Nationals 13, Mets 2: Washington roughed up Zack Wheeler, tagging the starter for five runs in 4 2/3 innings to give the right-hander his first major-league loss. Gio Gonzalez countered with seven scoreless innings, only allowing three hits while fanning seven Mets.
The Mets brought in backup catcher Anthony Recker to pitch the ninth inning, which did not impress Ian Desmond, who blasted a homer off the windows of the stadium club seats.
Royals 9, Twins 8: David Lough went 4-for-4, hitting three doubles and the go-ahead solo home run in the top of the eighth inning. Lough became just the fifth Royals player in history to collect four extra-base hits in a single game. Johnny Giavotella collected three hits in his first game of the 2013 season.
A Royals fan made an impressive catch during the fourth inning, falling over backwards to snare a foul-ball with his glove.
Indians 4, White Sox 0: Justin Masterson threw his league-leading third complete game shutout of the season, allowing six hits while striking out eight White Sox. The victory moved Cleveland into a virtual tie with Detroit for first place in the AL Central.
Marlins 6, Padres 2: Jeff Mathis clubbed a walk-off grand slam for Miami, his second home run of the season and the second grand slam in the catcher's career:
Nathan Eovaldi tossed six scoreless innings for the Marlins for his third quality start in June.
Braves 6, Diamondbacks 2: Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homer off Arizona starter Trevor Cahill, while Brian McCann and Dan Uggla also smacked homers off the right-hander. The Braves improved to a major league-best 28-11 at home, while the Diamondbacks have gone 22 straight games without a win from a starting, the longest streak in the majors since the Padres went 25 games without a win in 2009, according to STATS Inc.
Athletics 7, Cardinals 5: Oakland battered Jake Westbrook for six runs on ten hits in four innings. Jed Lowrie went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI, while Seth Smith, Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Donaldson all had multi-hit games. Carlos Beltran, Alan Craig and Matt Carpenter all hit homers for St. Louis.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4: Toronto first baseman Josh Thole committed an error on a Shane Victorino groundball in the ninth inning, which allowed Jonathan Diaz to score the game-winning run.
Thole entered the game in the second inning as a replacement for Adam Lind, who left with a mid-back injury. Jose Bautista had tied the game for the Blue Jays in the top of the ninth inning with a solo homer off Koji Uehara, his fourth game-tying home run in the ninth inning or later this season, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Angels 3, Astros 1: Josh Hamilton drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning double, extending the Angels winning streak to six games. C.J. Wilson threw seven innings to earn his fourth straight victory, striking out 10 for this third double-digit strikeout game of the season.
Rays 3, Tigers 1: Jeremy Hellickson recorded his fifth win in the month of June, tying Matt Moore, David Price and Scott Kazmir for most victories in a month in Rays history. Both benches were warned early in the game, when Rick Porcello hit Ben Zobrist with a pitch in the first inning. Miguel Cabrera yelled at Fernando Rodney in the tenth inning of last night's game after the closer threw up-and-in against the third baseman.
Rays manager Joe Maddon handled the situation in his own way, sending out the following Tweet after the game.
For those looking for a response as to why we didn’t retaliate today, please read Mario Puzo.
— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) June 30, 2013
Puzo wrote a number of novels and screenplays about the Mafia, and is best known for writing The Godfather.
Rangers 3, Reds 2: Yu Darvish out-dueled Mat Latos, allowing no runs on four hits while striking out eight over 6 2/3 innings to earn his first victory since May 16. Texas scored their first two runs on an Elvis Andrus squeeze bunt; Devin Mesoraco could not handle the Latos throw after Adrian Beltre slid into the catcher, which allowed Leonys Martin to score.
Dodgers 6, Phillies 0: Yasiel Puig went 4-for-5 at the plate, scoring two runs and finishing a homer shy of the cycle. Puig finished with 44 hits in June, breaking Steve Sax's Dodgers' record for most hits in a single month. Puig's 44 hits rank as the second most hits in the first month of a player's career:
Puig will likely finish the month of June with 44 H. The 2nd most all-time by a player in their first-career calendar month (DiMaggio, 48).
— Dodgers PR (@DodgersPR) June 30, 2013
Pirates 2, Brewers 1: The Pirates' winning streak is still alive, thanks to Russell Martin. The catcher came in as a pinch-hitter and singled home the winning run in the 14th inning to beat the Brewers, 2-1, and extend the Pittsburgh winning strak to nine games. The Pirates will now head into July with the most wins in the majors as they go in search of their first winning season in 21 years.
Giants 5, Rockies 2: The Giants may be in fourth place in the NL West, but they are just three games out of first place after beating the Rockies. Colorado will be disappointed not to have won to move within one game of first-place Arizona, but Madison Bumgarner's seven innings of four-hit, one-run ball was enough to snap San Francisco's six-game losing streak. The only good news for the Rockies is that Michael Cuddyer extended hitting streak to 27 games.
Cubs 7, Mariners 6: True to Cubs form, Chicago almost blew a six-run lead on Sunday. True to Mariners form, they couldn't finish the comeback. The Cubs led 7-1 after four innings, but the Mariners started to chip away at Edwin Jackson, then they really beat up the Chicago bullpen that has blown 16 saves this season. It wasn't enough, though, The Cubs held on. Barely.
Orioles 4, Yankees 2: The Orioles rode the long ball to upend the Yankees as Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Nate McLouth all hit solo homers. That, along with six solid innings by Chris Tillman and three shutout innings from the bullpen was all Baltimore needed to stay within 2.5 games of Boston for the AL East lead.
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