Wednesday brings with it a full slate of baseball action: 15 games in all, including four of the day-game variety. Keep it here for all you need to know about what's going on throughout the day.
Final scores
Marlins 2, Nationals 1 (box score)
Rays 8, Reds 3 (box score)
Royals 6, Red Sox 4 (box score)
Padres 3, Cubs 2 (box score)
Cardinals 7, Phillies 6 (box score)
Indians 5, Orioles 1 (box score)
Yankees 8, Angels 4 (box score)
Braves 5, Giants 3 (box score)
Blue Jays 7, Rangers 5 (box score)
Twins 4, White Sox 2 (box score)
Brewers 4, Pirates 3 (box score)
Diamondbacks 16, Rockies 5 (box score)
Astros 5, Athletics 1 (box score)
Dodgers 8, Mets 2 (box score)
Mariners 7, Tigers 5 (box score)
Yankees end skid at seven
Heading into their game Wednesday against the Angels, the Yankees had lost seven straight and their hold on first place, albeit by only a half-game. The funny thing was, it didn't look like a particularly difficult part of the schedule. The losses all came against the Angels (who don't have Mike Trout right now, so what a perfect time to play them) and Athletics. Of course, the first six losses of the streak were road games on the West Coast. That's never easy.
First place was definitely of less importance than putting a stop to a tailspin, and the Yankees did just that.
They survived a career game from Angels defensive-minded catcher Martin Maldonado, who went 3 for 4 with a double, two home runs and four RBI. Alas, no one else on the Angels would drive home a run. In fact, Andrelton Simmons went 3 for 4 and scored two runs. The seven remaining Angels combined for a single, zero runs and zero RBI in 24 at-bats.
For the winners, starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery was good enough while Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman threw well in relief (no, Tyler Clippard did not throw well; he continues to be a problem).
Matt Holliday homered and doubled for the Bronx Bombers. At age 37, he already has 15 home runs this season. He hasn't topped 22 in a year since 2012 and hasn't topped 28 since all the way back in 2007, when he played for the Rockies. As many already knew, the power surge in the Bronx isn't just the kids.
With the Red Sox loss, the Yankees are back in first place, but, to reiterate, stopping the losing streak was much more important.
Scherzer flirts with no-no, ends up with loss
It's safe to write that Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer is good at pitching.
Scherzer nearly recorded his third career no-hitter Wednesday; he came within five outs of victimizing the Miami Marlins in a getaway-day matinee. Scherzer had previously thrown no-nos against the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Mets. Both of those came during the 2015 season, with the Pirates game coming nearly two years to the day.
Before A.J. Ellis' infield single off Scherzer's glove in the eighth, most of the drama hinged on whether manager Dusty Baker would make a pitch-count-related decision. Scherzer entered the inning having thrown 98 pitches. His season high had been 118. Alas, Ellis seemingly saved Baker (and perhaps Scherzer) from a difficult call.
"Seemingly," because Scherzer threw 121 pitches anyway. After losing the no-hitter, Scherzer's day would go downhill. A fielding error, hit batsman and wild pitch allowed the tying run to score. Giancarlo Stanton then singled, giving the Marlins the lead -- not even a half-hour after it seemed like the Fish were going to be no-hit.
The obvious takeaway from the afternoon's events? The Nationals need bullpen help. If Baker had more confidence in his relief options, he could've lifted Scherzer after he gave up his first hit, or after the tide had turned. Yes, maybe Baker rides his ace too hard regardless, and the result is the same. But if you're Mike Rizzo, you would like to give Baker an alternative route to explore.
Scherzer's latest no-hit bid nearly put him in select company; he would've been one of only six pitchers to throw more than two no-hitters in their careers. The others? Nolan Ryan (seven), Sandy Koufax (four) and Cy Young, Bob Feller and Larry Corcoran (three apiece). With the exception of Corcoran -- a four-time 30-game winner in the 1880s -- all those pitchers are in the Hall of Fame.
Additionally, Scherzer's no-no would've marked the fourth in Nationals history. Jordan Zimmermann closed out the 2014 season with a no-no against -- who else? -- the Marlins.
Verlander similar, but worse
Depending upon your point of view, Tigers starter Justin Verlander had either a worse or less painful outing than Scherzer. Verlander was perfect through 5 1/3 innings, but then Mariners speedster Jarrod Dyson dropped an absolutely perfect bunt toward the first-base area to break it up. And the floodgates opened almost immediately.
Mike Zunino drew a walk, Jean Segura singled. Ben Gamel singled home a run. Robinson Cano struck out, but the M's weren't done. Nelson Cruz would double to left, scoring two. The box score didn't do that one justice, as it was a popup with eyes and Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias overran it. Still, the runs count. And Verlander was done.
Mitch Haniger would homer to tie it up in the bottom of the seventh, then a two-RBI Cano double -- redemption! -- gave the Mariners a 6-4 lead.
The Mariners would win their fourth straight on a night where it seemed like they might be on the losing end of a perfect game. They even their record at 37-37.
The Tigers have lost five straight.
Diamondbacks truck Rockies
On Tuesday night, the Diamondbacks grabbed a one-run lead in the top of the eighth only to see it disappear in the bottom half against the first-place Rockies. On Wednesday, they left no doubt.
