Yankees 13, @Orioles 3: Fourteen hits, 7 with RISP, pulled the Bombers clear of their see-saw tie for 1st place. Curtis Granderson came off the bench for 3 hits and 5 RBI, tying the season high for a non-starter in both categories; Derek Jeter added 2 to his MLB-best hits total, pulling him within 4 hits of the Say-Hey Kid for #11 on the all-time list; and Alex Rodriguez scored 3 runs and stands 2 behind Lou Gehrig for #10 on that list (and 28 ahead of the Captain).

• Joba Chamberlain got his first win since last May with the sharpest of his 12 outings this year, fanning 4 in 1.2 hitless innings. The Yankee bullpen faced 20 batters and got 17 outs, 9 by K.
• Zach Britton‘s 4-start win streak dive-bombed in a 4-run 4th, when he issued 4 of his 5 walks. In 6 career starts vs. NY, he’s allowed 26 runs in 25.1 IP.
• Granderson’s 5 RBI set a Yankee record for a substitute (in the searchable era). But he fell one shy of Suitcase Simpson‘s club sub-hits mark, set in a loss on 1958-05-30. (Three straight losses left them at 25-9. Nice start.)

@Giants 4, Dodgers 0: Clear sailing ahead for SF after winning this series to open a 5.5-game lead. Their next 19 games come against their three sub-.500 division foes, then the season finale in LA. The Dodgers also fell 1.5 games behind St. Louis in the race-walk for the 2nd Wild Card.

• Hunter Pence‘s 2-out, 2-run double in the 1st provided all the offense needed by Barry Zito and a relief quintet. Despite hitting just .225 with 2 HRs since joining the Giants, Pence has racked up 28 RBI in 37 games; he needs 13 more in the last 22 games for his first 100-RBI season.
• Angel Pagan (4-2-2-0, 3B) has scored 39 runs in 36 games since August began.
• LA went 1 for 23 with RISP in the series.

@Rays 6, Rangers 0: Three taters by B.J. Upton and a 2-hit, no-walk masterpiece by James Shields left the Rays 1 game behind the O’s and 2 behind the Yanks, as they head to Baltimore for a 3-game set.

• Shields retired 19 straight from the 2nd through 8th innings. He’s the 4th pitcher this year with two 90+ Game Scores. He’s 6-1, 1.90 in his last 8 starts, all QS, and needs 11 Ks for his second straight 200-K season.
• Upton’s 3-HR game was the third in club history and first since 2008. It’s the 10th in MLB this year, the first by a leadoff man.
• Will Roy Oswalt make the postseason roster? In 54 IP this year, he has a 6.29 ERA and 1.58 WHIP.

@Angels 3, Tigers 2: Early HRs by Mike Trout and Alberto Callaspo backed the 4th straight strong start by Zack Greinke, as the Angels finished off a sweep that brought them within 1 game of a wild-card spot and essentially knocked Detroit out of that chase.

• Ernesto Frieri got 4 outs for the save, fanning Andy Dirks to end the 8th with the tying run on 2nd. His 14.51 SO/9 would be the 11th-highest ever in a season of 50+ IP.
• The Tigers scored just 5 runs on 15 hits in the series, and have lost 5 of 6 since sweeping the White Sox at home. They now trail Chicago by 2 games as they open a 4-game set on the South Side; Detroit has dominated the season series 10-4 so far.
• Angels have won 6 straight with just 1 RBI from Albert Pujols
• Great catch by Austin Jackson to steal a 2-run HR from Mark Trumbo, who’s now gone a career-high 15 games without leaving the yard. Alas for Detroit, Callaspo then clouted one that only the fans could reach.
• A fan made a nice grab on Trout’s blast to CF.

@Phillies 3, Rockies 2 / @Phillies 7, Rockies 4: To coin a phrase, “Here come the Phillies!” Twelve games out of the wild-card race on August 11, the Phils have gone 18-9 to slash the deficit in half. Unfortunately, making up 6 games in a span of 22 is still the sort of historic feat you can only expect to pull off when the Mets are the pursued….

• In the opener, two passed balls in the 9th by Wilin Rosario (who leads the majors with 19) set up a looper that escaped the glove of a diving Carlos Gonzalez, as the winning run scored.
• In the nightcap, Philly rallied from a 4-1 hole, as Carlos Ruiz — out since August 2 — came off the bench in the 6th with a base hit that set up the go-ahead, then knocked in an insurance run the next inning. Ruiz (.340) won’t qualify for the batting title, but he’ll likely post the highest BA by a Philly backstop since Smoky Burgess hit .368 in 1954.

Athletics 4, @Mariners 2: Platoon man Jonny Gomes broke a scoreless tie with a 3-run blast with 2 out in the 5th, and Tommy Milone matched a career high with 10 Ks, as Oakland closed out a road sweep before an intimate gathering listed at 14,000.

• Against southpaws, Gomes has 10 HRs and a .952 OPS in 141 ABs.
• Six Oakland pitchers with 10+ starts have ERA+ of at least 100. Only two other teams have as many as 5; Boston and Cleveland have none, and Pittsburgh is the only winning team with as few as 1.
• The A’s lead the Rays and Angels by 2.5 games in the wild-card hunt, and are just 3.5 behind Texas in the division. They open a 4-game set in Anaheim tonight, and play the Rangers in 7 of their last 10 games.

Cubs 4, @Pirates 2: Rookie Josh Vitters snapped an 0-for-27 slide with a tying HR in the 4th, and fellow rook Anthony Recker followed two batters later with his first career HR and RBI. The Bucs tied it in the 7th but fell behind on another HR in the very next frame. They loaded the bags with 1 out in the 9th, but Carlos Marmol slipped the noose, and Chicago completed their first road sweep since last August … when they took 4 straight in Steeltown.

• Jason Grilli‘s September woes continued, as he took the loss for the 2nd straight day. Grilli was brilliant through August, with a .182 BA and .256 OBP, but he’s retired just 10 of 21 batters faced this month.
• When Pittsburgh was 63-47, they were 4 wins above their Pythagorean record. Now at 72-67, they’re still 2 games above pythag.
• Amazingly, the Pirates are still only 2.5 games out of the wild card (2 in the AILC), and all 23 of their remaining games are against teams with little or nothing to play for: Reds and Braves are virtually locked in; the Brewers would need a miracle; and the Cubs, Astros and Mets are … what their records say they are.

Astros 5, Reds 1: “The Astros win a road series! The Astros win a road series!” Friday’s hero, Matt Dominguez, socked another 3-run HR, and Edgar Gonzalez — signed out of the Mexican League on August 23 — became the first Astro in 5 weeks to win consecutive starts.

• A rough outing by Johnny Cueto (4 IP, 4 R, 9 H) cost him some ground in the Cy Young pursuit. Cueto still leads in WAR (5.7-5.0 over) R.A. Dickey, but Dickey leads the NL in ERA and Wins, and is 2nd in IP and WHIP, 3rd in SO.
• Joey Votto went hitless, but drew his 5th walk in 4 games since being activated. The Reds, who were 50-38 when Votto got hurt, went 33-16 in his absence. Jay Bruce filled some of the void, with 34 RBI and a .977 OPS in 45 games — but the Reds also won all 4 of the games he missed.
• First MLB hit for Reds SS Mariekson Julius (Didi) Gregorius, the 10th Netherlands native ever to play in the majors.

Braves 3, @Mets 2 (10): “Goodbye, Larry.” Here’s a nice 3-game sweep to remember us by.