On a short night of MLB action, the Chicago Cubs used a late two-RBI single from Addison Russell to keep the San Francisco Giants second half of the season quite miserable, while the Miami Marlins stopped the losing streak and beat the New York Mets to narrow the distance between the two teams and their deficit in the wild card standings, thanks to a big day from Christian Yelich, including a 3-run homer.

San Francisco Giants 4  Chicago Cubs 5: A big game with 7 runs in the first 3 innings, and one 2-RBI single from Addison Russell in the 7th to win the game for the Cubs, helping Dexter Fowler and Kris Bryant reach home. The Giants started with a two run homer by Hunter Pence, but the Cubs response in the 1st wa RBIs from Bryant, Jason Heyward and Chris Coughlan. After a sacrifice fly to tie the game, the Giants took the lead in the 3rd off a Brandon Crawford grounding out. Joe Smith got the win for the Cubs, striking out 3 in two setup innings. Fourth win in a row for Chicago, Giants two games behind the Dodgers again.

San Diego Padres 6  Atlanta Braves 9: 3rd straight win for the Braves, and their first home sweep of the season. Freddie Freeman kicked things off with a two run homer, and a five-run 5th inning provided the big lead the Padres couldn’t erase. Freeman finished with 3 RBIs.

Miami Marlins 6  New York Mets 4: The Marlins stop their losing to their division rivals, now one game behind the Mets again, and three behind the Cardinals in the Wild Card standings. A good start from Jose Urena helped stop the 5-game losing streak, and a big day for Christian Yelich, including a 3-run homer and 4 RBIs overall ended the disappointing series with something to look forward to.

Chicago White Sox 5  Minnesota Twins 8: The Twins worst losing streak since 1982 is over, with home runs by Byron Buxton and Trevor Plouffe helping the Twins build a 7-2 lead by the 5th inning. Ervin Santana allowed 11 hits in five innings, but earned the win, with 6 k’s to help him out.

American League Standings

American League East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Toronto Blue Jays	76	57	0.571	—	40–28	36–29
Boston Red Sox	74	59	0.556	2	41–30	33–29
Baltimore Orioles	72	61	0.541	4	43–24	29–37
New York Yankees	69	63	0.523	6½	37–28	32–35
Tampa Bay Rays	56	76	0.424	19½	32–37	24–39

American League Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	76	56	0.576	—	42–23	34–33
Detroit Tigers	72	61	0.541	4½	39–28	33–33
Kansas City Royals	69	64	0.519	7½	41–23	28–41
Chicago White Sox	63	70	0.474	13½	35–29	28–41
Minnesota Twins	50	84	0.373	27	26–40	24–44

American League West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Texas Rangers	80	54	0.597	—	45–21	35–33
Houston Astros	71	62	0.534	8½	39–29	32–33
Seattle Mariners	68	65	0.511	11½	36–28	32–37
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	59	74	0.444	20½	32–33	27–41
Oakland Athletics	57	76	0.429	22½	30–36	27–40

National League Standings

National League East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Washington Nationals	78	55	0.586	—	38–26	40–29
New York Mets	69	65	0.515	9½	36–32	33–33
Miami Marlins	68	66	0.507	10½	33–32	35–34
Philadelphia Phillies	60	73	0.451	18	30–36	30–37
Atlanta Braves	51	83	0.381	27½	22–44	29–39

National League Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	86	47	0.647	—	49–19	37–28
St. Louis Cardinals	70	62	0.530	15½	30–37	40–25
Pittsburgh Pirates	67	64	0.511	18	34–30	33–34
Milwaukee Brewers	57	76	0.429	29	37–35	20–41
Cincinnati Reds	55	77	0.417	30½	32–33	23–44

National League West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	74	59	0.556	—	42–26	32–33
San Francisco Giants	72	61	0.541	2	38–30	34–31
Colorado Rockies	64	69	0.481	10	34–32	30–37
Arizona Diamondbacks	56	77	0.421	18	25–43	31–34
San Diego Padres	55	78	0.414	19	30–34	25–44

AL Wild Card Standings

Boston Red Sox (+2)

Baltimore Orioles (-)

Detroit Tigers (-)

Houston Astros (1 GB)

New York Yankees (2.5)

Kansas City Royals (3)

Seattle Mariners (4)

NL Wild Card Standings

San Francisco Giants (+1.5)

St. Louis Cardinals (-)

New York Mets (2)

Pittsburgh Pirates (2.5)

Miami Marlins (3)

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