The trade deadline took center stage on Tuesday, but believe it or not there are still games to be played -- 15 of them, in fact. Keep it here for all the day's news and notes.
Tuesday's scores
Giants 3, Padres 2 in 10 (box score)
Nationals 25, Mets 4 (box score)
Pirates 5, Cubs 4 (box score)
Yankees 6, Orioles 3 (box score)
Tigers 2, Reds 1 (box score)
Rays 10, Angels 6 (box score)
Phillies 3, Red Sox 1 (box score)
Braves 11, Marlins 6 (box score)
Royals 4, White Sox 2 (box score)
Indians 6, Twins 2 (box score)
Rockies 6, Cardinals 3 (box score)
Diamondbacks 6, Rangers 0 (box score)
Athletics 6, Blue Jays 2 (box score)
Astros 5, Mariners 2 (box score)
Brewers 1, Dodgers 0 (box score)
Nationals embarrass Mets, Matz
The Mets had a rough Tuesday. Not only did they decide to hold their most valuable trade chips, but they suffered quite the on-field humiliation at the hands of the Nationals.
Steven Matz didn't get out of the the first inning -- one that included a Tanner Roark double -- giving up seven runs on eight hits in two-thirds of an inning.
The Nationals were only getting started, though. Here is the scoring by inning through the first five: 7, 3, 3, 3, 3. And here's some footage of the first inning:
This was only the third time in Mets history they allowed at least 20 earned runs. The others:
- 23-5 loss to Nationals, April 30, 2017
- 26-7 loss to Phillies, June 11, 1985
On the Nationals' side, this was a franchise record in runs scored. No surprise there.
Former Met Daniel Murphy went 3 for 4 with two homers and six RBI. Anthony Rendon and Michael Taylor had three hits. Trea Turner had four. Roark, the pitcher, was 2 for 5 with a double and three RBI. Ryan Zimmerman, Matt Adams and Mark Reynolds hit home runs.
Pirates still humming
The Pirates held on in a well-contested game over the first-place Cubs to take the victory. After landing Chris Archer during the day, Tuesday came up beautifully for the Pirates. They've now won 16 of their last 20 games to move to four games over .500 despite being 40-48 just a few weeks ago.
Two-out rallies were the theme for the Pirates in this one. After two quick outs in the bottom of the third, the Pirates got a Gregory Polanco single, David Freese double (that was inches from a homer) and Francisco Cervelli home run. Javier Baez would tie it with a three-run homer in the fourth, but in the fifth, Polanco walked in front of another Freese double. Polanco tacked on an important insurance run with a homer to start the bottom of the eighth.
The Pirates looked to be in trouble in the ninth, but replay found Addison Russell was out at third base for the first out.
Had he been the tying run at third with no outs and the top of the order coming up, the Cubs likely would have tied it. Instead, the Pirates grab the close win.
Brewers virtual tie Cubs
On July 22, the Brewers lost and fell to 3 1/2 games back of the Cubs in the NL Central. Since then, however, business has picked up for the beermakers. They've won seven of their last nine and are now back to a virtual tie with the Cubs. Thanks to weather messing with the schedule, the Cubs actually have two fewer wins and two fewer losses -- a percentage-points lead -- but it's a virtual tie.
On Tuesday, Wade Miley deserves a lot of credit for the Brewers. He dealt for seven scoreless innings, allowing only two singles while striking out five.
Lorenzo Cain did offer up some help, too:
The Dodgers, meantime, are now tied with the Rockies for second place in the NL West, a half game behind the Diamondbacks.
Tanaka has a scoreless streak running
Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka is on a nice little run here. Two outings ago, he finished with 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Last outing, he threw a shutout and then Tuesday night, Tanaka tossed six scoreless innings (he wasn't efficient, which is why he didn't work later into the game). Since we can only count full innings in scoreless streaks, that pushes Tanaka up to 17 straight scoreless frames. Pretty fine work.
In Tanaka's four outings since coming off the disabled list, he's pitched to a 1.75 ERA in 25 2/3 innings. He's struck out 27 against six walks.
Arrieta strong in Boston
The Phillies kept their tenuous hold on first place thanks in part to the work of starting pitcher Jake Arrieta Tuesday. The big righty was able to spread out six hits over the course of seven innings while only allowing one run. He struck out seven and didn't walk anyone, which was reminiscent of Terminator-level Arrieta in 2015.
Prior to the game, Arrieta had only struck out 6.4 batters per nine innings. In his time with the Cubs, he was at 8.9, so seeing this type of swing-and-miss stuff is a big plus for Gabe Kapler's Phillies. It's worth mention that Arrieta struck out six in six innings last time out, too.
Acuna leads Braves
The Braves kept pace with the Phillies and remained a half-game back in the NL East, thanks in part to the work of rookie sensation Ronald Acuna. He led off the bottom of the first with a home run:
It paved the way for a nice offensive performance for both Acuna and the Braves. The youngster went 3 for 5 with two RBI and the Braves as a whole pounded out 19 hits en route to their 11 runs. Freddie Freeman also had a three-hit game while Ender Inciarte collected four hits.
Gray, Rockies stay hot
Jon Gray was demoted to the minors last month and since coming back, he's been excellent.
- On July 14, he went 7 1/3 innings and allowed just one run on five hits. He struck out six and walked one.
- On July 25, he worked seven innings, allowing only one earned run on one hit.
Tuesday in St. Louis, it was more of the same. He went 7 1/3 innings and gave up just two earned runs on four hits while striking out five. He actually had only allowed a solo homer to Matt Carpenter (possibly the hottest hitter in baseball for an extended stretch) to lead off the game and then nothing else until the eighth inning. The second run he allowed came on a sac fly after he left the game.
The Rockies finish July having gone 17-6 in the month. They won their last three games in June, too, so they've won 20 of their last 26 games. They have matched their season high by getting to 10 games over .500 despite being 38-42 before this hot streak.
Indians push lead back to nine
Late last week, Twins closer Fernando Rodney declared that the Twins were going to win the AL Central. After consecutive losses to the Indians now, though, the deficit is nine games.
The Indians got a good-but-not-great performance from Trevor Bauer on the hill, but once again, the star was Jose Ramirez. The AL MVP candidate was 3 for 4 with a double, stolen base and two RBI. He's now hitting .298/.408/.630 this season.
Davidson owns the Royals
Normally, a game between two of the worst teams in baseball wouldn't grab a mention here, but Matt Davidson hit a home run against the Royals:
Davidson has now played in 10 games against the Royals this year. He has hit .432/.523/1.081 with eight homers and 14 RBI. He has 16 homers on the season, so half of them have come in 10 games against the Royals! Remarkable ownership.
Quick hits
- Tuesday was the trade deadline and a lot of deals went down. We've got all them in one place, so go check it out.
- Chris Sale is on the DL, but the Red Sox think he'll only need to miss one start.
- Yankees starter J.A. Happ has hand, foot and mouth disease, but it's a mild case, per the team.
