We can no longer talk about the Oakland Athletics making the playoffs as an inevitability. The A’s are only two games up on the Mariners for the top Wild Card spot in the AL, and just 2.5 games up on the Tigers for either playoff spot. Since winning five out of six against the Rays and Twins last month, the A’s are 7-17. Meanwhile, Seattle is 20-9 since the Braves came to Safeco Field and got embarrassed, while the Tigers have been somewhere in between both clubs, posting a 14-10 record over the last three-plus weeks. It’s going to be a wild race down the stretch, and I’ll reiterate this one more time – don’t count out the Indians, either.
Game of the Night: Phillies 9, Nationals 8 (11 innings). Well then, this game was silly. Washington led 5-0 after five, but the Phillies began to roar back after that. They scored one in each of the sixth and seventh innings to make it 5-2, but the Nationals scored twice of their own in the seventh to make it 7-2. In the eighth, they scored two thanks to a Chase Utley RBI double and a Ryan Howard RBI infield single. Down three in the ninth, the Phillies battered Rafael Soriano to tie the game. Domonic Brown led off with a single, and Carlos Ruiz promptly homered to cut the Nationals’ lead to 7-6. After a ground out and a strikeout, Soriano gave up a game-tying solo homer to (of all people) Ben Revere over the right field wall. Ken Giles set the Nationals down in order in the bottom of the inning, and we moved into extras. After a 1-2-3 top of the tenth, Jake Diekman sandwiched a pair of walks around a Bryce Harper sac bunt, but got Asdrubal Cabrera and Kevin Frandsen to end the inning and strand both runners. In the 11th, Brown reached to start the inning after a collision in left center between Harper and Denard Span, and Ruiz bunted him to third, Rookie Maikel Franco hit a chopper to first that Tyler Moore threw away, scoring Brown to make it 8-7. Two batters later, Revere singled in Franco to make it 9-7. Jonathan Papelbon make things difficult in the 11th, walking Anthony Rendon with one out, giving up singles to Jayson Werth and Moore to make it 9-8. But with the winning run on first, Papelbon struck out Ian Desmond and forced Harper to line out to end the game.
Pitching Lines of the Night: Tyler Matzek threw a complete game shutout in Colorado’s 3-0 win over the Padres, allowing three hits, one walk, and striking out six. In the Royals’ 1-0 win over the Yankees, James Shields gave up three hits, struck out six, and walked none in 8 1/3 shutout innings. Michael Pineda was nearly as good for the Bronx Bombers, allowing one unearned run on three hits in seven innings, striking out four without a walk. Alex Cobb shined for the Rays in their 3-0 win over the Orioles, giving up six hits in seven scoreless frames, striking out six and walking one.
Hitting Lines of the Night: In Miami’s 11-3 thrashing of Atlanta, Marcell Ozuna went 4/5 with two doubles, two runs, and four RBI, while Donovan Solano went 4/5 with three runs and an RBI. Kendrys Morales spurred the Mariners to a 7-5 win over the Rangers, going 2/4 with two homers and four RBI. In the Mets’ 14-5 slaughter of the Reds, Travis d’Arnaud went 3/4 with a homer, two runs, four RBI, and a walk, while David Wright (remember him?!?) went 4/5 with a double, two runs, and RBI, and a stolen base. Kole Calhoun helped the Angels edge the Twins 7-6 in ten, going 3/6 with a double, a triple. four runs, two RBI, and a stolen base. In Philly’s win over Washington, Ben Revere went 3/5 with a double, a home run (seriously), three runs, a walk, and a stolen base.
Other Games: The Indians walked off on the White Sox 2-1 in ten innings. The Giants beat the Tigers 8-2 after a long rain delay. The Red Sox walked off on the Blue Jays 9-8 in a wild ten inning game. The Brewers moved back into the win column, beating the Cardinals 6-2. The Dodgers edged the Diamondbacks 2-1. The Astros used a long homer by Chris Carter to beat the A’s 4-3. The Pirates and Cubs were tied at three through six before the rain struck, and they’ll complete that game today.
Today’s Games: Kevin Gausman and Drew Smyly will due in St. Pete. David Price and the Tigers host Madison Bumgarner and the Giants. Danny Duffy and the Royals take on Brandon McCarthy and the Yankees. Francisco Liriano starts for the Pirates at Wrigley. Scott Kazmir and the A’s host the Astros. A.J. Burnett gets the nod for the Phillies in Washington. Johnny Cueto and the Reds host the Mets. Jose Quintana and Corey Kluber will tango in Cleveland. Alex Wood and the Braves take on the Marlins and Nate Eovaldi. Lance Lynn and Kyle Lohse will square off in Milwaukee. Newly-extended Jorge de la Rosa starts for the Rockies against the Padres. Hyun-Jin Ryu and the Dodgers take on the Diamondbacks.
National TV: Orioles-Rays (1 PM, Fox), Giants-Tigers (1 PM, Fox), Royals-Yankees (4 PM, Fox Sports), Cardinals-Brewers (7 PM, MLB Network), Angels-Twins (7 PM, MLB Network)
Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.
