96, 0.96 WHIP.

@Pirates 5, Marlins 1: The Bucs were out-hit 9-5 and out-homered 1-0, but the Fish gaffed themselves with 8 walks and an error on a pitcher’s bunt attempt. A.J. Burnett (11-3) has matched last year’s win total, in juts 17 games; Pittsburgh is 14-3 in his starts.

• On June 3, Miami was tied for 1st at 31-23. They’ve gone 13-27 since.
• Last 8 starts for Carlos Zambrano: 35 runs in 36.1 IP, 34 BB (and 7 HBP), 23 Ks, team 1-7. In the 4th tonight, Big Z hit the first 2 men and later issued 3 walks, the last forcing in a run. In the 2nd, he walked Burnett on 4 pitches.

@A’s 2, Yankees 1: Facing the Bombers for the first time, Jarrod Parker was in top form over 8 IP, and Brandon Inge broke a tie in the 8th, making his first hit in 11 tries off Phil Hughes as big as four singles.

• Yo-yo mas!
• Sean Doolittle earned his first save with 3 Ks, extending his scoreless streak to 13.1 IP; he’s fanned 29 of 75 batters faced. Doolittle isn’t the first to make the transition from position player to pitcher in the minors, but he’s one of the few who (a) wasn’t a bad hitter, and (b) pitched less than 30 pro innings before making his MLB debut. Here’s some of his backstory.
• Oakland is tied with Baltimore and Chicago for the 2nd wild card seat.

Rangers 9, @Angels 2: Texas mashed 5 HRs for the 3rd time this year, all on the road. They hit 3 in the 2nd to send Ervin Santana to another early shower; he has a 5.82 ERA against the Rangers in 25 career starts, allowing 33 HRs in 155 IP.

• 11 Ks and 3 hits in 7 IP by Yu Darvish.
• If more runs than innings is a disaster start, I guess more runs than outs is an apocalypse. And E.Santana is Col. Kurtz; he’s one of six pitchers with 2 such starts this year
• Mike Trout has scored in 13 straight, matching streak of the last 3 years, and swiped his 31st bag (3 CS).

Mariners 2, @Rays 1: Fifteen hits in this game, all singles. The last 3 games with both teams at 7+ hits and no XBH have all featured Seattle (2011-04-22, 2010-08-23).

@Diamondbacks 10, Astros 2 (8th): By the time I finish this sentence, we’ll know if Jason Kubel became the first Snake with a 4-HR game. (Nope.) Kubel has zoomed into the NL RBI lead (16 HRs and 46 RBI in his last 34 games), and reached 20 HRs for the 4th time in the last 5 years.

• Cesar Ramos pitched valiantly in vain: 4 scoreless (career-high 6 Ks, no walks) in relief of injured Alex Cobb. He’s allowed 4 runs in 24.2 IP this year.

Blue Jays 7, @Red Sox 3: Carlos Villanueva‘s 2-game scoreless streak ended in the 1st on a 3-run Salty HR, but he allowed no more into the 7th, long enough for his mates to finally get a little lift off the opposing groundball maestro.

• Aaron Cook: 6.1 IP, 1 walk, 1 SO … and 2 late HRs that made him a loser.