Happy 59th birthday to Willie Randolph and Jason Thompson, two fixtures of my Strat-O-spent youth. Happy 50th to Lance Johnson, the only Met ever with 20 triples in a season and one of few reasons to watch the ’96 club.

@Cardinals 5, Marlins 4 — Shane Robinson’s pinch-single sent Jon Jay to 3rd, and a throwing error on the no-play toss to the infield let Jay race home with the winning run, as St. Louis became the last team this year with a walk-off win.

Jay had drawn a 2-out walk, watching 6 straight pitches from A.J. Ramos, and a full count on Robinson gave Jay a free start from 1st base. The error was charged to Giancarlo Stanton (by rule), but the blame lies with 1B Logan Morrison’s lazy approach to an easy short-hop, which slipped under his glove to the unoccupied middle of the infield. The Cards gained ground in the division.

• Four straight good starts for Nathan Eovaldi, who left with 2 outs in the 7th, a 4-2 lead and a man on. But pinch-hitter Matt Adams belted a left-on-left tying home run, on 1-and-2 from Mike Dunn. Adams is 8-23 with 2 HRs in the pinch.
• The Cards came in batting .323 with 2 outs and RISP. They’ve scored 179 runs with 2 outs, the most in MLB and 42% of their total runs.
• Matt Holliday’s 21st GDP came in his 80th chance. He leads the majors in total DPs and DP%, twice the MLB average.
• HRs by Morrison and Derek Dietrich built Miami’s lead. Morrison has 10 XBH in 75 PAs. Dietrich has just 39 hits, but 19 have gone for extras, with 9 HRs.

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@Yankees 5, Orioles 4 — “Drop the fork, and step away from the dynasty!” The Yanks have won 6 in a row, and slipped past Baltimore into 2nd place in the AL East while grabbing a wild card seat. Chris Tillman couldn’t hold a 3-0 lead, and his 6-start win streak went poof, a typical result for him in this park. In 6 games, Tillman’s lasted 24.1 IP and allowed 29 runs on 46 hits.

Chris Davis’s 33rd HR made Andy Pettitte his 30th victim this year, and put Davis back on a 60 pace. The number of pitchers nailed in each 60-HR season:

• 65 — McGwire, 1998, 70 HRs
• 58 — Bonds, 2001, 73 HRs; Sosa, 1998, 66 HRs
• 56 — McGwire, 1999, 65 HRs
• 52 — Sosa, 1999, 63 HRs
• 46 — Sosa, 2001, 64 HRs; Maris, 1961, 61 HRs
• 33 — Ruth, 1927, 60 HRs

Last year, Davis picked off 31 pitchers with his 33 HRs.

Manny Machado turned 21 today, and hit his 39th double this year, forcing the issue on a liner corraled in medium left-center, and just beating the throw. That puts him on a 71-double pace. Manny’s the 4th with 39+ doubles in the first 88 games. George Burns had 39/88 in 1927, a year after hitting 64 doubles, but he cooled and missed some games, finished with 51. Paul Waner had 40/88 in 1932, wound up with 62. Edgar Martinez had 43/88 in 1996, then had some injuries and finished with 52. And Earl Webb had 43/88 in 1931, en route to his record of 67.

• Machado has 47 doubles in his first 139 career games, which is 3rd in the searchable era. Johnny Frederick had 49, and Ryan Zimmerman 48. Frederick was the fastest to 50, getting there in his 141st game. Fastest to 100 doubles was Hank Greenberg, game #283. Joe Medwick got his 300th double in his 916th game; he averaged 49 doubles in his first 7 full years.
• Machado has started all 139 games since he was called up last August, and has come out of a game just once.

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Twins 6, @Blue Jays 0 — Mike Pelfrey trimmed his 6.11 ERA with 6 shutout innings, his first scoreless start in 2 years and a day. Minnesota took advantage of a passed ball in the 3rd to break a scoreless tie off R.A. Dickey; Bryan Dozier’s subsequent grounder might have been a DP to end the frame, but it scored a run instead, and two more hits brought the tally to 3. Dozier later hit a 3-run HR; 14 of R.A.’s 19 taters have come in Toronto, where his ERA’s 5.83 (3.64 away). Last year he allowed 24 HRs but just one worth 3 points or more; 4 out of 19 this year. But this was no cheapie.

Pelfrey dodged bullets in the first 2 innings: Leadoff error, then picked off his old pal, Reyes; three walks with 2 outs, but no damage. Leadoff hit in the 2nd, then flyball double-up (the game’s second CF-to-1B DP). Pelf also got a CS in the 4th, and a GDP in the 5th.

