[I couldn’t finish last night and had tech troubles this morning, so here it is for whatever it’s worth by now.]

@Angels 6, Mariners 5: After dropping 6 of 8 to teams they’re chasing for one reason or another, the Angels needed this one bad, and in the end that’s how they got it. A 2-out, 1-and-2 pitch squirted away from Josh Kinney in the 9th, and pinch-runner Peter Bourjos was just fast enough to beat John Jaso‘s return throw and score the game-winner. Kendrys Morales had set it all up with a leadoff double; he had their only 2 hits in the last 4 innings, as the #2-3-4 men went 0 for 12.

• On seeing that Mike Trout had hit a 3-run HR off Felix Hernandez and then a 2-run sac fly, it finally hit me that he has a lot of RBI for a leadoff man — 65 ribs in 90 games played (all from the leadoff spot), a pace of 117 per 162 games. At his current rate, he would finish with exactly 100 RBI, despite missing the team’s first 20 games. That would tie the leadoff record set by Darin Erstad in 2000; the only others with 92+ are Alfonso Soriano (99 in 2002), Nomar Garciaparra (98 in 1997) and Jacoby Ellsbury (97 in 2012). Before Nomar, the leadoff record had been 85 RBI — not by Bobby Bonds, as I had guessed, but Harvey Kuenn in 1956. Bonds peaked at 83 in ’73.
• The 2-run sac fly is the first one this year, by my check. It’s too tedious to check farther. I remember one by Tommy Herr in the 1982 Series, scoring Willie McGee and Ozzie Smith.
• The game ended with Trout on deck, so we’ll have to wait a little longer for another leadoff man with 5+ RBI accounting for all his team’s runs. Rafael Furcal did it with 6 RBI back on 2004-07-09; that’s the only one in the past 25 years.

Tigers 6, @Rangers 2: Two-out thunder in the 6th — single by Dirks, single by Cabrera and Prince Fielder‘s 20th HR — wiped out a Texas lead and helped hang a W next to Max Scherzer‘s typical/inexplicable line of 6 IP, 8 SO, 8 hits.

• Scherzer nipped past teammate Verlander for the AL lead in strikeouts. But his combination of 11.31 SO/9 and 9.56 H/9 is simply unprecedented. Of the 60 prior qualified years with at least 10 SO/9, the highest hits rate was 8.54 H/9 by Scott Kazmir in 2007. Scherzer is a full hit (and almost a full K) above Kazmir’s rates. At his present rate, Scherzer would finish with 192 IP, 241 Ks and 204 hits; he would be the 5th Tiger to reach 240 Ks.
• He’s no Trout, but Austin Jackson (triple, inside-the-park HR) has scored 72 runs in 91 games, a healthy pace of 128R/162G.
• With his 250th HR, Fielder is the 15th player to reach that mark in his first 8 years, and the 19th to get there by age 28. He’s now just 69 behind dad’s career total.

@Phillies 3, Cardinals 1: Message for any contender expecting a walkover just because Philly threw in the playoff towel: The doctor will see you now. Roy Halladay allowed a HR to Carlos Beltran in the 2nd, but just 1 other hit and no walks in his 8 IP. Kyle Lohse was about as good for almost as long, but in the 8th Chase Utley hit a 2-run shot off rookie reliever Barret Browning.

• St. Louis put the tying runs on the corners in the 9th, but Beltran got picked off/CS by Jonathan Papelbon to end the game. That’s a big ouch for one of the most efficient base-stealers in MLB history … but arguably a balk on the ol’ “fake-to-third” move.
• Utley has 8 HRs in 34 games.
• I don’t want to speculate on what sort of parents could name their son Barret Browning — but for his sake, I’m glad he grew up to the depth and breadth and height of 6′ 2″. And I hope he has a better career than Tyler Yates.

@Orioles 7, Royals 1: By now you’ve heard all about Manny Machado‘s 2nd game — 2 HRs, 4 RBI, and per Elias the first modern player with 2 HRs and a triple in his first 2 games, and the youngest in franchise history with a 2-HR game. Baltimore has won 9 of 12 and remains in the thick of the wild-card race. Miguel Gonzalez went a career-high 8 IP, the first O’s starter in 5 weeks to last that long.

Padres 9, @Pirates 8: The slumping James McDonald coughed up a 7-1 lead in the 6th; his ERA has mushroomed from 2.37 to 3.77 since the Break. Pittsburgh got the lead back, but lost it for good on Chase Headley‘s 2nd HR of the game, a 2-out, 2-run shot after a walk to Everth Cabrera. It’s a bad time for a contender to play San Diego, who’ve won 5 straight for just the 2nd time this year.

