@Nationals 9, Pirates 7 — The Nats blew a 7-3 lead in the top of the 9th, putting a 7th straight loss in play. But Bryce Harper saved the day, blasting his first walk-off homer for their first game-ending hit of the year. Kurt Suzuki got the inning to Harper with a 1-out single. They’d grown the lead from 1 to 4 with an 8th-inning rough-up of Vin Mazzaro.

Rafael Soriano was charged with 3 runs, starting with two leadoff walks, but he wasn’t around to blow the save, getting pulled for a southpaw when Pedro Alvarez came up with the tying runs on. Ian Krol had limited lefties to a .200 OBP, but he subverted the strategy by walking Alvarez to fill the carousel. With 2 outs and 2 strikes, Josh Harrison delivered the tying single, his 3rd hit of the game (with a 2-run HR) in just his 2nd start this year.

Gio Gonzalez fanned 11 for the 2nd start in a row, both no-decisions. A.J. Burnett began his day by plunking Harper, then was undone by his corner infielders in a 4-run inning, 3 unearned. He steadied, lasting 7 without further damage.

• Harper’s first HR since July 1 ended a 12-game RBI drought, and gave him 3 runs for the game. He had scored just once in 4 prior games hitting leadoff.
• So, where was Tony Watson when Harper came up? I’ve not heard this oft discussed, but Harper has a large platoon gap for his short career, batting .220/.673 against southpaws. And Watson’s set him down in all 4 chances, with 2 whiffs.
• Harrison had one prior 9th-inning RBI, in a blowout loss. He set a career high with 4 RBI as he crossed 500 PAs.
• Vic Black, the last player taken in the 1st round that started with Strasburg, made his debut for Pittsburgh with a walk and a whiff. Twenty-five of those 49 picks have now played in the majors; the WAR leader is #25, Mike Trout.

__________

@White Sox 7, Tigers 4 — “The other shoe” isn’t the expected suspension of some worn-out third baseman with symptoms of borderline personality disorder, but the mounting likelihood that Justin Verlander is hiding an injury. Whatever the cause, J.V. laid another big turkey egg today, 7 runs on 11 hits in 6 innings, with 4 strikeouts. That gives him a 5.22 ERA over his last 15 starts, almost half a season, and you’d be hard pressed to find any slump remotely like it in his past 4 years.

__________

Yankees 2, @Rangers 0 — Hiroki Kuroda, a candidate for the most consistent starter this year, notched 7 scoreless innings, teaming with his signal caller to lead New York to a 4-game split. Austin Romine had 3 hits for the first time, pacing the offense from his #9 spot. Romine sparked the first run with a double to start the 6th against Derek Holland, and then gunned down Ian Kinsler after a leadoff hit in the home half. Another Romine double hopped over the wall in the 7th, robbing him of a 2-out RBI, but the Yanks got their insurance run the next time when Eduaro Nunez beat out a DP turn after hits by Cano and Wells.

• Mariano got the save, allowing one hit as usual in this farewell campaign, but retiring A.J. Pierzynski for the 16th AB in a row ever since the catcher’s double in their very first meeting led to a rare Mo loss.
• The Rangers were blanked for the 4th time at home this year, and are averaging 4.2 R/G in Arlington. They’ve scored over 5 runs per game at home for 20 straight years, and often over 6 R/G.
• Kuroda now leads all pitchers with 6 scoreless games of 7+ IP. From a shutout in his 3rd start this year, Kuroda’s season ERA has held between 1.99 and 2.95, now at 2.51 (with one unearned run).
• Both Kuroda and Holland own a 2-hit shutout against the other team. Holland got his a month ago, after absorbing 8 beatings.
• Romine’s 3-hit game was the first by a 9th-hitting Yankee since game 6. Their #9 men came in hitting .215 with a .575 OPS, both 25-year lows.
• Love, or a power outage, means never having to say you’re Sori.
• It really does seem that A-Rod has lost the ability to think clearly. It’s hard to believe that he’s gotten himself into another rehab imbroglio by ignoring the chain of command. And we haven’t even faced the compulsory just-returned-Yank-gets-reinjured agita yet.