• Caleb Thielbar pitched another perfect inning. He still has a 0.00 ERA after 19.2 career innings, with 5 hits allowed. Most of his work has been mop-up; this was the 2nd team win in his 17 games.

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Tigers 9, @Indians 4 — Miggy came back tanned, rested and ready, socking a 2-run shot to start the scoring in the 3rd. Anibal Sanchez returned from a 3-week absence with 5 strong innings, taking his leave after just 73 pitches, thanks to the big cushion. Carlos Carrasco’s 5th career start against Detroit went much like the others; in 21.1 IP, he’s allowed 25 ER and 46 hits.

• Torii Hunter doubled and tripled off Carrasco (he’s 6 for 10 with 4 XBH), then homered off reliever Matt Albers. He’d never before logged all 3 flavors in one game; but he grounded out in his bid for Detroit’s first cycle since 2006, and the 2nd in MLB this year.
• The 30-team era has averaged 4 cycles per year, with a high of 8 and a low of 2. The last year without a cycle was 1983.
• Remember those skyscrapers Hamilton hit last year — “will it ever land?” Prince hit one of those.

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@Royals 4, Athletics 3 — 9th hitter Jarrod Dyson reached in all 4 trips, including the go-ahead infield hit with 2 outs in the 8th — the only safety in a rally built on an error and 2 walks. Greg Holland blew ’em away in the 9th again, the 6th time in his last 19 games that he’s gotten all 3 outs on Ks, fanning 35 of 68 men in that stretch (converting 13 straight saves), and 44% Ks for the season.

• KC’s tying run was also advanced by reliever wildness, as Jerry Blevins walked his first man on 4 pitches, loading the bags before Eric Hosmer’s sac fly.
• Dyson’s well-placed roller was KC’s only hit in 10 tries with RISP.

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@Reds 13, Mariners 4 — Mat Latos surely understood why Ryan Hanigan was intentionally walked with 2 outs in the 4th, but it must have felt good smacking the next pitch for a tying 2-run double, then taking the lead on Shin-Soo Choo’s single. Latos (8-2, 3.18) fanned 11, becoming the first searchable Reds pitcher with 9 or more Ks in 4 straight games. But he also gave up 4 runs, 4 walks and 6 hits in 6 innings. Yu Darvish had 4 straight with 9+ Ks this year; the last with 5 straight was Johan Santana, 2006.

• Latos had been 1 for 39 in his career with 2 outs and RISP. They repeated the drill the next inning, and he flied out on the first pitch.
• Jay Bruce scored 4 runs for the first time ever.
• Seattle’s Brad Miller drew 3 walks from the leadoff spot. Michael Saunders did that for the M’s this May; before that, it was 2005 and Ichiro.
• Choo’s 60th walk put him on pace for 111; he also has 20 HBP. Since 1901, Prince Fielder and Jason Giambi share the record of 21 HBP in a 100-walk season. The most walks with 25+ HBP is 84, by Craig Biggio.
• Joey Votto’s on track for his 4th straight OBP crown. Guys who’ve won 4 (or more) in a row: Rogers Hornsby (6); Wade Boggs (5); Barry Bonds; Ted Williams; Lou Gehrig

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@Cubs 4, Pirates 1 — Two 2-run shots by Alfonso Soriano were the first taters off Charlie Morton this year, in his 5th start. Pedro Alvarez scored a basket in the 4th to break the ice, but Sori double–doubled up on that, in the 4th & 5th. (Evidently, the second shot won the World Series.)

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@Nationals 5, Padres 4 — Jesus Guzman’s go-ahead 3-run HR in the 6th could only delay San Diego’s 8th straight loss. Washington rallied after the stretch, cashing in the two men pushed to scoring position by Joe Thatcher’s wild pitch, with Ryan Zimmerman providing the lead. Bryce Harper had 3 RBI events — walk, single, sac fly — and the Nats survived a second straight so-so outing by Jordan Zimmermann, whose excellence had become a norm. Rafael Soriano observed his own norm, letting 2 aboard with 1 out before securing the save with the tying run on 3rd.

• Besides Guzman’s HR (on the 2nd pitch by reliever Ross Ohlendorf), the Pads went 0-13 with RISP. It was the first time since the skid started that the Pads have led after the 4th inning.