@White Sox 4, Athletics 3: Oakland took a 3-0 lead early, but saw the Sox chip/blast away with solo HRs. The third one tied the game and ended Brandon McCarthy‘s return appearance (first start in 8 weeks). With 2 gone in the 9th, Jordan Danks connected for the first of his career to keep his team alone in 1st place.

• Oddities: CHW’s 4 HRs came from the #5, 6, 7 and 8 spots in the lineup, and in that order. It’s the 5th time ever (first since 2001) that the ChiSox scored 4+ runs with each coming on a solo HR; they won the 4 games with 4 HRs, but lost when they hit 5.
• A.J. Pierzynski has hit in 11 straight games, with 6 HRs, driving his season OPS to .901. The ChiSox catcher mark is .874 by Carlton Fisk.

Braves 4, @Mets 0: The recent trade for Paul Maholm paid quick dividends in a 3-hit shutout, but it doesn’t quite take an ace to shut down the Mets these days. They’ve scored 2 runs or less in 6 of their last 10 games. Jason Heyward‘s 2-run HR in the 1st put the game in its jammies, Maholm tucked it in and told a bedtime story about the pirate Crafty Lefty and his henchman DeePee, and Dan Uggla turned out the lights with another 2-run shot in the 8th.

• For young Matt Harvey, the focus again was silver linings. Through 3 innings he had no Ks and 5 walks (2-2-1), but he retired his last 9 men and wound up with not just a quality start but a pretty good outing (6 IP, 2 R, 2 H).
• Atlanta has won 13 of 16 but gained nada on the Nats. But they do hold the same 4.5-game bulge on the non-WC teams as Washington has in the division.

Red Sox 3, Indians 2: Cody Ross‘s 2-run shot broke a tie in the 6th, and Clay Buchholz went the distance on 2 hits, no walks, as Boston stopped a 3-game slide. But they lost 3B Will Middlebrooks to a broken wrist on a late HBP; he may be done for the year.

• He was a run-support wonder in the first half, but Buchholz has allowed just 5 ER over his last 5 starts.
• Ross vs. lefties: 1.152 OPS, 11 HRs in 91 ABs.

Rockies 3, @Giants 0: Tyler Chatwood stymied SF for 5 innings, Tim Lincecum fell to 6-12 despite another QS, and the Giants fell to 38-41 against righty starters. They’ve lost 8 of their last 11 at home, where they average just 3.2 R/G (vs. 5.1 in road games).

• Besides guidingthe shutout, Rox catcher Wilin Rosario had a Run and 2 doubles (the game’s only XBHs), and cut down 2 of 3 base-stealers, lifting his CS rate to 36% (league is 26%). In a real Rocky rarity, Rosario thus far has hit much better on the road (.282/.881) than in Coors (.209/.749).
• The first 5 Giants in the order went a combined 0 for 18.
• You don’t hear much about closers on noncontenders, but Rafael Betancourt is having a fine year – 0.98 WHIP, 4.0 SO/BB. Away from Coors, he’s held foes to a .139 BA/.400 OPS, allowing 2 runs (1 ER) in 20.2 IP.

Dodgers 5, @Marlins 2: Hanley Ramirez put LA ahead in a 4-run 7th that was capped by Juan Rivera’s 2-run HR, and they regained a share of the division lead. Hanley added an insurance run in the 7th with an excuse-me dribbler after a bags-filling IBB to Matt Kemp.

• The former batting champ Ramirez had his first 3-hit game since May 30. He’s hitting .223/.682 over the last 3 months, and .259/.728 in 15 games with LA.
• LA and SF are both 61-52 with 49 games left, 9 of them head-to-head.
• Last call for beer! During the top of the 7th, Don Mattingly made 3 pitching changes, with each reliever facing one batter that inning. No runs were scored.

Rays 12, @Twins 6: Tampa matched their season high with a 6-run 2nd, Matth Joyce (HR, 4 RBI) had his first multi-RBI game since June 14, and the Rays have their first 4-win streak since June 7-10.

• The wild-card muddle: Five AL teams are separated by 1 game. Tampa goes to Anaheim for 4 games next weekend; they’ve won 5 of the first 6 in that series.

@Astros 4, Brewers 3: The Eagle has landed! Houston finally joined the walk-off party on a hit by Brian Bogusevic. Other teams with just 1 this year: ANA, ARI, ATL, NYY.

• Milwaukee’s closer woes in a nutshell: Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford combined to get 4 outs and allow 3 runs, and finished the game with ERAs of 5.55 and 5.25. The Brewers lead the majors with 22 blown saves.
• Wilton Lopez has 4 of Houston’s 6 relief wins. He also has a 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 7.40 SO/BB.