__________

Marlins 5, @Rockies 4 — Miami scored the first run in the 8th on a wild pitch, built it to 5-0 in the 9th on loud hits off Wilton Lopez, then faced the tying run with 1 out in the bottom half. But Steve Cishek got a 5-4-3 to cash in his 20th save (15th in a row), sealing a 3-of-4 road series win. Nathan Eovaldi shook off his first bad start and got back on the QS train with 6 scoreless frames (his chores ended by a long rain delay), giving him 6 quality starts in 7 tries. The Fish are 22-18 in their last 40 games, while the Rox fell back to 5 games under .500, matching their low mark.

Juan Nicasio turned in Colorado’s second straight scoreless start (7 IP, 2 hits, 9 Ks), giving the rotation a 2.03 ERA in their last 14 games, but the club’s gone just 7-7, averaging 2.9 R/G in that stretch.

• Eovaldi picked off Michael Cuddyer after a leadoff walk in the 2nd, mooting the 2 singles that followed. There still hasn’t been an actual steal try against the righty this year; he’s allowed 6 SB in 9 tries over 35 career starts.
• Jake Marisnick, the Miami OF prospect called up along with Christian Yelich, took his 3rd straight 0-4.

__________

@Blue Jays 4, Astros 0 — Mark Buehrle (2-hit shutout) fanned 5 in the first 2 innings and 9 overall, and got 14 outs before the first hit. The next was a 2-out double that threatened his 1-0 lead in the 7th, but Buehrle whiffed Brett Wallace for the 3rd time and escaped with a grounder. The schedule brought welcome relief to Toronto, who’d lost 7 straight and had faced winning teams in 10 of their last 11 series (33 of 36 games). They won the first 10 of that stretch, but then went 6-18 against winners.

Erik Bedard’s hitless string died with the first batter, but he doubled up Rajai Davis, the first of two DPs for Davis following Reyes hits. The lone run off Bedard came on Edwin Encarnacion’s double, after a 2-out walk to Bautista; they added 3 in the 7th after two leadoff walks.

• Buehrle’s 90 Game Score was 3rd-best of his career, after his no-hitters. His 28th CG was the first time this year that he’s gotten an out in the 8th inning.
• Out of 222 pitcher-games of 9+ strikeouts this year, 24 have come against Houston. The other teams have averaged about 7.
• Davis came in with 2 GDPs for the year, and had never suffered 2 in a game.

__________

@Cardinals 3, Phillies 1 (6th) — The only two Cards not having strong years at the plate, Pete Kozma (.241) and Jon Jay (.249), led their 3-run 3rd inning. The Phils got one back the next inning, but with 2 on and 1 out, Kyle Kendrick bunted into a DP. Lance Lynn (12-5, 3.98) didn’t allow much else in his 7-inning workday, logging his best start in a month since reaching 10-1. Phlly’s leadoff hits in the 8th and 9th died at 1st base, and Edward Mujica booked his 30th save in 32 tries. The Phils have lost 4 in a row since eking over .500 right after the Break; the Cards are 14-6 since falling out of 1st place on June 28, building back a 2.5-game lead on Pittsburgh.

• Mujica’s ratio of 38 Ks to 2 walks would be the best ever for a 30-save man, a hair better than Eckersley’s 55-3 in 1989. Eck’s ’90 season (73-4) and Mariano’s 2008 (77-6) are the only others with at least 10 SO/BB.
• Of the Cardinals’ 18 prior 30-save seasons, Tom Henke had the best conversion rate, 94.7% in 1995 (36/38). The best of their six 40-save years was Lee Smith, 88.7% in 1991 (47/53).
• St. Louis went just 2-6 with RISP, under their season average of .340. The highest mark over a season is .312, by the 1950 Red Sox. The 2007 Tigers and ’96 Rockies both came in at .311, but they both hit .287 overall, so their RISP average was +24 points. The Cards are at +62 points, or 20% above their overall average. The percentage would also set a record, currently held by the 1946 Yankees (.248 overall, .291 RISP, +17%).

