On nights like this, it’s great to be a baseball fan with nothing at risk — even if I can’t keep up with everything.

@Rays 4, Rangers 3 (12 inn.) — In the fourth straight stanza of high drama, Jose Lobaton singled to start the home 12th, pinch-runner Sam Fuld moved up on a bunt, and he dashed home on Desmond Jennings’s line single into right, stealing a win that the Rangers had seemed sure to book.

In the top of the 11th, Adrian Beltre’s 2-out, full-count single off Alex Torres scored Elvis Andrus all the way from 1st base, taking advantage of a blasé approach by Wil Myers. Joe Nathan got his first 2 men, whiffing Myers to put Texas one out from a 2nd straight win for the first time since August 27-28. But Matt Joyce worked a 2-out walk, and that brought in pinch-runner Freddy Guzman for his first big-league appearance since 2009. The owner of 587 steals in the minors (including 73 this year in Mexico), Guzman bagged his 10th MLB steal, and David DeJesus banged the next pitch up the middle; game tied. DeJesus swiped 2nd, but Nathan came back from 3-and-0 to strike out James Loney, and they played on.

Jeff Baker opened the Texas 12th with a two-base drive to deep left off Torres. A walk and a sac put two in scoring position. But Leonys Martin lined out to short, and Brandon Gomes, owner of a 6.75 ERA this year, came on to fan Ian Kinsler on 3 pitches, completing his 0-for-6.

• Martin’s 2-run triple (read: Jennings misplay) put Texas on top with 2 outs in the 2nd, but Chris Archer set down 13 of 14 after that. Sean Rodriguez tied it in the 6th with a 2-out, 2-run blast, the only tallies off Derek Holland.

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Orioles 5, @Red Sox 3 (12th inn.) — After Manny Machado popped up with the bases loaded for the 2nd out, Chris Davis flinched from a 1-2 curve by lefty Franklin Morales. But he still managed to roll it past Dustin Pedroia and through the middle for 2 runs, putting Baltimore within a game of Texas for the 2nd wild card.

Big Papi’s 28th HR gave Boston an early lead. But Danny Valencia notched the first hit off Jake Peavy in the 5th, and doubles by Wieters and Roberts tied the game. A 2-out rally in the 6th put the O’s ahead on another Wieters double, but Mike Napoli answered with his 23rd HR. The BoSox piled up 15 hits, but hit into 4 DPs, and scored only on those homers.

• For age 27-37 combined (his BoSox years), Ortiz ranks 8th all-time in RBI (breaking a tie with Musial tonight), 11th in HRs, 12th in total bases.

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@Royals 7, Indians 2 — Salvador Perez cashed in a 2-out rally in the 1st with a 2-run double, taking 3rd on the play and scoring on a wild pitch. Cleveland scored twice in the 3rd off Bruce Chen, while Danny Salazar settled in to allow just one more run through the 6th, on a 1st-and-3rd gift steal of home. Ned Yost started the bullpen shuffle in the 6th, after the first two reached, and he came out with 4 innings of shutout relief. K.C. scored 3 more in the 8th, thanks to a bunch of walks, and the win kept their life-support machine plugged in, while the Indians missed a chance to seize a wild-card seat.

• Perez has 29 RBI in his last 29 games.

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Yankees 4, @Blue Jays 3 — Down 3-0 and dominated by J.A. Happ through 7 innings, the Yanks were thrilled to see him leave after a leadoff double. Four of the next five Yanks ripped hits, as they grabbed the lead on Vernon Wells’s 2-run double. Mariano Rivera got the last 4 outs, relieving David Robertson in the middle of Brett Lawrie’s at-bat, after Rajai Davis stole 2nd. There was drama in the 9th, as the first two Jays hit singles. But Lyle Overbay, a defensive replacement at 1B, fielded a bunt and nailed the lead runner, and after a groundout moved the winning run to 2nd, Mo whiffed J.P. Arencibia on 3 pitches for his 44th save.

