Happy 70th birthday to a pioneer, who debuted 50 seasons ago by striking out Charley Smith. And a very happy 83rd to one of his teammates. Now, on to a bunch of first starts tonight — most of which I won’t get to, ’cause we lead with the wild finish:

@Pirates 2, Giants 1 — “Here’s the throw to the plate, the slide, and he is … out!!  We go to the 10th inning!”

Wait …

Nope.

Starling Marte’s head-first slide became a tape-delayed win, when review showed Buster Posey missing the first tag, and Marte’s hand scraping the dish an instant before he was touched on the rebound.

Tim Hudson took the complete-game loss, his first ever in walk-off fashion. He was almost through the inning, after a DP on Pedro Alvarez and two strikes on Marte. But Marte’s high fly to right lured Hunter Pence too close to the wall, and it bounced off the highest point and came back past him. Pence hustled to recover, but his relay reached second baseman Ehire Adrianza with no chance of a play. The rookie fired anyway, and his throw tailed and sailed past Pablo Sandoval. Marte’s pop-up slide hastened his break for the plate, and although Panda scrambled and pegged a strike, the speedy Marte won the race by a hand.

Each side scored on an out in the 2nd, then rolled zeroes. Charlie Morton pitched his best of the year, holding the streaking high-octane Giants to three singles in 8 innings; his run was unearned, from a stolen-base overthrow and Adrianza’s sac fly. The rest of the night went against the young infielder: Morton picked him off in the 5th after a leadoff hit, with Hudson waiting to sacrifice. In the 9th, Tony Watson popped up Adrianza to strand men on the corners, one of their three RISP chances. Hudson put down all four men he faced in RBI spots, the run scoring on a first-and-third roller.

• Hudson finally walked someone besides Carlos Santana, passing Alvarez in the 6th on a full count, two outs and none on.
• This isn’t the last game SF lost on an error, but it’s notable: Scoreless in Denver, bags full with one out, fly ball to LF Fred Lewis, throw is on time, but Bengie Molina drops it — the first 1-0 walk-off in Coors Field history.

Isn’t review great? It’s not perfect, of course. But to make right such a big call as this is a tremendous leap forward for MLB. Umpire Quinn Wolcott didn’t “blow” the call; it was simply one of the many too-hard-to-see-live plays in a typical big-league contest. He was in position, but there was no way to be sure of what happened. All he could give was his best guess: The throw beat the runner, the glove was down — out. I’ve watched at live speed several times, and I can’t tell if the tag was made. Even slow-mo, most angles are inconclusive. The only clear shot is from a position the ump can’t possibly occupy: looking through Posey’s legs from behind, as Marte slides at him. Marte and the Bucs deserved to win — but without the review rule, they would have been screwed, through nobody’s fault.

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Dodgers 8, @Nationals 3 — Kershaw back on his horse: Bad timing for Blake Treinen’s debut start, or an inspiration to his 5 scoreless innings? Either way, it came apart in the 6th, starting with Treinen’s error on Kershaw’s groundball. A boot by LaRoche and Carl Crawford’s tapper to no-man’s land filled ’em; Han-Ram lined the first pitch into RF, and the kid trailed one-zip, on the hook and gone.

The first three Nats singled as they tried to rally from 3-0 in the 6th But the first was picked off (Anthony Rendon), and then Kershaw fanned the last two on 7 pitches. Scott Hairston dropped a two-out fly for a 4th unearned run, and 4 runs on HRs off Ross Detwiler made the blowout.

• Clayton’s 7 IP: 9 singles, no walks, 9 Ks, 89 pitches. First time more than 7 hits with no runs, or more than 8 hits with no walks.
• Dee Gordon had 2 hits, 2 runs and his 3rd triple.

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@Tigers 11, Astros 4 — A confidence-boosting debut inning for Robbie Ray: No outs, first-and-third — whiff, whiff, groundout. Then Miggy bashed out a lead for him. Ray got into the 6th before he was nicked; Evan Reed came on and faced 4 batters, got 2 DPs. Detroit piled on at the end, as Cabrera notched 4 RBI for the first time since last June 1, and his second 4-hit game since last July 7. (In case you don’t remember his 2013 start: .365-30-95 at the All-Star break.)

• Three Tigers hit sac flies, upping their AL lead despite the fewest games.
• 21-53, 16 RBI in 12 games for Miggy since scraping bottom at .206 on April 21.
• Ray, who came in the Doug Fister deal, wasn’t expected this soon. He just reached double-A last summer, and Detroit’s rotation was set. But he started hot at Toledo, Anibal Sanchez went down, and voila.

