@Yankees 2, Athletics 1 — Victorious versatility by Masahiro Tanaka, who garnered his first win yet when backed by less than 3 runs. To say it wasn’t his most impressive effort — 4 Ks, a walk and 5 hits in six innings — discounts the level of the competition (MLB’s top offense, park-adjusted), and speaks to how quickly he’s become entrenched among the game’s elite, leading the AL in ERA and WHIP. But it was typical in other ways.

Tanaka fought back from a 3-0 count to pop up the game’s first batter, before John Jaso ripped a first-pitch homer. Ten A’s then went down before their next threat, a pair of 2-out singles in the 4th. But Tanaka won a 9-pitch battle with Jed Lowrie, whiffing him with a sixth straight strike.

New York wasted a golden chance in the 1st against Drew Pomeranz, but tied it in their next raps, taking advantage of a Brandon Moss bobble in LF, then slipped ahead on Brett Gardner’s first-pitch blast leading off the 3rd. Both sides had late threats, but there was no more scoring, as a day of rest did wonders for the Yanks’ best bullpen trio. Dellin Betances, Adam Warren and David Robertson eached worked a scoreless frame, reaching back for three Ks with A’s in scoring position.

• Typical Tanaka: All but one of his 8 HRs have been solo acts; 7 of 23 extra-base hits have come on the first pitch. With men in scoring position, he’s yielded just 9 hits and 3 walks in 65 PAs, with 26 Ks. He’s now faced three teams that currently lead divisions, and beat ’em all.
• 9 wins in Tanaka’s first 12 games, the 10th pitcher since 1914 to start that fast. Only Kaz Ishii bagged 10, and he was living on the edge.
• Tanaka kept pace with Steve Rogers, 12 straight quality starts to begin a career. Rogers ran it to 16 before missing at the end of his rookie season.
• No impact from Carlos Beltran’s return: 0-3 with two Ks, twice making the last out with RISP.
• “Can’t win the close ones” (nyuk, nyuk): Oakland’s 8-8 in one-run games, 29-15 otherwise.

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Giants 6, @Reds 1 — Pitching and power lifted SF to 39-21, their best 60-game mark since 1978. Madison Bumgarner choked the Reds on 2 hits after Todd Frazier’s 1st-inning solo, and Mike Morse & Brandon Crawford cracked homers worth 5 runs off Mike Leake.

• Bumgarner’s won six straight decisions, with a 1.91 ERA, 53 Ks and 5 walks in his last seven starts.
• With 57 wins at age 24, Bumgarner’s 5th in Giants history for that age group. Six more this year would put him 3rd, and 10 to match Prince Hal Schumacher at number two. (Christy‘s top spot is safe.)

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Brewers 8, @Twins 5 — Home runs by Khris Davis and Carlos Gomez overcame Oswaldo Arcia’s first grand slam (each word of that phrase merited). Jonathan Lucroy slugged one in the 9th, after Ryan Braun’s 2-out double, making a 3-run cushion for K-Rod’s first close-out since May 16. Milwaukee’s NL Central lead is back to 5 games; despite going 16-18 since their torrid start, they’ve only lost 1.5 games in the standings, as the expected contenders all limp along near .500.

• Arcia’s making up for time lost in the minors, with 10 RBI in his last 5 games. Alas, he sprained an ankle on a failed steal of third, adding injury to a very bad decision: Twins down two with no outs in the 6th. He’s 1-for-5 in career steal tries.
• Josh Willingham’s drawn 15 walks in 17 games, 4 HRs, 12 RBI, 12 runs.

Lineup’s in order: After the hot start, the Brewers’ offense became home-run-or-nothing; despite a HR per game, they hit just .243 and scored 3.5 R/G, going 9-13. Since Braun moved to the #2 hole, they’ve gone 7-5. They’ve kept the power on, but salted in more humble hits, averaging 6.0 R/G thanks to a .295 BA. Braun has “just” 2 HRs in that stretch, but batting .388 with 11 runs, 11 RBI. Gomez, moved from 1st to 4th, has hit .333 with 12 RBI. Lucroy’s settled in at #3 and kept hitting as before, batting .325 this year with 26 XBH. And Davis has caught fire in his last 15 games, 21 for 56 with 6 HRs, earning his way back up to #5 after a very slow start.

• Lucroy’s one of the biggest bargain veterans: After averaging 3.5 WAR in the past 2 years (5th among all catchers), he’s making just $2 million this year (already with almost 3 WAR), and signed for 2 more years totaling $7 mil, with another club option at $5 mil. The deal was signed in March 2012, just before his batting jumped; he’d get $10 mil a year on the open market right now.

