The Chicago Cubs get the Washington Nationals back with a close win, the Texas Rangers reach win number 40 this season with some big hitting, and both the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals maintain the longest winning streak in Baseball, mostly turning to their pitchers to finish the job.

Philadelphia Phillies 3  Toronto Blue Jays 11: A grand slam home run by Josh Donaldson and homer number 16 this season for Edwin Encarnacion stood out as the Blue Jays demolished the Phillies, with Marcus Stroman having a strong performance on the mound.

Baltimore Orioles 3  Boston Red Sox 2: Home runs from Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop, combined with a great day from Chris Tillman (7 IP, 7 k’s, one run allowed) gave the Orioles a small win against Boston, taking the lead in the AL East.

Cincinnati Reds 3  Atlanta Braves 1: Jay Bruce hit his 15th home run of the season, turning out to be a three-run homer. The rest? Brandon Finnegan and the bullpen kept the Braves on just oneS run and five hits.

Chicago Cubs 4  Washington Nationals 3: The Cubs win their first game of the series, leading most of the way but then letting it slip from them through Hector Rondo blowing the save. Still, Albert Almora saved the day with an RBI single in the ninth.

Pittsburgh Pirates 4  New York Mets 0: An impressive performance from Jameson Taillon, throwing 8 innings, allowing only two hits. Offense came from Jung Ho Kang and Starling Marte, both hitting two-run homers.

Seattle Mariners 7  Tampa Bay Rays 8: The Rays got three home runs in the game, including a three-run homer from Evan Longoria (16 this season). The Rays were behind by three runs heading into their turn during the 7th, but Longoria’s homer tied the game, followed by Corey Dickerson scoring a game-winning single. He also had a home run earlier.

Detroit Tigers 11  Chicago White Sox 8: A big lead for the Tigers slowly vanished, but they managed to hang on. Justin Upton stood out with 4 RBIs, hitting a double and a triple to score teammates.

Cleveland Indians 2  Kansas City Royals 3: The two better (so far) AL Central teams mostly hit home runs to score, and the more important one came in the 8th inning. Salvador Perez hit his 10th of the season to turn a 1-2 deficit into a win.

Houston Astros 5  St. Louis Cardinals 2: Great job from Doug Fister in 7.1 innings of work, who also hit the clutch single in the 7th, bringing home two runners. Colby Rasmus hit a single home run earlier for Houston.

New York Yankees 10  Colorado Rockies 13: Two teams now tied at 31-33, and both hitting the ball 15 times. The Rockies made more from it, including home runs for Trevor Story, Carlos Gonzalez and Ryan Raburn.

Los Angeles Dodgers 7  Arizona Diamondbacks 4: The Dodgers hit four home runs to overcome the Diamondbacks, two of them by Joc Pederson and one to finish the game from Chase Utley.

Minnesota Twins 4  Los Angeles Angels 5: Another poor performance from Ervin Santana helps the Angels get back on the winning track, as early home runs from Johnny Giavotella and Kole Calhoun paved the way.

Texas Rangers 10  Oakland Athletics 6: The Rangers did just about enough damage early to let their so-so pitching situation stay with the win. Robinson CHirinos, Ryan Rua and Elvis Andrus, not guys known for their power, all got home runs.

Miami Marlins 5  San Diego Padres 2: The Marlins scored all five runs in the first inning, including a grand slam home run from Jeff Mathis, while Tom Koehler and the bullpen kept the Padres from coming back.

Milwaukee Brewers 2  San Francisco Giants 3: The hottest team in Baseball relied on Madison Bumgarner, with 8 Ks in 8 innings, allowing only four hits and two runs, to get them a 4th consecutive win. The little offense they needed came from Brandon Crawford and Angel Pagan.

American League Standings

American League East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	37	26	0.587	—	24–11	13–15
Boston Red Sox	36	27	0.571	1	19–13	17–14
Toronto Blue Jays	36	31	0.537	3	18–16	18–15
New York Yankees	31	33	0.484	6½	18–14	13–19
Tampa Bay Rays	30	32	0.484	6½	14–16	16–16

American League Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	35	29	0.547	—	17–12	18–17
Kansas City Royals	34	30	0.531	1	21–7	13–23
Detroit Tigers	33	31	0.516	2	17–13	16–18
Chicago White Sox	32	33	0.492	3½	16–17	16–16
Minnesota Twins	20	44	0.312	15	12–21	8–23

American League West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Texas Rangers	40	25	0.615	—	24–10	16–15
Seattle Mariners	34	30	0.531	5½	15–18	19–12
Houston Astros	31	35	0.470	9½	17–14	14–21
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	28	37	0.431	12	14–20	14–17
Oakland Athletics	27	37	0.422	12½	14–17	13–20

National League Standings

National League East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Washington Nationals	40	25	0.615	—	19–12	21–13
New York Mets	34	29	0.540	5	15–13	19–16
Miami Marlins	34	31	0.523	6	14–16	20–15
Philadelphia Phillies	30	35	0.462	10	16–16	14–19
Atlanta Braves	18	46	0.281	21½	7–27	11–19

National League Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	44	19	0.698	—	22–8	22–11
St. Louis Cardinals	35	29	0.547	9½	15–17	20–12
Pittsburgh Pirates	33	31	0.516	11½	18–15	15–16
Milwaukee Brewers	30	35	0.462	15	19–17	11–18
Cincinnati Reds	26	39	0.400	19	17–19	9–20

National League West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
San Francisco Giants	40	26	0.606	—	21–13	19–13
Los Angeles Dodgers	34	32	0.515	6	17–14	17–18
Colorado Rockies	31	33	0.484	8	14–16	17–17
Arizona Diamondbacks	29	38	0.433	11½	13–24	16–14
San Diego Padres	26	40	0.394	14	15–20	11–20

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