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@Giants 4, Dodgers 2 — A point of order adjourned the Giants’ first rally to the 2nd inning, when — continuing the established wacky motif — they scored 3 runs on 2 infield hits, a hit batter, an error, a sac fly, and a run-scoring walk to Madison Bumgarner. The southpaw drove in another in the 4th (after a 2-base error and advancing fly), and fanned 9 in 7 IP for his 9th win. L.A.’s top 3 went 0-12 with 8 whiffs.

• “P Sandoval out on illegally batted ball.” In case you wondered how the play-by-play would represent Buster Posey batting out of order in the 1st inning. (The rule, for those curious: see 6.07.)
• Two bags-full walks to pitchers this year, both to the Giants.
• First golden sombrero for Yasiel Puig. He fanned thrice against Bumgarner, with 8 misses and 1 foul. In their first meeting, Puig went 2-3 with a HR; it’s a game of adjustments. Sergio Romo got him swinging the last time.

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Braves 13, @Phillies 4 — Andrelton Simmons started it all with a leadoff homer, and applied the cherry with a triple in the 9th. In between, a lot of Atlanta hits, with Dan Uggla’s 16th HR making him the team leader. (Justin Upton has 1 HR, 11 RBI his last 41 games.) Tim Hudson went 7 smooth, 1 run, no walks, for his first win since May 5, now 5-7 this year. He has nothing but winning seasons in his prior 14.

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Astros 9, @Rangers 5 — Geovany Soto tied it with a 3-run HR, 2 outs in the 6th. But his opposite number, Jason Castro, answered in kind, his 12th of the year (35 XBH). Yu Darvish had left after starting the 7th with his fourth walk, and Robbie Ross hit a man before serving the entree. The ‘Stros snapped their latest big-brother skid at 6 games; they’re 7-25 against Texas since 2009.

• Dallas in Dallas (2 starts): 10 IP, 3 runs. He left in the 6th with a lead each time, and each time it got away.
• Darvish allowed 5 ER for the first time this year. Texas scored 65 runs in his first 9 starts, the team going 8-1, but [19] runs in his last 9 starts (2-7).
• Jake Elmore popped his MLB-first tater. He hit .344 last year at AAA Reno, with a .442 OBP (3rd in the PCL), but just 1 dinger, and Houston grabbed him off waivers.

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@Rays 3, White Sox 0 — Matt Moore outpitched Chris Sale today, and deserved the win. But Moore’s 12-3 with a 3.42 ERA, while Sale’s 2.78 ERA has produce a 5-8 mark. It’s Sale’s 13th quality start in 16 games, with a 5-5 record and 1.77 ERA in those QS. Moore has 10 QS in 18 games, and won them all.

• Each side had 6 hits, 2 walks and a double.
• Moore’s on a 22-6 pace. The club’s wins record is 20, by David Price last year. Price also has their #2 mark of 19 wins; no one else has won 17+.
• Evan Longoria had a hand in 2 DPs, giving him 11 this year. He averaged 41 DPs from 2009-11.
• Tampa’s won 7 of 8 (3 shutouts) to reach 48-40, tied with Baltimore and a half-game back of the 2nd wild card.

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@Brewers 7, Mets 6 — Milwaukee rapped 11 hits off their old buddy Shaun Marcum in his 5+ innings, building a 5-0 lead and holding on for the win. Yovani Gallardo was sharp for 4 innings, then let in 4 runs in his last 2 frames, but his double, single and 2 runs scored helped offset a pedestrian pitching line. Fighting back from 0-2 to a full count, Logan Schafer (4-2-3-1) drove in a key run with a 2-out double in the 7th, so that Marlon Byrd’s homer off K-Rod was only a tease.

• Milwaukee’s 45-21 when Gallardo has a hit, 24-7 with an XBH.
• Marcum, dealing with numbness in his pitching hand, allowed 10 hits and 5 runs in his first 5 innings, yet was left to bat in the 6th with the tying run on 1st and 2 outs. Then he gave up a leadoff hit in the 6th, which turned into a run when Daniel Murphy missed the throw on a sac bunt up the 1st-base line, and Marcum left without getting an out in the 6th. Meanwhile, Josh Satin’s 10-game hitting streak sat on the bench, with its .457 OBP and 7 extra-base hits.
• John Axford’s career-best scoreless streak ended at 23 games, 20.1 innings. Two hits and a walk filled the sacks, but 2 outfield liners were lassoed with just a sac fly.

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@Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 1 (8th) — With a man on 3rd and 2 outs in a scoreless 2nd, Drew Pomeranz walked Gerardo Parra, then pitched around #8 Didi Gregorius. But Wade Miley slugged a double that swept ’em all in — the first pitcher’s 3-run double since 2011, Roy Halladay. Arizona pumped up the bulge on a Goldschmidt homer and 4 hits by Cody Ross, while Miley held Colorado to CarGo’s 24th HR.

