Lots of power hitting and pitching on display Saturday, which is pretty par for the course at this point, no? Let's dive in. 

Saturday's scores

Blue Jays 4, Tigers 3 (box score)
Cubs 14, Twins 9 (box score)
Athletics 7, Indians 2 (box score)
Angels 6, Orioles 2 (box score)
Reds 12, Brewers 3 (box score)
Marlins 5, Mets 2 (box score)
Rays 5, Astros 2 (box score)
Phillies 3, Nationals 2 (box score)
Braves 11, Cardinals 4 (box score)
Rockies 3, Dodgers 1 (box score)
Red Sox 11, Yankees 0 (box score)
Rangers 13, White Sox 4 (box score)
Giants 7, Diamondbacks 0 (box score)
Padres 4, Pirates 3 (box score)
Mariners 6, Royals 4 (box score)

A Bronx Tale of Two Pitchers

The Red Sox evened the series with an utter beatdown of the Yankees in the Bronx. It was a bloodbath from the start, as Rafael Devers delivered a first-inning grand slam off Yankees starter Sonny Gray. 

Gray wouldn't even make it through the third, allowing six runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. He was showered with boos on several occasions, especially when he was removed from the game and took the ol' walk of shame. He now sits with a 5.44 ERA and 1.51 WHIP. Here's a dubious fact, too: 

Yikes. 

Let's turn 180 degrees, shall we? 

Red Sox starter Chris Sale carved up the most powerful offense in baseball. He would get through seven scoreless innings, allowing only one hit (a single, naturally) and one walk while striking out 11. He was in complete command throughout and the Yankees never mounted anything even remotely resembling a chance to score. Well, I guess that's not totally true. Jackie Bradley Jr. did rob a potential Aaron Hicks home run in the third, but he has a knack for that. Otherwise, no, the Yankees didn't threaten. 

The Red Sox kept rubbing salt in the wound, too, scoring runs in the first, second, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings. 

The Boston win moves the Red Sox back to one game up in the AL East and for the best record in baseball. 

The A's just keep winning

Refusing to let the five AL playoff spots be cemented before July starts, the Oakland Athletics have gotten themselves pretty damn hot. The win over the Indians on Saturday was the A's sixth straight and they've now won 11 of their last 13. In the process, they have gone from 11 out of the second AL wild card to 6 1/2 (pending the Mariners' late result Saturday). 

This push has helped the SportsLine projection system to move the A's odds of making the playoffs to 11.8 percent. We've seen second half runs from the A's, too. No, none of these players were involved, but remember 2012? They entered July 37-42 and would go 57-26 the rest of the way. Perhaps this group is going to emulate that run.

If so, the Mariners better keep playing at this scorching pace, because the Yankees, Red Sox and Astros aren't likely going anywhere. 

Is the Reds' best hitter a reliever? 

We kid, of course, because their best hitter is Joey Votto and there are several other good offensive performers. Still, what relief pitcher Michael Lorenzen has done in a small sample at the plate this season is ridiculous.

On Saturday, he put the game away against the first-place Brewers with a pinch-hit grand slam: 

He is now 4 for 6 with three home runs and six RBI on the season. Mercy! 

Further, per Reds' PR, in the last eight days, Reds pitchers have hit four home runs, including two grand slams (!). 

The Reds, by the way, have won 10 of their last 13 games with seven of those games coming against the Cubs, Braves and Brewers. Seeing them on the schedule as a "last-place team" at this point might be a bit of a folly. They've playing tough, having finished 15-11 in June. 

This is why the Cubs want to trade for a starter

Based on their roster strength, recent history of excellence, and current NL-best run differential, you can compellingly argue that the Cubs are going to wind up as the senior circuit's best team in 2018. However, they're not without flaws, and they certainly don't compare favorably to the power teams of the American League. 

One issue is the rotation. It's already a source of concern because of Yu Darvish's arm troubles, and on Saturday right-hander Tyler Chatwood reminded all who glimpsed his work that he may not be fit for a contending rotation. Here's his line against a Twins team that came in ranking 11th in the AL in runs scored ... 

player headshot
Tyler Chatwood
PIT • SP • #50
vs. MIN, 6/30
IP5
H7
R7
SO6
BB3
Pitches103
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While Chatwood had a strong April in terms of run prevention, he's come undone since then. Overall, he's pitched to a 4.54 after 15 starts. That's not a horrible figure, but this is: In just 73 1/3 innings, he's walked an MLB-leading 66 batters, all unintentionally. In related matters, Chatwood is averaging less than five innings per start. In his last 10 starts, just twice has he pitched into the sixth inning. Not unrelated to all of that is that Chatwood has thrown just 37.3 percent of his pitches for strikes. Yes, pitchers are generally working more out of the zone these days, but in Chatwood's case it's all too often not by design. 

Look, the SportsLine Projection Model sees the Cubs as a 94-win team and the favorites in the NL Central, and that's while lugging Chatwood around. If they want to give themselves a better shot at hoisting the trophy for the second time in three years, though, they might need another needle-mover at the front of the rotation. What they definitely need to do is replace Chatwood sooner rather than later.

