@Pirates 7, Cardinals 1 — Raise the Jolly Roger, all alone in first place. A.J. Burnett went 7 innings on 4 hits, and drove in the game’s first run with a rare knock, as the Bucs clinched this season series (10-4, with 5 left).

Lance Lynn’s 4th straight rough start was the worst of the bunch. Already down 2-1 in the 3rd, he gave up 4 more runs before the first out, the big blow a 3-run shot by Russell Martin. Neil Walker’s 2-out triple made it 7-1, tying Lynn’s career high for runs allowed.

• Burnett is 8 for 112 (.071) in the last two years, worst among those with 100+ PAs. Lynn is next at .074 (7-95).
• Lynn has gone 3-8 since a 10-1 start. In 10 of those 13 starts, the Cards have scored 3 runs or less.

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@Yankees 2, Orioles 0 — Robinson Cano carried the lumber, and Ivan Nova crafted a masterful 3-hitter for his first career shutout, carrying New York into 3rd place. Nova walked one, plunked both Orioles sluggers, and had just one inning where a man passed 1st base.

Cano doubled home Brett Gardner in the 1st, and his solo shot in the 8th gave him 25 HRs for the 5th straight year, joining Miguel Cabrera at that level of consistency. In that span, Cano is 2nd to Cabrera in runs, hits, extra-base hits, total bases, and WAR.

• The O’s have lost 4 of 5 on this road trip, averaging 6 hits and 2.6 runs, with Adam Jones going 3-18 with no RBI.
• It was New York’s 2nd individual shutout and first since April, when Hiroki blanked Baltimore. It was their low-hit CG since Kuroda’s 2-hitter of Texas last August. Nova’s other career CG was a 3-hit, 2-run defeat of Baltimore this July. He’s 5-2 career vs. the O’s, but also absorbed his worst-ever beating from them, last July.
• In the last 10 years, just two Yankee starters have finished a complete game with a lead of 2 runs or less — two for Nova, three for Sabathia.

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@Tigers 10, Indians 5 — Omar Infante’s 2 HRs and a quality start by Anibal Sanchez powered Detroit to a 7th straight win over Cleveland and an 8.5-game lead. Infante’s first 3-run HR since 2011 keyed a 4-run 2nd inning off Scott Kazmir, and he connected again in the 6th off Bryan Shaw (and off Michael Brantley) with a man on; 5 RBI tied his career high. Three DPs kept Detroit’s run total down for a while, and the Tribe got to 6-5 in the 8th on Carlos Santana’s 2-run, inside-the-park homer off Austin Jackson’s glove. But Jackson, shaken up on that play when he slammed to the wall, got those runs back with a triple on Cody Allen’s first pitch, and Jose Iglesias squeezed him in.

• Both starters walked the leadoff man. Santana cashed for Cleveland with a 2-out hit, while Detroit’s 2-on threat died on a line-drive DP.
• Detroit’s previous 5 games were their first rotation turn since the opening week with no starter lasting 6 innings. They had a 20-game streak from May into June in which every SP lasted 6+ IP. Their 101 starts of 6+ IP is tied with Atlanta for #1 in MLB, and they’re #1 in total innings from starters.
• Allen has a 2.31 ERA, but he’s let in 17 of 44 inherited (39%).

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Reds 8, @Rockies 3 — Brandon Phillips tripled, homered and doubled in his first 3 trips, reaching 99 RBI with his first 3-extra-base hit game since 2006, but he whiffed and bounced out in his tries at the cycle. Greg Reynolds, drafted #2 overall by the Rockies in 2006, went a career-best 8 innings with no walks in his 3rd start for the Reds.

• Cincinnati’s last cycle was by Eric Davis in 1989 (9-4 win); their others were Frank Robinson, 1959 (16-4), and Harry Craft, 1940 (23-2). Craft’s cycle featured 2 singles, a walk and a HBP; he finished the year at .244 with 6 HRs.
• Now 27, Reynolds went 12-3, 2.42 at AAA this year, his first pro success in some years.
• Todd Helton went 0-4 with 3 Ks, and stayed at 2,499 hits.

