Giants 9, @Padres 0 — In a season headed south for the defending champions, Tim Lincecum blanked the Padres for the first no-hitter in the 10-year history of Petco Park. He fanned 13 (six in a row from the 2nd-4th), walked four (Everth Cabrera and Chase Headley twice each), and threw 148 pitches, 17 in the 9th.
Astros 2, @Rays 1 — Jose Veras caught Evan Longoria looking with the tying run on 3rd, a final flair for a night of compelling baseball that almost unraveled at the end.
Belated happy 40th to Jose Jimenez. But don’t expect a card from Randy Johnson.*
Dodgers 7, @D-backs 5 (14 inn.) — The past month’s biggest difference-maker did it again. Hanley Ramirez got his arms extended on the first pitch of the 14th, the fifth frame essayed by Josh Collmenter, leading L.A. to a 4th straight win and the once-unimaginable Land of .500. Another homer followed, from A.J. Ellis, hero of the 9th-inning rally that started when Adrian Gonzalez won a 2-out, 9-pitch battle with Heath Bell. The Dodgers survived the rockiest start yet by Hyun-jin Ryu (5 IP, 5 R), as the pen posted 9 straight zeroes.
@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.
Happy 59th birthday to Willie Randolph and Jason Thompson, two fixtures of my Strat-O-spent youth. Happy 50th to Lance Johnson, the only Met ever with 20 triples in a season and one of few reasons to watch the ’96 club.
@Cardinals 5, Marlins 4 — Shane Robinson’s pinch-single sent Jon Jay to 3rd, and a throwing error on the no-play toss to the infield let Jay race home with the winning run, as St. Louis became the last team this year with a walk-off win.
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.
At least four pitchers thought to be on the trading block showed off their assets Wednesday, along with one already dealt. With results like these, market activity might be heating up soon.
@Reds 3, Giants 0: You might have heard a thing or two about this one. Doug has more, and I’ve got some notes at the bottom of this post. On to the other games….
@Mets 5, D-backs 4 (13): The Mets rallied to tie in the 9th, and after falling behind, they won it with 2 hits off Josh Collmenter, who’s held same-handers to a .216 average in his career, and was 4-0 in extra innings this year. But before Andrew Brown’s first game-winner (the rare 2-out walk-off-from-behind in extra time), the inning turned on two Arizona decisions — one from the skipper, and one in the heat of play.
On Sunday, David Lough (pronounced “low”) became the 11th player with 4 extra-base hits in a game while batting 8th. Here are some notes on those games. (All game distinctions mentioned are since 1916, the searchable era.)