@White Sox 7, Athletics 3: H.R. Pierzynski broke a tie in the 6th with his 23rd HR, touching off a 5-run uprising, and Chris Sale fanned 11 over 6.2 IP (2 each in the first 5 frames) for his 14th win.

• 23 HRs is the 3rd-highest ever by a catcher aged 35 and up, tied with Carlton Fisk, who also holds the top two marks (37 and 26). Pierzynski’s .560 SLG would break Gabby Hartnett‘s record of .548 for that same group. Fifteen of his 23 HRs have come at home.
• Adam Dunn got his 998th career RBI on a sac fly, but has been stuck on 396 HRs since July 28, going 6 for 50 with 3 RBI in 13 games since.

@Phillies 8, Cardinals 7 (11): After St. Louis went 3 up in their 8th, Erik Kratz tied it with a 2-out, 3-run HR off Marc Rzepczynski Mitchell Boggs, after Rzepczynski had walked the 2 lefties he was called on to retire. Kratz led off the 11th with a double, but was out trying to take 3rd on a grounder to short. But with 2 out, Jimmy Rollins stole 3rd and then scored on an infield hit by Juan Pierre, driving the Cards to 3-8 in extra innings and 12-19 in one-run games.

• In 50 PAs, Kratz has 5 HRs, 6 doubles and a 1.200 OPS.

Rays 7, @Twins 3 (10): Desmond Jennings homered to start the game, then singled and stole to start the rally that led to Tampa’s 6th straight win. James Shields allowed 2 ER and 6 baserunners in 7 IP; he’s allowed 13 runners in his last 3 starts (24 IP).

• Supersub Jeff Keppinger (.323 BA) homered and drove in the tiebreaking run in the 10th.
• Jennings has scored in 8 of his last 10 games (all TBR wins), with 13 Runs in that stretch.

@Diamondbacks 7, Nationals 4: Arizona rookie Patrick Corbin earned his 3rd straight August win with a stout 7 IP (2 runs, no walks). Paul Goldschmidt continued his strong sophomore year with 2 Runs, 3 RBI and (surprise!) his 11th steal in 13 tries, scoring the game’s first run on the overthrow — nice effort by a 6′ 3″, 230-lb first sacker.

• 5 of the Snakes’ 6 hits were doubles. Chris Young had one of those, with 2 Runs and 2 walks; in his past 12 games he had 2 runs, 2 RBI, 1 walk and 5 hits.
• Arizona moved back over .500. They have 64 starts by pitchers age 25 or under, 2nd only to Atlanta; the median is 34 such starts.
• Before this series, Washington played 18 straight games against teams below .500, going 14-4. They’re 45-22 against losing teams, and have 28 of their last 47 against teams currently under .500.

Dodgers 5, @Marlins 0: Chris Capuano went a season-high 8 innings on just 2 singles for his first win in Miami since 2005, and Hanley Ramirez knocked in the first 3 runs as LA captured the series and kept pressure on the Giants.

@Orioles 5, Royals 3: Nick Markakis tied it with a HR in the 5th, Mark Reynolds plated Adam Jones for the lead in the 6th, and the Balto Bucket Brigade passed the lead safely from Ayala to Patton to Strop to Johnson, each with a hitless inning.

• Baltimore stepped past Detroit and Oakland and into the 2nd wild-card seat, but the patsy portion of their schedule is just about done. Of their 47 remaining games, 31 are against AL East teams, plus 3 each at Texas, Oakland and Detroit, and 4 with the White Sox.
• After averaging 35 HRs & 92 RBI for the last 4 years, Reynolds might be lucky to make 15 & 50 this year, and his -1.2 WAR ranks 2nd-worst of any regular on any winning team (Michael Young, -1.9).
• How charmed is Manny Machado‘s life right now? He got his 3rd HR on a video-review overturn. That gave Machado a share of a (known) record: He has an extra-base hit in each of his first 4 games. He’s the 5th to do that since 1918, but the 3rd this year (Yoenis Cespedes, Will Middlebrooks)

Reds 3, @Cubs 0: 8 scoreless by Johnny Cueto brought his 15^th win and 17^th straight decision, with home-run help from Jay Bruce (#22) and Ryan Ludwick (#21). The Cubs managed just 4 singles, giving them 9 hits and 10 total bases in 2 days; they’ve lost 11 of 12.

• Cueto is one step from elite status. “Go the distance” – he’s never reached 200 IP in a season, or even 190, despite 3 years of 30+ starts. He’s on pace for 222 IP this year, and leads the NL in pitchers’ WAR.
• Chart Cueto’s growth over 5 seasons: BB/9 – 3.5, 3.2, 2.7, 2.7, 2.0. HR/9 — 1.5, 1.3, 0.9, 0.5, 0.4.