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@Red Sox 7, White Sox 2 — Jake Peavy beat his ex-mates in his first-ever start against Chicago. Backing up last week’s 3-hit CG in L.A., Peavy went 7 strong on 5 singles, one walk. He gave up a tying hit in the 4th to Avisail Garcia, who was part of the 3-team trade that changed Peavy’s Sox. But the Sawx came right back with 3 in their half, Jacoby Ellsbury’s RBI double the biggest of 3 straight hits off John Danks starting that frame. Boston rapped 15 hits in all, 3 by Ellsbury and 2 each by six others, including Xander Bogaerts.

• Boston’s division lead is 4.5 games over Tampa. They stayed half-a-game up on Detroit and one over Texas in the race for home-field advantage.
• “Just shoot me.“

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@Rangers 2, Twins 1 — Leonys Martin’s single with 2 outs in the 9th ended a game that been tied since the 1st. Minnesota got Brian Dozier’s leadoff home run down the line, his 15th, but just 4 singles thereafter, in their first game since dealing RBI leader Justin Morneau to Pittsburgh. Matt Garza (9 Ks, 1 walk) and Mike Pelfrey (7, 0) each went 7 innings, with Pelf logging a season-best 68 game score. Adrian Beltre’s sac fly squared matters, after hits by Elvis Andrus (who left hurt) and Ian Kinsler. Dozier’s bid for a double in the 8th was easily thwarted by David Murphy. In the 9th, Brian Duensing relieved after Texas filled up with 2 outs, and he got ahead 1-and-2, but his year-long left-on-left troubles manifested in Martin’s game-winning bouncer through the box.

• Joe Nathan picked up his 5th win, as Texas reached 24-13 in one-run games, best W% in the majors.

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@Athletics 2, Rays 1 — James Loney’s failure to advance on a wild pitch proved crucial, and Coco Crisp’s two RBI hits stood up despite Grant Balfour’s shaky close. Wil Myers doubled against Balfour with one out, and Loney walked. After a lineout, Balfour bounced a 1-0 slider to Desmond Jennings, which eluded Kurt Suzuki far enough for Myers to move up. But Loney froze, perhaps unable to see where the ball was, and he stayed put even when Suzuki pointlessly threw to 3rd. Jennings bounced a hit through the middle, surely enough to score Loney if he’d been on 2nd base, but Kelly Johnson bounced to 1st for the final out.

• Stephen Vogt’s first career triple beat Myers drifting to the RF wall in the 6th, and Crisp singled through the shallow infield. Crisp went deep on Alex Cobb’s 0-1 pitch in the 8th, his 15th this year and 5th in 10 games. Cobb went all 8 innings, but took his first loss since April.
• Tampa’s lost 6 of 7, four by one run, shrinking their wild-card lead to 3.5 games over New York.

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@Diamondbacks 4, Giants 3 — Trevor Cahill gave up a 3-0 lead in the 7th, but in the 9th, Eric Chavez followed an IBB to Goldschmidt by driving the first pitch into the gap, scoring Willie Bloomquist with the walk-off run. Bloomquist had 3 hits from the leadoff spot, and Brad Ziegler earned his 8th win with a clean 9th, as the Snakes stayed 4 games behind Cincinnati. Marco Scutaro and Gregor Blanco each drove in a run in that 7th, but each also hit a DP with 2 men aboard in the middle innings, and Pablo Sandoval went 0-3 with RISP, stranding six.

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@Blue Jays 4, Royals 2 — Kansas City gave up 3 runs in the 8th, the last two on 2-out, 4-pitch walks by Aaron Crow, and lost without using their best reliever. The game ended with Emilio Bonificio batting and men at the corners, when pinch-runner Chris Getz was called out stealing at second base. Bad call or no, the attempt likely traced to the fact that Bonifacio has roughly no chance of driving a man home from 1st base (one out of 82 such ABs this year) — so it’s kind of a pity that he was batting 2nd.

Crow began the day with 19 walks in 43 IP this year and a career rate of 3.8 BB/9. Holland’s walked 14 in 52 IP, and just 3 in his last 27 games. He’d pitched once in the last five days. Is he hurt? Or was he being “saved” for a potential Royals lead?