Joe Girardi hooked Phil Hughes as soon as the Yankees fell behind, on a 2-run jack by Colby Rasmus with 1 out in the 4th — his 22nd, and the 24th off Hughes in 144 IP. The move looked ugly when Ryan Goins took David Huff deep for his first MLB home run one batter later. But Huff set down the next 10 men, and got the ball to Robertson.

• Wells as a SkyDome visitor: 17 for 55, 5 HRs, 12 RBI in 14 games.
• Three hits and 2 runs off Steve Delabar tonight; 13 runs in 13.2 innings since his All-Star appearance.

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Padres 3, @Pirates 2 — Three singles off Mark Melancon with 2 outs in the 9th scored 2 runs and gave the Bucs their first 3-game losing streak in one homestand this year. Third-string catcher Rene Rivera had the go-ahead hit, and also threw out the 2 Pirates who tried to steal against him. Huston Street cashed in his 16th straight save chance, with 1 run allowed in his last 26 games.

Just two Pirates got aboard in the first 6 innings against Tyson Ross, and each was promptly erased. But in the 7th, Neil Walker reached on a wild strike three, and Andrew McCutchen crushed a 3-0 pitch to put the Bucs ahead, 2-1. Justin Morneau singled, but pinch-runner Felix Pie became Rivera’s second stealing victim (or so said the man in blue).

• Jedd Gyorko scored the first run on a forceout, after going 1st-to-3rd in an infield hit.
• Rivera, a 29-year-old journeyman, has nabbed 9 of 16 thieves in the majors this year, and 33 of 72 in the minors (46%). He also batted a completely unexpected .343 in 74 games at Tucson.
• The Bucs are going through another of their scoring slumps, with 16 runs in their last 7 games (.181 BA). Their previous 6 HRs all were solos.
• McCutchen had put a 3-0 pitch in play just thrice before, all singles.

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Cardinals 4, @Rockies 3 — In the hit-rich Coors environs, Adam Wainwright went 3-for-3 at bat, with two RBI hits, while on the mound he bent (10 hits in 7.2 IP) but didn’t break. Colorado left 11 men on base, and Edward Mujica fanned Todd Helton to end it with the bases loaded.

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Reds 4, @Astros 4 (11th inn.) —

Billy Hamilton’s first hit was a line double. He started 3-for-3, 2 steals, a run and a ribby. And in the 9th — don’t look — a 4-pitch walk, from fellow rookie Josh Fields.

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Angels 5, @Athletics 4 (11 inn.) — Josh Hamilton’s sac fly scored an unearned tiebreaker off Jesse Chavez, the game’s only run that wasn’t from a 2-run homer. Mike Trout’s 26th HR in the 1st was the only hit in A.J. Griffin’s 6 innings. Coco Crisp (#20) and Yoenis Cespedes (#24) hit their in the 3rd off Jason Vargas, and Hamilton’s 2-run shot tied it in the 9th off Grant Balfour.

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Braves 5, @Nationals 2 — Justin Upton’s 2-run HR in the 6th capped Atlanta’s answer to a wild and woolly home 5th that saw both their skipper and their SP tossed. Ross Ohlendorf had faced the minimum through 5, but Dan Uggla homered on the first pitch of the 6th. Ohlendorf threw away Jordan Schafer’s bunt single, sending him to 3rd, then got the next 2 outs before Upton took another first-pitch ride.

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Mariners 8, @Tigers 0 — Hisashi Iwakuma pitched out of bases loaded twice, and otherwise stifled Detroit on 4 hits over 8 innings, outpitching Justin Verlander (3 runs in 7 innings). Jim Leyland keeps trying to get Phil Coke “right,” remembering his good work in last year’s postseason, but the lefty remains a mess, giving up 4 runs with 2 outs in the 8th.

• Iwakuma has bounced back from a midseason slump, yielding just 10 runs over his last 7 starts to chop his ERA back to 2.76.