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@Atlanta 2, St. Louis 1 — Chris Johnson came through in the 8th with Atlanta’s first RISP hit, and Craig Kimbrel punched it in from the three-yard line to end their skid at seven. In his Atlanta debut, Gavin Floyd pitched scoreless ball to the 6th, but his slim lead leaked out after a leadoff walk to Matt Carpenter. He lasted seven, and pitched through some tight spots with a pair of DPs, but remains winless since 2012.

• Another night with the pitcher hitting 8th started with ten straight Atlanta outs against Tyler Lyons. Then the new #2 man popped one.

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@Cleveland 4, Minnesota 2 — Josh Tomlin’s first start since 2012 couldn’t have begun better: Clean top of 1st, then a quick 2-0 lead that doubled by the 2nd, with two key hits from Nick Swisher. Tomlin took it into the 7th on two singles, before Chris Colabello’s solo and an infield safety. Replacement closer Bryan Shaw should have had a clean 9th, but a 2-out error helped get slugger Josmil Pinto to bat as the tying run. But Shaw got ahead — he threw strike one to all five batters, a stark change from the man he filled in for — and got Pinto to pop out.

• I will always think Tomlin’s left–handed.
• On April 23, Colabello was at .346 with 26 RBI. Then a 5-for-40 funk, before this homer; now .270, 28 RBI.

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Blue Jays 6, @Phillies 5 (10 inn.) — Toronto reeled back another one that got away. After Drew Hutchison lost a 5-0 lead in the 6th on Cody Asche’s first career slam (at least it wasn’t the bullpen), the scoreboard went quiet. Melky and Joey Bats started the 10th with base hits. Antonio Bastardo got one out with no advance. But his wild pitch on 1-2 set up Juan Francisco’s go-ahead sac fly, and the Phils went in order, falling to 6-9 at home. Hutchison stuck through the 8th, a career first. Bautista reached four times with 3 hits, beefing up to his TOB streak that limped through two days on walks and a plunk. Colby Rasmus doubled the early 2-0 lead with his 8th HR, off Cole Hamels; he also has 9 doubles, 9 singles (.231 BA, .513 SLG), and 40 Ks in 125 trips.

• Lowest BA in a qualified year slugging .500+ was Carlos Pena’s .227 in 2009, then Adam Dunn’s .236 in ’08.
• Ben Revere (0-5) still sitting on no doubles or HRs in 32 hits (2 triples) –more than halfway to Rafael Belliard’s record of 61 hits with only singles and triples.

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@Red Sox 4, Reds 3 (12 inn.) —

• They’ve played 14 times: Reds took 4 of the first 7, BoSox dominant since (6-1, score 43-14).

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Orioles 5, @Rays 3 — Your first-place O’s are 3-0 against Tampa this year. Last year’s 6-13 in that series was a big reason that Balto went golfing while the Rays went dancing.

• 2-run HR in the 1st off Chris Tillman, but he knows how to rub up a new one. Tillman came in 28-11 in 54 starts since 2012, despite serving 50 gophers in 329 IP. All the HRs in 2012-13 came with either bases empty (31) or one man aboard. He’s given one three-run shot this year, in a 3-HR game in Toronto, but still got the win.

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@Marlins 3, Mets 0 — Second shutout this year for Henderson Alvarez, in 2 hours and 8 minutes. All the runs he needed came in the 1st off a slow-starting Bartolo Colon, plated by Giancarlo and McGehee, who twice lined 2-out RBI hits.

• Stanton reached all four times. He has 31 RBI in 21 home games.
• McGehee still hasn’t homered, but has 23 RBI, thanks to 15-34 with RISP.

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Monday Mishmash

White Sox 3, @Cubs 1 (12 inn.) — Jeff Samardzija had dominated from the mound for 8 innings, saved a run with some nimble defense, busted Jose Quintana’s no-hitter in the 6th with a double, and scored the tying run. But it wasn’t enough.

So he went back for the 9th, already at 107 pitches. With one out, he walked the ChiSox’ two biggest power threats, his pitch count soaring to a career-high 122. Fell behind Tank Viciedo, 2-and-1; tossed him a tempting slider — and got a double play to get into the dugout.

And it still wasn’t enough. Anthony Rizzo’s one-out single went nowhere, as Starlin Castro couldn’t put anything past the infield all night. The game went on, but Samardzija was done after nine innings, with nothing to show for his 126 pitches and a season-high 85 strikes.