Then again, one might think that the time for the man with the highest SO% in MLB was when the Jays got 2 on with 1 out and K.C. still ahead, 2-1. Holland hasn’t worked more than one inning this year, but he’s gotten 5 outs or more 26 times in the past, including 6 games finished in regulation. Oh, well.

• The comeback made a winner of R.A. Dickey (2 runs in 8 IP). In 10 homer-free starts, he’s 7-1 with a 1.58 ERA. In the other 19 starts, he’s 4-11, 5.86.
• Brett Lawrie did his thing again.

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Mets 11, @Nationals 3 — Zack Wheeler’s 5th straight quality start (2.51 ERA, 6 walks) was buried in New York’s flurry of hits, and so was the last faint glimmer of Washington’s playoff hopes. The Mets peppered Dan Haren for 9 hits in 2.2 innings, knocking him out with a 6-run 3rd. Wheeler worked easy with the big early lead and allowed 2 singles through 5 innings, with four 1-2-3 frames and 46/66 strikes. His still-dicey off-speed command flared in the 6th, leading to 2 runs, but a couple of loud outs got him through, and he left with 2 outs in the 7th.

Four Mets had 3 hits apiece, with Josh Satin’s 4 times on base lifting his OBP back to .407 after a recent slump. Streaky Daniel Murphy is hot again, with 9 hits in his last 3 games.

• Damned if you do…: Bryce Harper, chided for not running out a groundball Friday night, was nailed stretching for a leadoff triple in the 8th, trailing by 9 runs. Juan Lagares, in his first start in RF, picked up his MLB-high 12th assist in just 90 games.
• Speed is an asset, and it’s fun watching Eric Young run. But it’s not enough to make him a good leadoff man. Young has swiped 25 bags (just 4 CS) in 62 starts for the Mets, a 65-steal pace. But he’s scored 36 runs, a 94-run pace for 162 games, due to a .331 OBP. It’s not enough.

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@Braves 5, Marlins 4 — B.J. Upton whiffed in his first and second trips, but the third time was the charm, and his fourth hit was the winner. Upton tied the game in the 6th off Jacob Turner with his first home run since June 15, scoring Brian McCann’s leadoff walk. The Fish went back on top against Mike Minor, but McCann delivered a 2-out equalizer in the home 7th after Chris Johnson’s double.

• Jordan Schafer scored a no-hit run in the 1st: reached on Turner’s error, stole 2nd, bunted over, and home on Freeman’s sac fly.
• Just one other Braves team ever held a record of exactly 83-52.
• Turner had allowed no HRs in 13 of his 16 starts, but Atlanta swatted 3 the last time they saw him.

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@Dodgers 2, Padres 1 — Rene Rivera threw out Yasiel Puig stealing in the 1st, and nabbed Mark Ellis in the 8th. Ellis still came out golden; and as for Yasiel, when will they learn?

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They also played Friday

@Rockies 9, Reds 6 — Todd Helton hit 2 home runs for the 28th time, but just the 2nd in the last 6 years, and matched his career high of 6 RBI for the first time in a decade. Jorge De La Rosa got his toes just over the QS line and won at home, as usual; he’s 9-1, 2.74 at Coors this year, and 34-12 in his career.

Helton’s two 3-run shots were his first of such value in more than a year. He has 39 such HRs in Coors Field, 13 away, and 20 of his 28 multi-HR games are at home. I’m not dogging Mr. Helton; I just think it’s important to remember the context. His home BA differential of +29 points compared to his overall mark is the 3rd-largest in searchable history, out of 493 players with at least 3,000 home PAs, and his percentage of hits that came at home (55.2%) is tied for 2nd in that same group.

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Giants 1, @Diamondbacks 0 — Tim Lincecum worked 6 scoreless innings with someone aboard each frame, and Angel Pagan’s game-opening double led to the only run, as San Francisco claimed the sixteenth 1-0 victory in the history of Chase Field, and the eighth by a visitor. Randall Delgado took the tough loss despite taming his gopherish tendency; it was just the 2nd game ever won in that park by a team with 3 hits or less and no home runs. Arizona stayed 5 losses behind Cincinnati; they have a fairly soft schedule remaining, but none with the Reds, and it’s hard to imagine a torrid finish by a team that’s been so resolutely mediocre month by month.