Now, the rest of the game was just fine for the Cubs. They pounded out 20 hits, and it wasn't the wind (it was blowing out). They didn't hit a single home run. It was a true "keep the line moving" game. At one point, they had 13 singles and zero extra-base hits. Seven different players had multi-hit games, topped by Jason Heyward's four hits. He's now hitting .291/.349/.440 on the season and it looks like his turnaround just might be real.  

Overall, after a season-high five-game losing streak, the Cubs have won four of their last five games. They are back within one game of the Brewers in the loss column. 

Friday didn't fix the Nationals

The Nationals just exploded on offense Friday night, scoring 17 runs and winning in a rout. Sometimes those are games that sit in front of a good team that was playing poorly finally breaking out. 

Instead, the Nats only scored two runs Saturday and lost. They've now lost 11 of their last 15 games and finish June with fewer than 10 wins (9-16). Bryce Harper is hitting .219, Max Scherzer isn't getting much help in the rotation, Daniel Murphy is still having leg issues, there are key players on the DL and the catcher situation is bad. 

The Nationals still have the players to make a run -- especially when they get guys like Stephen Strasburg and Ryan Zimmerman back -- but SportsLine has their chances to win the NL East now below 50 percent and they no longer seem a safe choice. 

Watch this play!

On the Phillies end, starting pitcher Vince Velasquez was taken out of the game after being hit in his pitching arm with a hard line drive. That's his right arm. He completed this play by dropping his glove and making a good throw with his left: 

The presence of mind and ability to do that on the fly with his left is amazing. 

Braves throttle Cardinals behind the long ball

Ronald Acuna got things started early with this 3-0 shot: 

Later, Nick Markakis would hit a grand slam: 

We'd also be remiss to mention the offense without the work of young starter Max Fried. He was brilliant striking out 11 in his 6 2/3 innings of work. That was 6 2/3 scoreless innings, too, and he only allowed four hits. 

The Braves are still in first place, but were limping into this series following series losses to the Blue Jays, Orioles and Reds. They've now taken the first two in St. Louis, however, and maintain their three-game lead in the NL East. 

Dodgers close good month on a low note as Marquez stars

After beating the Cubs on Monday, the Dodgers were 16-5 in the month of June and starting to look like the team that took the NL pennant with relative ease last year. Since then, though, they've gone 1-4 with two blowout losses and have now twice been offensively stifled by the Rockies. 

After only scoring one run on Friday, the Dodgers managed only an Enrique Hernandez solo homer. Rockies starter German Marquez actually had a perfect game going through five innings this time around. 

Speaking of, Marquez was clearly the story in this one. He would allow only the one run on two hits in eight innings. He struck out nine against zero walks. Just an outstanding outing. 

Tigers lose 11th straight

After their game on June 17 -- a victory over the White Sox -- the Tigers had won five straight and were within a single game of the .500 mark. That was significant considering Detroit is in the somewhat early stages of a rebuild.

Since then, though, the wheels have come off. Their loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday means the Tigers have now dropped 11 straight, and they've been outscored by 39 runs over that span. That's also their longest losing streak since 2003, when they also lost 11 in a row at one point and wound up losing 119 games. 

In this one, the Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Toronto chipped away and eventually tied it, which set up Justin Smoak leading off the bottom of the ninth ... 

Thanks to this losing streak, the SportsLine Projection Model tabs the Tigers for 66 wins this season. That's in line with those preseason expectations noted above, but the bad news is that 66 wins is projected to net the Tigers just the fifth overall pick of the 2019 draft. Such is baseball in the current year. 

The Mets have fallen even with the Marlins

The Mets started the season 11-1. The Marlins started the season knowing that ownership wasn't even trying to win this season, having gutted the team this past offseason in order to trim payroll. 

And yet, with the Marlins having taken the first two games of this weekend series, they are tied for last place in the NL East. That is, quite frankly, a pretty embarrassing look for the Mets franchise. 

Quick hits

  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman intends to target starting pitching leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, and to that end he's been talking to the Mets. Read more here. 
  • The trade market for Royals 3B Mike Moustakas may be heating up. Get the details here.
  • The Rockies have optioned struggling RHP Jon Gray back to Triple-A.
  • The Blue Jays have placed RHP Ryan Tepera on the 10-day DL with elbow inflammation.
  • The Braves have designated OF Peter Bourjos for assignment.
  • The Rays have placed RHP Wilmer Font on the 10-day DL with a lat strain.
  • Angels 3B Zack Cozart has undergone surgery to repair a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder. He's almost certainly going to miss the remainder of the season. 
  • Angels LHP John Lamb will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of the 2018 season plus a good chunk of 2019. 
  • Orioles RHP Darren O'Day will soon undergo season-ending hamstring surgery.
  • The Angels have acquired C Joe Hudson from the Reds in exchange for cash.

Live team updates