__________

@Mets 7, Braves 4 — New York has lined Zack Wheeler’s big-league introduction with a cushion of run support. Wheeler gave 4 runs in 6 innings (3 ER), and he let slip a 4-1 lead on homers by Dan Uggla and Freddie Freeman. But the Mets made him a winner with 3 in the home 6th, on 3 extra-base hits off the sinkerball offerings of Kameron Loe. John Buck, getting a second wind of late, was the key man with two 2-out hits driving in 3 to reach 13 RBI in his last 10 games.

• The Mets have scored 5+ runs in 5 of Wheeler’s 7 starts, averaging 6.1 R/G — hence his 4-1 record with just 3 quality starts (3.72 ERA).
• Atlanta won their first 25 games this year with 2 HRs or more, but have dropped 4 of the last 11.
• The Braves are 26-30 on the road, and 7-7 vs. the Mets.
• All-time Citi Field home run leaders: (1) David Wright, 39 in 330 games; (2) Ike Davis, 28 in 207 games; … (9) Dan Uggla, 11 in 42 games.

__________

@Royals 7, Orioles 1 — Jeremy Guthrie held his old team to a run in 6 innings, beating them for the 2nd time in as many tries with just his 2nd quality start in the last 7 outings. The last run was a homer off Francisco Rodriguez by Billy Butler, his second batter faced as an Oriole.

• Chris Davis fanned in all 4 trips, his second sombrero giving him 123 Ks. The home-run watch reached 7 games, one off his year’s high.
• Manny Machado also went 0-4, now 18-84 in 20 games this month (.214) with 2 walks, 4 extra-base hits, 7 runs and 6 ribbies. David Schoenfield had some thoughts on Chris & Manny.
• No Royal struck out until the 8th. There have been 6 zero-K games this year, one by K.C. The most in the expansion era was 71, in 1980. There are many ways to see the necessity of pitchers of getting strikeouts in today’s game; one way is the winning percentage of teams that didn’t get any. From 1916-95, those teams won at a .442 clip. Since 1996, they’re at .297 (62-147).

____________________

Wednesday leftovers

Reds 8, @Giants 3 — Mike Leake allowed 12 hits and 2 walks in 6+ innings, but only 1 run. Sam LeCure stranded 3 runners in Leake’s wake, and San Fran left 15 on base in all. Leake had at least 2 aboard for innings 1-5.

• It’s the first searchable pitcher win with 6 IP or less, 12+ hits and no more than 1 run. There are 116 searchable SP wins that meet the first two criteria, but the median runs allowed is 5. Just five allowed 2 runs.
• Hunter Pence: 5-0-5-1. Chipper Jones was the last with 5+ hits and no runs. Pence has 2 such regulation games in his career, joining five others in searchable history; only Pete Rose has 3, and no one else has 2 in the last quarter-century.

__________

Cubs 7, @Diamondbacks 6 (11 inn.) — Arizona fought back from a 6-0 hole, tying it with a run off Kevin Gregg. But Nate Schierholtz capped a big night with a go-ahead double in the 11th, scoring Anthony Rizzo after a 2-out walk. Schierholtz bagged 5 RBI and had 2 of their 3 hits with RISP. The Cubs are 7-3 in extra innings, and have played at a 20-16 clip since winning their longest game of the year on June 13.

__________

Francisco Liriano has earned a decision in all 14 starts with Pittsburgh — one shy of the searchable record for the start of a Pirate’s tenure. (And check out Earl Hamilton‘s 1917-18 turnaround — from 0-9 for the Browns, to 6-0, 0.83 in 6 games with the Pirates, all CG.)