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@Braves 2, Marlins 1 — Julio Teheran outshone his celebrated counterpart on the mound, if not at the plate, and an early home run held up for the second night in a row, as the Braves won their 5th straight. Jose Fernandez allowed but 3 hits in 6 innings, and his first career triple led to Miami’s run in the 3rd, but they left the sacks full that inning and didn’t sniff second base afterwards. (I am assuming that Giancarlo Stanton could not detect eau de keystone from the standing position of his half-assed approach on the tail end of an 8th-inning DP. Kudos for tagging up; epic fail for not sliding; and no, the slip/fall at the end does not count as a hook slide.)

Freddie Freeman didn’t wait for a pitch-around after Elliot Johnson’s 1-out double in the 1st. He attacked Fernandez’s first offer, a pitch just off the plate but not quite as far out as the target, and bounced it off the top of the CF wall for his 17th HR, and his 13th at home. Out of 32 Braves with 400+ PAs in Turner Field, Freeman has the biggest percentage edge in home OPS vs. overall, with a split of .873/.755.

• For your consideration: Andrelton Simmons, ladies and gentlemen. Highlight heroics don’t always synch with the metrics. But in less than 200 career games, this “Web Gems” regular has already cracked the all-time top 60 in defensive WAR at shortstop, and his 2013 tally of 39 WAR defensive runs ties for #1 for any position.
• Jose Fernandez has allowed 3 runs or less in 16 straight starts, tied for the best such streak since 2011 (Buehrle, 18).
• Craig Kimbrel had worked 4 days in 5, so Anthony Varvaro got his first save chance, and did not collapse in terror.

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Mariners 7, @Astros 1 — Taijuan Walker made his MLB debut without dissuading anyone from either the merits of his 1st-round selection in 2010, or from the demerits of Houston’s lineup. Dustin Ackley’s hot August continued with 4 RBI in his first 4-hit game; he’s hit .411/1.072 in 21 games this month.

• Out of 118 starters who lasted 5+ IP against Houston this year, Walker is just the 8th to log no more than 2 strikeouts.
• I’m unsold on Ackley the CF. He doesn’t look fast enough tracking this ball, but maybe I’m wrong? Sweet catch, anyway.
• Remember all those Raul Ibanez homers? Fun times! But he’s hit only 1 since the Break, with 4 RBI and a .211 BA in 109 ABs. Gotta think he sits the bench once the roster expands.

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Alfonso Soriano homered and stole a base for the 42nd time, tied for 10th-most in searchable history. Of the top 25 on that list (at least 34 such games), all had at least 234 career HRs except Cesar Cedeno (199 HRs, #7 with 48 games of HR+SB) and Tim Raines (170 HRs, #10 with 42 games of HR+SB).

CC Sabathia’s allowed 3 runs or more in 10 straight starts. His prior long in that regard was 6 games, last in 2011. In these 10 games, his ERA is 6.67, his WHIP 1.65.

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During Saturday’s Mets telecast, the announcers had a digression on college football distracting from baseball. Ron Darling related a tale of losing a game 1-0 against Montreal, then getting irked in the clubhouse afterward because teammates were excited about a Notre Dame football game. With his added detail of Mitch Webster’s leadoff triple and Tim Raines’s RBI groundout, that game was easy to find: Sept. 30, 1986. It all matches, except that Webster tripled from the #2 spot. But there are two problems with the rest of the tale:

1. The Mets had long ago clinched both the division and best overall record, so you wouldn’t expect much clubhouse intensity over a meaningless loss. More importantly,
2. The date was a Tuesday. Notre Dame had played on Saturday, Sept. 27, as usual, and next played on Saturday, Oct. 4.

Was any college football game played on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 1986? No, according to Sports-Reference.com. So I checked all 10 Darling losses where he allowed just 1 run. None were on Saturday, and none fell on a day when college football was played. (Seven of the 10 were on Tuesday or Wednesday, two on Sunday, one on Monday.) Any other ideas?