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Blue Jays 7, @Tigers 3 — Three homers by Toronto helped J.A. Happ beat Justin Verlander. Let’s just move on, shall we?

• Oh, all right … From 13-17, the Jays have gone 24-7, building a 5-game lead as of this writing.
• Casey Janssen “earned” his second save in this series, each lasting one out without facing the tying run. Only Kenley Jansen also has two such cheapies this year. Casey now has 10 saves (and one blown) with just 10.2 IP; no season of 10+ saves has seen as low a ratio of innings to saves.

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@Nationals 4, Phillies 2 — Adam LaRoche homered in a 3-run 5th, as Washington polished off a sweep and sent the Phils to a 6th straight loss and 10 games below .500.

• More salt in Detroit’s wounds: The Nats have won Doug Fister’s last five starts, as he’s worked to a 2.23 ERA with just 2 walks and 26 Ks since a late and rocky debut.
• 12th hold for Tyler Clippard, 12th save for Rafael Soriano, combined 1.09 ERA. Their 2.13 bullpen ERA leads the majors.
• LaRoche is batting .315 with a .416 OBP, 30 and 61 points over his career bests. He’s slashed his K rate by more than 5 percentage points (22% to under 17%), and raised his walk rate by the same amount.

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Marlins 11, @Rays 6 — Two Marlins combined for 4 RBI in their debut, and Giancarlo’s 17th ripped open a close game in the 7th, helping the Fish finish off the hapless Rays. Jake Odorizzi had a 1-0 lead and two outs in the 4th, then found himself trailing 3-1 after five straight singles. Catcher J.T. Realmuto stroked the go-ahead 2-run hit after DH Justin Bour reached on a grounder, the first career hit for each. Realmuto singled home another in the 6th, after the Rays had tied it on two homers, and Bour drove in a bonus run after Stanton’s laser landed in a non-uniformed glove.

• Tampa’s 10-game swoon has left them 23-38, worst record in the majors.

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@Royals 3, Cardinals 2 — Michael Wacha had the early edge in this matchup of electric 23-year-olds, but Yordano Ventura hung on long enough to earn the win, as KC racked up 5 hits in the 6th. Greg Holland gave up an infield hit to start the 9th, then punched out three straight, with six swing-and-misses.

• Wacha hasn’t yielded more than 3 runs in any start this year, but the Cards have won just 5 of 13, thanks to rotten run support.
• Ventura returned from an injury scare with six solid innings, but he fanned just one and had trouble finishing. Eight of the nine who reached did so with two outs.

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@Rangers 8, Orioles 6 — Two errors in the 7th by reigning Gold Glove J.J. Hardy opened the door to a tiebreaking 3-run rally, and Texas held on to salvage the series finale after blowing a 5-0 lead. Chris Tillman got just 3 outs for the second time this year, but his buddies got him off the hook, tying in the 5th on 2-out hits by Adam Jones and Chris Davis. Jones homered in the 8th to shave the deficit, but Jonathan Schoop’s 9th GDP ended their last threat.

• Hardy came in with one error in 216 chances, leading all shortstops in fielding percentage for the third time in four years — but erred on 3 of 7 grounders tonight. He also started two DPs, and turned a third.
• Texas clings to .500 despite having just one good SP left. They’re next-to-last in quality starts. Yu Darvish has 9; the lost Martin Perez had 3; all other Rangers have 9 combined, none more than 2. Colby Lewis has none in 10 tries.

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@Astros 8, Angels 5 — Jose Altuve and George Springer split 4 RBI with two outs in the 8th, building an 8-3 lead. Paul Clemens floundered in his second inning’s work, walking in a run. But Chad Qualls came in to retire three straight, each representing the tying run, ending with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols.

• Trout returned from his back woes with a triple and a double, but LA’s #3-5 men went 0-12 with a sac fly. Albert’s 19-for-104 slump has dropped him back under .250, career-worst rates of walks and K/W.
• Chris Carter walked in all four trips (none intentional), but never scored — the first such game this year; Carter’s first 4-walk game, and the first by an Astro since 2010 (Lance Berkman). He and his pinch-runner were each caught stealing once.
• Jon Singleton singled, swiped his first base, and scored on Robbie Grossman’s squeeze. He also made his third error in three games.
• Altuve had 2 hits and stole his 21st, still leads AL in both. His 82 hits in 61 team games is a season pace of 217; club record’s 210 by Biggio, their only 200-hit season.
• Dexter Fowler’s .386 OBP has paced Houston’s improved leadoff spot: .356 OBP this year, .310 the last two; haven’t topped .336 since 2004. On pace for 100 leadoff runs, which they last reached in 2007.