• Pomeranz, picked up in the Ubaldo deal, has not put it together on this level yet. He has good minor-league stats, but with just about 5 IP per start and some control issues. Walks have been a problem up here, averaging 4.3 BB/9 in 28 career starts. This is just his 3rd year in pro ball, and it seems he should still be in the minors.

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Red Sox 6, @Angels 3 (7th) — I guess I just don’t like the BoSox this year. I liked them much better with chicken & beer!

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Friday flips

@Blue Jays 4, Twins 0 — Toronto’s 7th game against the 7 worst records in baseball. They’re 3-3 vs. CHW, 1-0 vs. MIN; no games with HOU, MIA, MIL, CHC, NYM. The average team has played 45 games against sub-.500 foes; the Jays have played 23. Besides their own division, they’ve played 18 games against Atlanta, Texas and Detroit.

• I have definitely studied too many box scores. Saw Reyes and Bautista with matching “4-1-3-2” at the top of Toronto’s lineup, and I thought: I’ll just bet that’s a Blue Jays first, for their top 2 spots. And it was.

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@Yankees 3, Orioles 2 — A come-from-behind 9th that turns the starting pitcher from loser to winner — in 2013?!? There was another SP win in a walk-off this year, but he was tied at the time.

• And here’s what I think is the last walk-off hit by a starting pitcher: Rick Wise, 1971, 12th inning. Notice whose sacrifice preceded the hit: It was the 32nd game of The Bull’s 1,821-game career, and would be his only sac bunt.
• Recent CGs on 3 hits or less by a Yankee: Two last August, by Kuroda and Sabathia. Before that, Chien-Ming Wang in 2008, Wang in 2006, and Mussina ’03. Last to do it with 11+ Ks was Mussina in ’02.
• Adam Jones’s last 13 games have produced 10 singles and 4 RBI, and he’s feeling frustrated, as his BA and OPS have slid to season-low .287/.784.
• Video clips on MLB.com focus on scoring plays and defensive standouts, which often leaves out truly important and interesting plays. New York’s winning rally was fueled by Jim Johnson’s error on Brett Gardner’s bunt after a leadoff single. Was it a sac attempt? It might have been an interesting play, since Gardner was credited with neither a hit nor a sacrifice. It certainly was crucial; the WPA measure shows more impact from that play than for the actual walk-off hit. They show the pitch on which Johnson walked in the tying run, which is about as dull as a “highlight” can be. Why can’t I see Gardner’s bunt?
• Fielding statistics should separate pitchers’ pickoff errors from fielding errors. So far in 2013, just 18% of pitchers’ errors put a man on base (29/161), while two-thirds of all other errors put a man on (872/1,298). When I see Tim Lincecum leading all pitchers with 4 errors (in just 18 chances), what do I know of his fielding? Nothing, as it turns out; a separate search shows that none of his errors put a man on base.

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Pirates 6, @Cubs 2 — Francisco Liriano’s first CG since his no-hitter on 2011-05-03. First 3-triple team game in Wrigley since 2002.

Two reasons Pittsburgh should be aggressive in the trade market:

1. They’ve won 5 more than their run differential predicts.
2. Their schedule is about to get much harder. They’ve cleaned up on patsies so far — 21-9 against those 7 worst teams mentioned in the Toronto note (16-7 vs. the two in their division). They’ve played just 32 games against teams .500 or better; only San Diego has played fewer. But after finishing this Cubs series, their last 75 games include 14 with St. Louis, 9 with the Reds, 20 against the competent NL West, 6 split between Texas and Oakland, 4 at Washington, and just 13 with the Cubs & Brewers.

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@Cardinals 4, Marlins 1 — No strikeouts by Jake Westbrook, one run on 3 hits in 7 IP. In 11 starts, his ERA is 2.78, his SO/9 is 3.57.

• After Westbrook was done, Rosenthal and Mujica fanned 5 out of 6.
• Allen Craig is hitting .476 with RISP, but he really shines if you add “2 outs” to the equation: 20 for 41, 29 RBI. Taking the long view … In parts of 4 seasons (equal to about 2 years’ full-time play), Craig has hit .390 with RISP (.372 counting sac flies as ABs), and .358 with RISP/2 outs. The former is #1, the latter #2, among the top 200+ in PAs for those spots. (Cabrera is #2 and #1.)