@Giants 9, Rockies 6: In a seesaw game, Hunter Pence had the heaviest hit, a go-ahead 3-run shot off Rafael Betancourt, Pence’s first HR in 12 games with his new club. The Giants had 20 baserunners (including a career-high 4 hits and 5 times on by Brandon Belt), and went 6-17 with RISP.

• Melky Cabrera (5-2-2-3) has scored 15 runs in his last 11 games – 14 of those in the 7 wins.
• Sorry, Rox fans – it was I who recently noted that Betancourt had allowed just 1 ER and no HRs on the road this year.

@Blue Jays 10, Yankees 7: Toronto built a 10-1 lead by tag-teaming Phil Hughes (7 R, 9 H in 4 IP) and recent ex-Jay Ryota Igarashi (3 R in the 5th), whose career ERA rose to 6.41. Edwin Encarnacion had a double and his 30th HR among 3 hits, and Rajai Davis tied a career high with 5 RBI (plus a little something extra).

• You hear of “4-A” hitters, but not so much about pitchers. Igarashi in 94 IP at AAA has a 1.82 ERA, 10.9 SO/9 and 3.9 SO/BB, but his big-league career has been a disaster.
• A sign of the modern emphasis on efficient base-stealing: Davis has 33 SB and 8 CS, a fine 80.5% success rate, yet his 8 CS are tied for the AL lead, projecting to about 11 CS for the year. That would be the lowest CS total to lead either league since 1963.
• Yanks are 2-6 when drawing no walks.

@Rangers 8, Tigers 3: Josh Hamilton homered in the 1st, and the score reached 6-0 before Detroit mounted any kind of threat against Yu Darvish, who was typically wild but still managed his 2nd QS in 6 tries since the Break. The Tigers got the tying run to the plate in the 7th when Darvish issued the last 2 of his 5 walks, but all-purpose lefty Robbie Ross got Prince Fielder to fly out, and by the time Detroit came up again, the lead was back to 5, thanks to the following:

• One moment, Texas had men on 2nd and 1st. Two pitches later, both had scored, though no ball was put in play: “E Andrus stole third, J Hamilton stole second, E Andrus scored, J Hamilton to third on wild pitch by B Villarreal, J Hamilton safe at third on throwing error by catcher A Avila, Strike (foul), Ball, J Hamilton scored on B Villarreal’s wild pitch.“
• Porcello won in Arlington 2 months ago when he fanned a season-high 7 in 6 IP. He whiffed just 1 today, and all that contact brought into play Detroit’s bad defense (3 errors) and the current Rangers’ batting marks of .361/.944 against him.
• The rookie Ross has a 1.81 ERA in 56 IP, and his strand numbers (32 of 39) are among the best in both volume and success.
• Texas grew their lead to 6.5 games over Oakland, while Detroit was left standing when today’s wild-card music stopped.

@Pirates 11, Padres 5: With a Sunday crowd of over 35,000 watching anxiously, Pittsburgh fell down by 5-0 to their ex-mate Ross Ohlendorf, then washed him away with a 9-run 4th, grabbing the lead on the first-ever grand slam by Clint Barmes. By the time Barmes batted again that frame, the Bucs were up 10-5, and they never looked back in running their home record to 36-20, 2nd-best in the big leagues.

• Neil Walker had his 2nd 5-hit game this year. Andrew McCutchen ended his hit drought at 2 games with a pair of knocks, though the 2-for-6 effort still shaved a point off his BA.
• Erik Bedard struggled on the mound (5R/3ER in 5 IP), but scored twice after a walk and a double, his first-ever extra-base hit.

Mariners 4, @Angels 1: Jesus Montero‘s 2nd HR off Jered Weaver broke a tie in the 6th, and Jason Vargas handed that lead off to closer Tom Wilhelmsen with just 2 outs to get. Vargas notched his 13th win and 9th straight QS (6-1, 1.88). Weaver’s 9-start win streak was ended, and he lost for the first time since May 13.

• Montero on the road is hitting .323 with 8 of his 12 HRs; hitting just .214 at home.
• Weaver hadn’t served 2 taters in a game to the same batter since the rookie Mitch Moreland in 2010.
• Mike Trout had his first game in 2 weeks with neither hit, Run nor RBI.
• The Halos have dropped 7 of 10 to Seattle this year and 8 of their last 11 games, falling 8 back in the division and into 5th chair in the WC race, 2 games out of the tourney.

 Red Sox 14, @Indians 1: Sorry, Ed — I got nuthin’.