As is customary in this very space, let's run down all of Thursday's MLB action:

Thursday's scores

Red Sox manage win, tie Yankees atop AL East

In a game that had roughly an hour-long rain delay and saw the Yankees storm back from a decent deficit, the Red Sox managed to salvage a game in the Bronx and avoid the sweep. In the process, they tied the Yankees atop the AL East (and for baseball's best record) at 26-11. 

Thanks to a few doubles and putting the ball in play, the Red Sox grabbed three runs early and then a Hanley Ramirez home run made it 4-0 in the top of the fifth. That's when the umpires finally decided to stop playing in the pouring rain, and the delay lasted just around one hour. 

Meantime, Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez was throwing a gem. In fact, he'd come back after the rain delay with more than an hour between pitches and throw the bottom of the fifth. 

No matter, he got two strikeouts and a groundout. Rodriguez's excellent outing (5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K) ended up being lost in the shuffle, though, as the Yankees would rally. 

Given the wins in 17 of their last 18 games and how some of those games unfolded in the late innings, seeing a comeback wasn't exactly shocking. They did have some help this time. 

Red Sox reliever Heath Hembree got an out before allowing two singles, but then he walked Neil Walker to load the bases. Joe Kelly was summoned to face Brett Gardner, and he walked in a run. Aaron Judge would single before Didi Gregorius would cut the lead to 4-3 with a knubber that went for a fielder's choice. Then Kelly uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Gardner to score and tie the game. 

The tie didn't last long. J.D. Martinez led off next inning with the decisive blow: 

Many were blaming the fan for making that catch, but I really don't think Judge was going to grab that, and there certainly wasn't inference [we have a co-byline here so I'll point out this is Snyder talking]. It was obviously really close and quite the interesting picture, but the fan didn't reach over Judge. 

The Yankees threatened in the eighth, but failed to score. Craig Kimbrel got some redemption in the ninth, getting through Gardner, Judge and Gregorius unscathed. 

Balk, Nationals spoil Greinke's all-around effort

This one really looked like a Zack Greinke Game. 

Through seven innings, not only was Greinke throwing a shutout, but he had an RBI single (in a 1-0 Diamondbacks lead, mind you) and he even stole a base. 

In the eighth, though, Greinke allowed a double to Michael Taylor to lead things off. Greinke was lifted for D-Backs fireman Archie Bradley. A sac bunt moved Taylor to third and then one of the most obvious balks we'll ever see tied the game. 

A Matt Adams single would give the Nats their first lead in the 11th, but it was the only one they'd need. 

The Nationals have now won 10 of their last 12. 

Dodgers lose to Reds

We know the mantra by now. We repeat it everyday. "It's early." It still is. It just seems like the Dodgers have looked far too bad for far too long to believe they can just reset everything on a dime, not to mention their injury woes. 

Still, looking at the schedule and seeing four games at home against the Reds and three road games against the Marlins to follow, it felt like a pretty good opportunity to go on an extended winning streak. 

So far, it's more of the same. 

The Dodgers did score one run in the first, but left the bases loaded. They would leave the bases loaded in the second, too. The third inning was an improvement, as they only left two on. Then they just stopped getting on base. In all, the Dodgers drew four walks, but only scored one run thanks to only four hits (all singles). 

The reality of the situation is the Dodgers (16-21) are closer in the NL standings to the Reds (11-27) than the top. 

Phillies complete sweep of Giants

For the first time since 1982, the Phillies have swept a four-game series from the Giants. Carlos Santana smacked a big three-run go-ahead home run in Thursday afternoon's win, but the star of the show was starter Vince Velasquez. He fanned 12 in the quality start.

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Vince Velasquez
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With the win, the Phillies remain a half-game behind the Braves for first place in the NL East heading into Atlanta's game Thursday night. The Giants, meanwhile, went into this series with the Phillies having won 11 times in their previous 14 games. Then they got swept in four games.

Freeman, Albies go nuts in Miami

The first-place Braves took care of business in Miami with an easy win -- or so the final score indicates. Point of fact, though, this thing was tied, 1-1, heading to the sixth inning. The Braves then mounted their rally and leadoff man extraordinaire Ozzie Albies did his thing: 

That's the first career grand slam for the youngster and it opened the proverbial floodgates. The Braves would get seven runs in the sixth and then cruise from there. 

Freddie Freeman also homered among his five hits. Yes, five. Freeman went 5 for 5 in his first career five-hit game. He's slashing .326/.424/.558 this season, doing a much better Joey Votto impression than Joey Votto. 

Seager powers Mariners

It didn't take long for the Mariners to get a nice lead early in Toronto, as Kyle Seager belted a grand slam in the top of the first: 

For good measure, Seager would knock another out of the park for a two-homer, five-RBI game. Ryon Healy and Mike Zunino would also homer while Jean Segura collected four hits atop the Mariners' order. They'd grab 17 hits in all. 

The Mariners grabbed the series with this win, moving them to 13-7 on the road this season. 

Angels dig extra bases

You ever watch your favorite team pound out a bunch of singles in different innings, but never really string anything together? The Angels were the polar opposite on Thursday night. Of their 12 hits, only five were singles and they managed seven runs despite only two walks. The Angels really made their hits, notably of the extra-base variety, count. 

Funnily enough, their first hit was a single (Andrelton Simmons, in the second), but it was followed by an Ian Kinsler homer. In the third, a solo homer was followed by two doubles. That's just the way things went for the Halos in this one. 

Oh, and Shohei Ohtani went deep: 

He's hitting .354/.400/.677 with four doubles, five homers and 16 RBI in 70 plate appearances. 

The Angels, meantime, are 23-14. 

Brewers grab nice road win in Colorado

Much has been made of the Brewers beating up on poor teams and not faring quite so well against good teams, so give them credit for taking the first game of a series in Colorado. The Rockies entered the game having won six of their last seven and were sitting 21-16 overall. 

Lorenzo Cain set the tone in this one, homering on the first pitch of the game: 

Also of note: Former Rockies pitcher Jhoulys Chacin got the win after 5 1/3 innings of work. 

The Orioles have won back-to-back games

Winning two games in a row really shouldn't even be considered a streak. A streak has to start with three. Still, let's stop to give the Orioles credit, because they've won back-to-back games for just the second time all season. Believe it or not, they took three of four in early April from the Yankees, obviously taking two in a row during that one. Thursday, they beat the Royals for their second straight win. 

It marked the third series win of the season for the 10-27 O's (they also took two of three from the Tigers to close out April). 

This one was interesting, as Chris Tillman coughed up four runs in the top of the first and then two more in the second before departing with this line: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 0 K. 

The offense would pick Tillman up, though, scoring nine runs in four innings off Royals starter Ian Kennedy and 11 in all. Trey Mancini, Adam Jones and, of course, Manny Machado hit home runs in the comeback effort. 

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