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@Rangers 10, Astros 5 — Four Beltres have played in the major leagues. All four have played for the Rangers. Only one of them homered tonight. That one tied Scott Rolen for #5 all-time in extra-base hits by a third baseman. Brett, Jones, Schmidt, Mathews, Beltre, Rolen. Adrian is 7th in total bases by a 3B, should pass Boggs this year. He’s already 10th in WAR, will reach 7th (plus the top 10 in RBI) by next year, health permitting. He has a bunch of Gold Gloves, and 2nd & 3rd MVP finishes. Start the Hall debate.

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@Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 0 — Four Rockies reached base (3 singles, one walk). Two were erased, and none got past first base. Nice win for young Tyler Skaggs, who went 8. Three more outs would have made him the youngest D-back with a shutout, by a margin of more than 2 years.

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Rays 8, @White Sox 3 — Jeremy Hellickson has won 4 straight starts (4 runs in 26 IP), chopping a run off his ERA. There’s an irony to Hellickson’s results this year: For 2011-12, he had a 3.02 ERA and 126 ERA+, but without the SO/BB data to support that, averaging 5.9 Ks and 3.2 walks per 9 innings. And his record was just 23-21, even though Tampa won 90+ each year. This season’s underlying stats are much better — 7.2 Ks and 2.1 walks per 9 IP — but his ERA is 4.67 … yet his record’s 8-3. His totals for 2011-13 look normal: 3.41 ERA and 112 ERA+, 6.2 SO/3.0 BB, producing a 31-24 record. But it’s been a crazy path to get there.

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Dodgers 10, @Giants 2 — Juan Uribe threw a day for himself: 3-run triple, 2-run HR, 2-run double. Batting 8th. It’s the 27th searchable 7-RBI game by a #8 hitter. Eleven were in DH games. The last 5 were NL-only.

• Uribe struck out in the 9th, needing a single for the 9th cycle in Dodgers searchable history. He had a 7-RBI game once before, but his team lost that one.
• “Ten” can mean perfect. But in this case, it’s Matt Cain‘s worst game score ever: 8 ER in 2.1 innings.

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Tigers 7, @Indians 0 — If you can dominate just one team, it’s nice when it’s your closest pursuer. Detroit is 7-2 against Cleveland, outscoring them 59-33.

• Rick Porcello and Justin Masterson have both run hot and cold this year. Masterson has 3 CG shutouts, but now 3 disasters, too (more runs than IP). Porcello has 3 scoreless games of 7+ IP, but 2 games in which he yielded 16 runs in 5 IP combined.

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Mariners 4, @Reds 2 — Ollie Perez fanned the side in the 9th on 11 pitches — 5 swing-and-misses, no fouls.

• Jay Bruce has 105 Ks, one behind Uggla. He’s on pace for 198, 40 above his career high. Still hitting .272, 17 points over his prior career mark.
• How strong are the Reds, really? They’re 21-5 against the Cubs, Brewers and Marlins, and 34-11 against all losing teams. But they’re 15-26 against those .500 or better, 7-12 against their own divisional leaders. They’re 18-19 since May 26. Yet their remaining schedule isn’t too tough: 18 with the Bucs & Cards combined, but just 8 more with teams currently holding a playoff spot (4 each with Atlanta and Arizona).

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@Phillies 5, Braves 4 — Atlanta’s lead shrank to 5 games, their smallest since May 31.

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Mets 12, @Brewers 5 — Seventeen runs in this game, on 16 separate events.

• Kirk Nieuwenhuis came in with 10 hits and 20 Ks in 56 ABs this year. Then he went 4-3-4-5 plus 2 walks, with his first triple, second double, and a steal. And he threw out a guy at home to preserve a lead in the 1st.
• That assist by Nieuwenhuis nailed Jean Segura for the first out of the home 1st.
• Suggestion for Milwaukee: If you have no faith in Aramis Ramirez, don’t bat him 4th. They made 3 outs on the bases, all with Ramirez batting or about to bat.
• Ike Davis came back from Vegas, drew a 4-pitch walk his first trip, and collected 3 singles for the second time ever.
• Daniel Murphy is the second this year to go 0-6 in a 9-inning game.
• Mets had 22 ABs with men in scoring position.
• Can’t approve the 1st-and-3rd double steal attempt when you’re down by 3 runs in the 3rd with 1 out and your cleanup man up. Norichika Aoki has 9 steals, and 9 CS; last year he went 30-8.
• Carlos Gomez conceded nothing. That went along with his 4 hits (2 doubles). But he should have conceded that you can’t stretch for a triple when you’re down 4 runs in the 7th, with (yes) your cleanup man due.