The Cubs made two-out noise in the 11th, but Castro whiffed to end that with two on. Then the Sox pulled off their own two-out rally, starting with Alexei Ramirez’s 1,000th hit and a swipe of second. Marcus Semien lashed a double down the LF line, breaking their 10-inning drought with the go-ahead run, and the first RBI hit for either side. Justin Grimm’s wildness pushed a bonus across, and the Cubbies’ misery dragged on through a Nate Schierholtz DP and one last whiff with a man aboard.

• Samardzija is 0-3, 1.62. He’s allowed 12 runs (9 ER) in 50 IP over 7 games.
• Last Cub with 9+ IP, no ER and no decision: Greg Maddux, 1991. The last five before Greg: Mike Harkey, Mike Bielecki, Calvin Schiraldi(?), Scott Sanderson, Dennis Eckersley.
• Who is the last pitcher to go 9 innings on one unearned run, and either score or drive in a run himself, and still not win? Why, it was Catfish Hunter, for the K.C. Athletics in 1966. Both games were against the ChiSox, and in each game, the Sox scored their run in the 1st on a sac fly; the hard-luck pitcher’s hit and run came in the 6th, with the help of a bunt (Hunter was squeezed home by Jose Tartabull); and the pitcher faced 32 batters in 9 innings, allowing 3 hits.
• Schierholtz’s OBP, SLG and OPS are all last among regular OFs.

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Cardinals 4, @Braves 3 — After Fredi Gonzalez shook up his batting order, Atlanta’s batting frustration mounted, then seemed to ease, before a last crushing crescendo left them 1-for-12 with RISP in a 7th straight defeat.

Third-and-second, one out in the 1st: Gattis and B.J. whiffed. Leadoff double in the 3rd: Heyward and Justin whiffed. Leadoff hits in the 4th (GDP) and 5th (pitcher sac, nothing more). After a HR closed to 4-3 in the 7th, a one-out double died as Justin whiffed, Freddie bounced out. Finally, the 9th: Leadoff hit, sac bunt, flyout, Heyward pitched around, Justin whiffed.

Batting #2 for the first time this year, J-Up fanned four times, three with RISP. With men on, he’s 12-57, 27 Ks. His RISP struggle is a career thing: .242 BA with RISP (counting sac flies as ABs), .285 bases empty. His BA gap between overall and RISP is 3rd-worst among 174 active players who have 600 PAs with RISP. (Bottom two: Robby Cano and Brendan Ryan.)

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Giants 11, @Pirates 10 (13 inn.) — If you thought the Jints were toast when the Bucs piled up an 8-2 lead in the 5th, you are living in the past. Even without their signature slugging, SF pulled off a 6th straight win. They tied it up twice in regulation, with nothing more grand than a double, then took their first lead on the triple-threat wildness of Jared Hughes (4-pitch walk, HBP, bunt throw-away).

During Pittsburgh’s happier hours, Pedro Alvarez hammered a 3-and-1 pitch for a 3-run HR. But in their time of need, he pulled an outside 0-2 fastball into a game-ending 4-6-3. Getting ahead in the count matters more to Pedro than to most hitters. His career OPS is 1.115 when ahead, .748 overall — the 5th-biggest gap among actives with 1,000 PAs. And 3-1 is Pedro’s special favorite: now 23 for 45 with 7 HRs, 1.089 slugging in PAs settled on 3-1. (By the way, Mark Trumbo owns the biggest plus-when-ahead margins for BA, SLG and OPS.)

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@Tigers 2, Astros 0 — Max Scherzer was carving up Astros just as you’d expect, but Jarred Cosart matched him through six. An error started Detroit’s breakthrough, but a huge DP got Cosart through with one run. Max started the 8th with his first walk, and had first-and-second with one out, but the runners went on a full count and they ran themselves right out of it. Joe Nathan took over a 2-0 lead in the 9th, and donated a base to the first man — but he, too, negated himself.

• Down one run in the 8th, first-and-second with one out, 3-and-2 pitch coming from an elite strikeout artist. Starting the runners is a real puzzler. Last year, full-count ABs against Scherzer ended 8 for 83, with 40 whiffs.
• This, though, is just shameful. Dexter Fowler is a 7-year veteran. Did he know the score? — or that their two best power hitters were due up?
• Second 8/0 for Scherzer this year, and his 7th straight with 7+ Ks; he had 11 straight at that level in 2012, longest of the last four years. Season’s ; 47 IP, 9 runs, 60 Ks, 12 walks this season.
• Since Anibal Sanchez went on the DL, the last six Detroit starts have lasted 42 IP with 8 total runs.

