Beating the Chicago Cubs helped the Los Angeles Dodgers, thriving with Julio Urias on the mound, open up a two game lead over the San Francisco Giants, losing at home to the Atlanta Braves and a three-run homer by Matt Kemp. Speaking of home runs, Gary Sanchez can’t stop hitting them, helping the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, while both the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox continue to get away in the AL East.

Baltimore Orioles 5  New York Yankees 13: The Orioles lose their third in a row, succumbing to the home run wave from Gary Sanchez, hitting his 11th this season. Starlin Castro and Aaron Hicks also belted long balls, as the Yankees win their 4th in a row, finding themselves only 2.5 games behind the Orioles.

Colorado Rockies 9  Washington Nationals 4: The Nationals are in no worry about losing the top spot in the NL East, but they’re struggling recently. This time things fell apart for them in extra innings, as a 4-4 tie turned into a blowout thanks to two home runs by Justin Blackmon and Adrian Gonzalez.

Minnesota Twins 7  Toronto Blue Jays 8: There’s nothing new about the Twins making awful mistakes in crunch time. This time it was Max Kepler with a comedic-tragic way of mishandling an easy out, allowing the Blue Jays to score two runs and take the lead in the 8th inning off of Melvin Upton Jr’s triple.

Chicago Cubs 2  Los Angeles Dodgers 3: The quality series is now tied, the Dodgers riding Julio Urias, who struck out 8 in six innings to earn the win, as a strong third inning for the Dodgers, with RBIs from Chase Utley and Justin Turner, along with terrific bullpen pitching, helped them open up a two-game lead in the NL West.

Kansas City Royals 3  Boston Red Sox 8: The Royals couldn’t hold off the Red Sox once again, giving up six unanswered runs after tying the game at 2-2 in the second inning. David Price, despite giving up a homer, continues to look terrific, and three home runs, including number 29 this season for Mookie Betts, helped Boston keep the pace with the Blue Jays.

Seattle Mariners 3  Chicago White Sox 9: It seems the momentum is dying off for the Mariners, losing six of their last 10, struggling with the terrific Jose Quintana, who unlike Chris Sale, didn’t see the offense ruin his win. The White Sox hit four home runs (three off of Vidal Nuno), including two-run homers for Avisail Garcia and Tyler Saladino.

Los Angeles Angels 3  Detroit Tigers 2: Two hits in the third inning put the Angels in the driver’s seat, with a home run from Caleb Cowart and an RBI by C.J. Cron, and the bullpen held on for the win, including a nice closing session for Fernando Salas with two strikeouts.

Pittsburgh Pirates 9  Milwaukee Brewers 6: The Pirates keep trying to get by the Cardinals, winning this one thanks to a three-run double off the bat of Gregory Polanco, and a terrific relief appearance by Juan Nicasio, striking out 5 in 3 innings of work.

Tampa Bay Rays 2  Houston Astros 6: Three wins in a row and the Astros are back in second place, as a solid Dallas Keuchel performance and 3 RBIs, including a two-run homer from Alex Bregman did the work against the last-place Rays.

Philadelphia Phillies 1  New York Mets 12: The Mets win their third in a row and for the first time in a while have a positive scoring differential (+6), getting four home runs from their offense, including number 26 this season from Yoenis Cespedes with a three-run shot. Noah Syndergaard struck out 7 in 7 innings, allowing only two hits, one of them a home run.

San Diego Padres 1  Miami Marlins 0: Helping out the Mets were the Padres, winning on a 4th inning Ryan Schimpf home run (16th this season). Clayton Richard earned the shutout win in 7 innings of work, allowing 8 hits and walking one.

Oakland Athletics 3  St. Louis Cardinals 2: More good news for those chasing the Cards in the wild card race, as two 8th inning runs, without actually producing a registered hit (grounding out and sacrifice fly), did the job for the A’s, as Daniel Coulombe earned the win with 3 k’s in 1.1 innings of relief work.

Cleveland Indians 0  Texas Rangers 7: A series of blowouts, this time going Texas’ way. A.J. Griffin did most of the pitching work in the shutout, while a grand slam home run from Mitch Moreland carried the bulk of the offensive workload.

Cincinnati Reds 13  Arizona Diamondbacks 0: In a meaningless game, Anthony DeSclafani threw a 4-hitter in 9 innings, striking out 9 as well. The D-Backs gave up 5 home runs, with Scott Schebler hitting two of them.

Atlanta Braves 3  San Francisco Giants 1: The Braves keep the Giants behind the Dodgers and even deepen their woes thanks to a three-run home run by Matt Kemp, and some great pitching by Mike Foltynewicz.

American League Standings

American League East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Toronto Blue Jays	73	56	0.566	—	39–28	34–28
Boston Red Sox	72	57	0.558	1	39–28	33–29
Baltimore Orioles	70	59	0.543	3	42–22	28–37
New York Yankees	67	61	0.523	5½	37–27	30–34
Tampa Bay Rays	54	74	0.422	18½	32–37	22–37

American League Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	73	55	0.570	—	39–23	34–32
Detroit Tigers	69	60	0.535	4½	36–27	33–33
Kansas City Royals	67	62	0.519	6½	40–21	27–41
Chicago White Sox	62	66	0.484	11	34–29	28–37
Minnesota Twins	49	80	0.380	24½	25–40	24–40

American League West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Texas Rangers	76	54	0.585	—	41–21	35–33
Seattle Mariners	68	61	0.527	7½	36–28	32–33
Houston Astros	68	61	0.527	7½	36–28	32–33
Oakland Athletics	56	73	0.434	19½	30–36	26–37
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	55	74	0.426	20½	29–33	26–41

National League Standings

National League East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Washington Nationals	75	54	0.581	—	38–25	37–29
Miami Marlins	67	62	0.519	8	33–31	34–31
New York Mets	66	63	0.512	9	33–30	33–33
Philadelphia Phillies	59	70	0.457	16	30–33	29–37
Atlanta Braves	48	82	0.369	27½	19–44	29–38

National League Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	82	46	0.641	—	45–19	37–27
St. Louis Cardinals	68	60	0.531	14	30–36	38–24
Pittsburgh Pirates	66	61	0.520	15½	34–30	32–31
Milwaukee Brewers	56	73	0.434	26½	36–32	20–41
Cincinnati Reds	55	73	0.430	27	32–33	23–40

National League West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	72	57	0.558	—	41–26	31–31
San Francisco Giants	70	59	0.543	2	36–29	34–30
Colorado Rockies	61	68	0.473	11	32–31	29–37
San Diego Padres	54	75	0.419	18	30–34	24–41
Arizona Diamondbacks	54	76	0.415	18½	24–43	30–33

Image: Source