Through three innings, it was 1-0 Rockies, but then the Diamondbacks absolutely exploded. The play by play:
Is that good? Holy smokes, what an inning. That's the most runs the D-Backs have scored in an inning all year, not surprisingly. It's the most they've ever scored in Coors Field, which is at least moderately surprising.
On the flip side, Rockies rookie Jeff Hoffman was in the course of a good year before that:
An inning like that can really bury a player's numbers. Hoffman came in 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in 32 innings. He's now 4-1 with a 4.29 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in 35 2/3 innings.
This wasn't about the Rockies, though. In the biggest series of the week, the Diamondbacks' offense took center stage. They scored 16 runs on 20 hits. Six players had at least two hits. There were six doubles and, rather shockingly, only one home run (Nick Ahmed). David Peralta had four singles and a walk. Brandon Drury was the offensive star, though, going 4 for 6 with a double and six RBI.
With this result, the D-Backs move to within one game of the Rockies. Of course, they are 1½ games back of the Dodgers, who take over first place by a half-game over the Rockies with their victory against the Mets.
Still, it's an exciting three-team race and the Diamondbacks do battle with the Rockies again on Thursday afternoon in Coors Field.
Sal's grand slam (with a special bat) turns game on its head
The Red Sox entered the eighth inning with a 4-2 lead over the Royals, needing only three outs to put the ball in the very safe hands of Craig Kimbrel. Instead, the Royals would lead 6-4 after the eighth and Kelvin Herrera would be the one closing things down.
What happened? Well, three consecutive walks to open the eighth wasn't a great idea. Then big Salvador Perez fought off three Robby Scott 3-2 pitches before getting into this one:
What's more, that was the bat of fellow Venezuelan Miguel Cabrera:
For more on that, click here.
Indians, Orioles stay the course
So the Orioles beat the Indians on Tuesday night. That doesn't mean the Indians aren't still what we call "hot." With Wednesday's victory, the Indians have won seven of their past eight.
Meantime, the Orioles again allowed at least five runs in a game. Their AL record increases to 18 consecutive games. The MLB record is 20. Dubious history is approaching.
'Ace' Berrios?
Twins youngster Jose Berrios continues to have an excellent season. Before his last outing, he had never before worked eight full innings in a game. Now he has done it in back-to-back starts. This time out, he needed only 97 pitches to get through his eight innings. He allowed only two runs on four hits while striking out eight.
Berrios is now 7-1 with a 2.67 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 53 strikeouts in 54 innings. He's only 23 years old and his bounce-back from an awful rookie season continues to be stellar.
Game saver
The Brewers won by one while the Cubs lost by one, so the Milwaukee lead in the NL Central is back up to 1½ games. The Brewers held on by the skin of their teeth, too, because the tying run would have scored if not for this dazzling play by rookie shortstop Orlando Arcia:
Absolutely beautiful.
Giants still in a really, really bad way
First off, big ups to Matt Kemp for hitting a walk-off home run in the 11th, and the Braves for winning the game.
But the Giants are the story here. At least for a few more weeks. Some of this nucleus has won three titles. Some two. Most of it one. They had the best record in baseball last All-Star break at 57-33.
Since last All-Star break, the Giants are 57-89. That's a 162-game pace of 99 losses. It isn't a small sample, either.
Sure, Madison Bumgarner is out right now and has been most of the season, but otherwise they are pretty healthy. They are just bad and it's so weird to see after such a run of success.
Cardinals overcome Wacha's continued struggles
After a good first six weeks of the season, some might have been excited about Michael Wacha returning to form. Instead, he came into Wednesday with an 8.86 ERA in his last five starts. He had given up 30 hits (including four home runs) and 14 walks in that span, in which the Cardinals went 1-4.
Wacha ended up allowing three runs in the first inning against the lowly Phillies on Wednesday. They would tack on two more. Sure, three of the runs were technically unearned thanks to a pair of errors, but Wacha still gave up five runs on nine hits in four innings of work. That's hardly encouraging.
No matter on this night, as his teammates -- well, at least offensively and in the bullpen -- picked him up. The Cardinals would score one in the fifth, two in the sixth, one in the eighth and one in the ninth to send the game to extra innings. In the 10th, the Cardinals got two more. Seung-hwan Oh weathered a rally to save a one-run victory.
Give Tyler Lyons a lot of credit here for working three scoreless innings after taking over for Wacha. Tommy Pham was the offensive star, hitting two home runs, including a tying blast in the ninth.
A win is a win, but the Cardinals are 8-12 this month and five of those wins have come against the worst team in baseball -- with the last two coming in extra innings.
Funny tweet of the day
OK, so it was from after Brandon McCarthy's start on Tuesday night, but it still works:
Quick hits
- The Mets have placed Zack Wheeler on the disabled list due to biceps tendinitis in his throwing arm. It appears right-hander Tyler Pill will take his spot in the rotation. The Mets also optioned infielder Matt Reynolds and called up right-handed pitcher Erik Goeddel.
- Tim Tebow received an apology from the minor-league team that spent a series clowning him.
- The Yankees saw their playoff odds take a hit during their losing streak.
- The Reds will bring up SP Luis Castillo to start Friday's game. Castillo was gained in the winter's Dan Straily trade.
- Rays RP Brad Boxberger is expected to join the team's bullpen this weekend.
- The Angels released SP Doug Fister. He did not appear in the majors for them.