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Diamondbacks 12, @Rockies 7 — Who can describe these games? Just like Wednesday, a lotta guys got a lotta hits, and Arizona pulled away late. Brandon Barnes had an inside-the-park home run, the first since 2008 by a pinch-hitter — that one also in Coors Field, as was the one before (2005).

• David Peralta signed as a pitcher way back in 2004, age 17. He washed out in rookie ball, but hooked on as an outfielder in the independent minors, and started raking. Since Arizona signed him last July, he’s hit .321 with some power across high-A/AA — and now he’s in the Show, going 6-15 in 4 games. Can’t tell if he was smiling or grimacing after this wall-crashing catch, but I’m sure he’s happy to be here.
• Just four guys are on pace for 20-20 this year: Brian Dozier (12 HRs, 13 SB); Carlos Gomez (12, 11); Charlie Blackmon (11, 11); and Michael Brantley (9, 8).
• Snakes are 18-14 since April 30 — still 10 games under .500, but only 6 out of a wild-card berth.
• The Rox have lost 7 straight, 11 of 13, dropping 8.5 games in the standings since beating the Giants on May 20, now trailing by 10.5 in the division — but only 2.5 in the wild-card rate.
• Still looking like the year all hell breaks loose with the 2-wild-card format. The current NL wild-card holders are Miami (32-28, a pace of 86-76) and Washington (30-28, 84-78); AL leaders are the Angels & Mariners, both 31-28 (85-77). Division-leading Detroit and Atlanta are on pace for less than 90 wins.

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@Cubs 7, Mets 4 — Chicago built a 4-0 lead as Travis Wood drove in three, including a home run on the first pitch after an overturn at home kept the 2nd inning alive. The Mets pulled even on a 2-run shot by the just-recalled Andrew Brown, his first since Opening Day. But Anthony Rizzo’s rocket on 3-and-1 got the lead back in the 7th, and the Cubs went on to sweep.

• Vic Black had gotten 4 outs before Rizzo came up with one out in the 7th. Terry Collins had a lefty ready, but Black stayed in. And I won’t knock it: While Rizzo used to flounder against southpaws, he’s crushing them this year, and his career HR rate is slightly higher vs. lefties.
• I’ll rip this one, though: Intentional walk to Emilio Bonifacio in the 9th, man on two and two outs, Mets down a run. Let’s walk this through: Bonifacio is a career .254 batter vs. RHPs, .233 this year. Junior Lake is a .246 hitter vs. RHPs, .238 this year, but with some power that Bonifacio utterly lacks. Above all, Jenrry Mejia has fared substantially worse vs. RHBs, both career and this year. How does that move make sense? Lake hit a 2-run triple (on an 0-2 count) to break the game open. I wouldn’t walk Emilio Bonifacio unless a pitcher had to bat next.
• Jacob deGrom’s gap double made him 5 for 9 at bat, with a walk and 3 Ks.
• First game this year with two pitchers knocking extra-baggers.
• Chris Young cannot play CF any more. He missed a very catchable double to start Chicago’s 3-run 2nd. He was once a prime defender, but both eye and metrics say he’s lost that.
• Game of inches, kid: Wilmer Flores ripped a double that just missed the basket in the deepest part of Wrigley Field, but Brown couldn’t score from first with two outs, and Travis d’Arnaud left the bases loaded. In the 2nd, Flores drilled a liner towards the middle with two aboard, but Wood deflected it just right for a GDP.
• Mets came to the Windy City with hopes of topping .500, but they went 4-30 with RISP and left 31 men on base, .
• Eric Campbell started at cleanup for the second time, in his 17th career game. If you know the only other Met with more than one cleanup start so soon, you must be Gary Cohen.
• Don’t blame Citi Field; David Wright just isn’t hitting with authority. Oh-for-10 in this series, slugging .323 on the road this year with no home runs. He’s just getting beat by fastballs.
• d’Arnaud’s .192 career BA is bad enough (and now past 250 PAs), but he’s 7 for 58 with RISP. He’s drawn some walks and doesn’t strike out overmuch, but he just doesn’t drive the ball.