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@Angels 4, Yankees 1 — It was probably over when Shawn Kelley followed a two-out IBB to Albert with two more “my bad” freebies, forcing one home. But just to be sure, two fresh arms kept pushing the merry-go-round. The Angels scored three there with no hits, whereas the Yanks opened the top half with three hits, but no runs. Jered Weaver contained the Bombers for 8 innings; he’s still served them 19 HRs in 82.1 career innings.

• Check the locust cycles: Three runs allowed with no hits, done by two Yankees this year (Shawn Kelley, Shane Green). Before that, two in 1990 (Steve Adkins, Andy Hawkins); before that, 1963.
• With two or more men on base, New York’s batting .209 with no HRs, .516 OPS.

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@Marlins 4, Mets 3 — Once upon a time, if a generic reliever started the 8th inning with two walks — bringing up as the tying run someone like Giancarlo Stanton — why, he’d get the hook, and no pat on the rump as he left the mound. I mean, one walk could be a fluke; but if he can’t get it together by the next batter, how can you trust him to face Giancarlo? In this case, a prompt dismissal would have been for Dice-K’s own safety: You don’t want to stop a Giancarlo bullet. So then the next guy rips one that the shortstop should have caught, but still — tagged. Surely now Terry Collins has seen enough? Naaaahhh. Matsuzaka falls behind Saltalamacchia, 3-and-1, and a rocket to right-center ties the game.

I’m not throwing Dice-K under the train. He’s had some nice innings this year. But when you look at the body of work, he hasn’t earned that much rope. He was behind every batter. And he was the first man out of the pen. Our options out there aren’t great; but when you get 7 innings out of your starter, it sucks to lose that game ’cause you rode one reliever like he was the last chopper out of Saigon.

• So, the Marlins are 15-5 at home. They’ve drawn 20,000+  in four straight (even on Monday, against an no-glamor foe) — which they didn’t do last year until August. Good for them. Really. (“Ve mahst khruzh zem!”)
• Heard during spring that Nate Eovaldi had the highest average fastball speed last year, despite a modest K rate. He also walked too many, so his K/W ratio was less than 2. I don’t know if he’s made The Leap — lefties are whacking him at a .300/.804 clip — but he has 45 IP, 45 Ks and 6 walks.

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Minnesota 1, @Cleveland 0 — Eduardo Escobar had 3 career HRs in 377 PAs — but then, he’d never faced John Axford before.

For most of April, the Twins hovered near .500 on the surprising strength of their bats. But they’ve now gone four games without yielding more than 3 runs. Big deal? Well, they did that just one other time since June 2011. They didn’t win a 1-0 game in the past two seasons.

• Cleveland’s last 1-0 loss in extras was at home to the Twins in 2010, home run #587 for Jim Thome.
• 7 IP in Kyle Gibson’s second scoreless start, 6.2 in Zach McAllister’s second, no decision for either.
• Twins 0-11 with RISP,

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Late Sunday

Cardinals 5, @Cubs 4 —

Sure seemed like Starlin Castro might at least knock down Yadi’s winning hit, and limit the damage to one run. But the ball had a lot of topspin, and didn’t slow up as much as most bouncers would.

— I thought this was interesting: In the home 7th, Cards up by a run, man on third and two outs, RHP Carlos Martinez intentionally walked Anthony Rizzo to face Starlin Castro. The 9th presented a near-carbon copy — only difference being the tying run on second, not third — but RHP Trevor Rosenthal went right at Rizzo, and got a groundout to end the game. What makes it more interesting, Rizzo hit a walk-off home run against Rosenthal two years ago.

— Southpaw Kevin Siegrist has been especially deadly to right-handed batters in his brief career — 13 for 96, .135, one HR. For as far back as split data goes, that would be the lowest BA yielded to RHBs by either righty or lefty pitchers with at least 50 innings. Nos. 3-4 on that list are Craig Kimbrel and Kenley Jansen, but #2 is the little-known Sam Militello, who started 11 games for the Yanks in 1992-93, but was felled by injuries. Militello held righties to 18 for 130 with one HR, a .138 BA and .502 OPS. For southpaws against RHBs, the next-best to Siegrist are actives Alex Torres (.170, 28-165, one HR), Aroldis Chapman (.171, 84-575, but 12 HRs), and Caleb Thielbar (.183, 17-93, 3 HRs).

— Can we call it the Barney Line now? In 162 games from the start of last year, Darwin Barney has batted exactly .200. Actually, Cubs fans would be happy to see him get near that line this year, whatever it’s called; right now, he’s 6 for 49.