For the first time since mid-April, the Texas Rangers have fallen out of first place in the AL West. The Oakland Athletics have usurped their position after a 4-3 win in Chicago, and a 6-1 Rangers loss in Toronto. The Rangers and A's definitely are making this a two team race, as the Angels and Mariners are each ten games behind the second place Rangers in the division. Texas and Oakland have both played pretty easy schedules so far, but it won't be getting much easier for the Rangers over the rest of the month, as they have series with the Blue Jays (twice), Indians, Cardinals, Yankees, and Reds, along with a four game matchup with the A's in Arlington. The A's will play the White Sox, Yankees, Mariners (twice), Cardinals, and Reds, meaning that they've got a little bit more of a chance to gain some ground than Texas.
PIC OF THE DAY
Jose Valverde and Prince Fielder separate Detroit's win over Cleveland (Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports)
Game of the Night: Rockies 10, Padres 9. Colorado jumped out to leads ot 8-2 and 9-3 in this one, but apparently, six runs wasn't enough. A Kyle Blanks single in the fifth made it 9-4, but in the seventh, San Diego went ham on Rob Scahill. He faced five batters, and didn't get one out. He plunked Chase Headley and allowed a two-run homer to Carlos Quentin to cut the lead to three. Jedd Gyorko followed with a solo homer to make it a 9-7 game. Blanks doubled, and Cameron Maybin singled him in to cut the lead to just a run. Scahill was replaced by Josh Outman, and later in the seventh, Maybin scored on an Everth Cabrera infield single to tie the game. Unfortunately for the Padres, they didn't put a runner on base after Cabrera's single over the rest of the game, and in the bottom of the ninth, Rockies rookie Nolan Arenado hit a walkoff solo homer off of Joe Thatcher to give Colorado the win.
Pitching Lines of the Night: Francisco Liriano dominated the Cubs in a 2-0 Pirates win, allowing two hits in seven shutout frames, walking five and striking out eight. Chris Archer pitched very well for the Rays in their 2-1 win over the Orioles, giving up one run on two hits in seven innings, walking two and striking out two. Paul Maholm and Hyun-Jin Ryu had a nice pitchers duel in the Dodgers' 2-1, 10 inning win over Atlanta, with Ryu giving up one run on six hits in 7 2/3 innings, walking one and striking out six, and Maholm allowing one run on four hits in 7 1/3 innings, walking two and striking out three.
Hitting Lines of the Night, Padres and Rockies Edition: For the Padres, Jedd Gyorko went 4/5 with two runs, a double, and a homer, Kyle Blanks went 3/5 with two runs, three RBI, a double, and a homer, and Carlos Quentin went 3/5 with two runs, three RBI, and a homer. For the Rockies, Carlos Gonzalez went 2/3 with two runs, three RBI, a walk, and two triples, Todd Helton went 3/5 with a run, three RBI, and a double, and Dexter Fowler went 3/5 with two runs and a triple.
Hitting Lines of the Night: Victor Martinez led the Tigers to a 7-5 win over the Indians, going 3/4 with three RBI, a double, and a homer. Melky Cabrera played well for the Blue Jays in their 6-1 win over the Rangers, going 3/4 with two runs, two RBI, a double, and a homer. Tyler Flowers had a good game for the White Sox in their 4-3 loss to Oakland, going 3/3 with a solo homer.
Other Games: The Cardinals pounded the Reds 9-2. The Brewers walked off on the Phillies 5-4. The Royals beat the Astros 4-2. The Mariners beat the Yankees 4-1, and Jeremy Bonderman got his first win in nearly three years. The Diamondbacks beat the Giants 3-1 thanks to a late Paul Goldschmidt homer. The Marlins and Mets, Angels and Red Sox, and Twins and Nationals were all rained out. The Mets will host a doubleheader in September, the Red Sox will host one today, and the Nationals host one tomorrow.
What You Missed: Indians closer Chris Perez and his wife were charged with drug possession. Gerrit Cole will debut on Tuesday for the Pirates. This week's watchability rankings. Diamondbacks starter Daniel Hudson re-tore his UCL.
Today's Games: Yu Darvish starts for the Rangers in Toronto. Jose Fernandez and Matt Harvey will try to pitch again in New York. AJ Burnett takes on Jeff Samardzija in Chicago. Justin Masterson starts for the Indians in Detroit. Gio Gonzalez starts for the Nationals, hosting the Twins. Andy Pettitte starts for the Yankees in Seattle. Kevin Gausman gets the nod for the Orioles in Tampa Bay. Kyle Kendrick starts for the Phillies in Milwaukee. Mat Latos and the Reds host the Cardinals. CJ Wilson takes on Clay Buchholz in Game 2 of the Angels-Red Sox doubleheader. Madison Bumgarner takes on Trevor Cahill in Arizona.
National TV: Twins-Nationals (4 PM, MLB Network), Indians-Tigers (4 PM, MLB Network), Phillies-Brewers (7 PM, Fox), Cardinals-Reds (7 PM, Fox), Astros-Royals (7 PM, Fox), Padres-Rockies (7 PM, Fox), Angels-Red Sox (7 PM, Fox), Giants-Diamondbacks (10 PM, MLB Network), Braves-Dodgers (10 PM, MLB Network)
Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.
