We moved from four games remaining to three for the remaining three teams fighting for the AL Wild Card spots, and the status quo was maintained. All three teams won, so nothing changed aside from the Rays and Indians chopping one off of their magic number. Tampa Bay's magic number is down to two, while Cleveland's is down to three, meaning that we're going into at least Saturday with one playoff spot up for grabs. We could do worse, I suppose.
PIC OF THE DAY
All of these four men may not be wearing pinstripes next year… (Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)
Game of the Night: Indians 6, Twins 5. This wasn't too great of a game until the ninth inning, when Cleveland fans collectively went insane. Chris Perez came in to close out a 6-1 game, and immediately imploded. Perez allowed a single to Eduardo Escobar to lead the inning off, and gave up an RBI triple to Alex Presley to make it 6-2. Bryan Dozier grounded out to score Presley and make it 6-3. Perez than gave up a single to Ryan Doumit, but got Josh Willingham to fly out for the second out. Then…Perez allowed a two-run homer to Josmil Pinto, and it was 6-5, and Cleveland was going nuts. Joe Smith relieved Perez and promptly allowed an infield single to Trevor Plouffe before walking Chris Colabello to put the winning run on base. But Smith collected himself and struck out Oswaldo Arcia to end the game, giving the Tribe their 89th win of the season.
Pitching Lines of the Night: In Baltimore's 3-2 win over Toronto, Miguel Gonzalez allowed one unearned run on two hits in seven innings, walking one and punching out five. Alex Cobb dominated the Yankees in the Rays' 4-0 win, giving up three hits in seven scoreless innings, walking a pair and striking out four. Robbie Erlin pitched well for the Padres in their 3-2, 11 inning win over the Diamondbacks, allowing two runs on three hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out four. Jeremy Guthrie pitched the Royals past the White Sox 3-2, giving up two runs on four hits in seven innings, punching out four while walking one.
Hitting Lines of the Night: Jason Heyward erupted for the Braves in their 7-1 win over the Phillies, going a perfect 5/5 with three doubles, a homer, and two runs scored. In Cleveland's win over Minnesota, Yan Gomes went 3/4 with a homer, two runs, and two RBI. In the loss, the Twins duo of Alex Presley and Josmil Pinto each had two hits, with Presley tripling, scoring twice, driving in a run, and walking and Pinto walking and hitting a two-run homer. David Lough had a good game for the Royals in their win in Chicago, going 2/2 with a two-run homer.
Other Games: Jurickson Profar and the Rangers walked off on the Angels 6-5. The Brewers doubled up the Mets 4-2. The Giants edged the Dodgers 3-2.
What You Missed: Mariano Rivera's emotional Yankee Stadium farewell. Brian McCann, traffic cop. Post-mortem for the Yankees. Vladimir Guerrero's Hall of Fame case. Hunter Pence's baseball camp commercial is hilarious. The Hard Rock Cafe is retiring "Enter Sandman" worldwide.
Today's Games: Clay Buchholz starts for the Red Sox in Baltimore against Scott Feldman. RA Dickey and the Blue Jays host the Rays. AJ Burnett and Homer Bailey will go at it in Cincinnati. Cliff Lee and Kris Medlen will duel in Atlanta. CJ Wilson and Alexi Ogando will tango in Texas. James Shields and Chris Sale will battle in Chicago. Corey Kluber starts for the Indians in Minnesota. Travis Wood starts for the Cubs in St Louis against Lance Lynn and the Cardinals. Stephen Strasburg and Pat Corbin will square off in Arizona. Bartolo Colon and Felix Hernandez duel in Seattle. Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers host the Rockies.
National TV: Indians-Twins (8 PM, MLB Network), Angels-Rangers (8 PM, MLB Network)
MLB.tv Free Game: EVERYTHING!
Pitching Matchup of the Day: James Shields vs Chris Sale (Royals vs White Sox, 8 PM)
Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.
