The Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs for a second time in three games, the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals remain the hottest teams in baseball with winning streaks of five games, and another big hitting day for the Texas Rangers (two players with two home runs) keeps them far above everyone else in the American League.

New York Yankees 3  Colorado Rockies 6: The Yankees are sliding again, with their bats going cold once again for too long a stretch. Mike Arenado hit his 20th home run of the season in the fifth inning, while the bullpen did an excellent job of calming the Yankees down in the final three innings.

Miami Marlins 3  San Diego Padres 6: Ichiro Suzuki got the hit he needed to piss Pete Rose off, although frankly, Japanese league hits shouldn’t count in the contest between them. The Marlins did have a 3-1 lead in place before the Padres got going, including the game-turning 2-RBI single from Derek Norris to give San Diego the lead.

Los Angeles Dodgers 3  Arizona Diamondbacks 2: Clayton Kershaw actually walked someone, but he also struck out 11 on his way to 10-1 with a 1.58 ERA this season. Offense? A three-run homer from Scott Van Slyke was all the Dodgers needed.

Milwaukee Brewers 1  San Francisco Giants 10: Johnny Cueto was dominant with 9 k’s in 7 innings, while the Giants got 16 hits off of the Brewers pitching staff, including 2 RBIs for both Buster Posey and pinch hitting Ramiro Pena.

Chicago Cubs 4  Washington Nationals 5: In another close game that might very well be between the two teams playing for the NL pennant in the fall, the Washington Nationals win it on a Jayson Werth RBI single in the 12th for the walk off victory. It came after Michael Taylor had an RBI himself to tie the game, then run in for the win. The Nationals win the series, but it helped that they didn’t play against Jake Arrieta or Jon Lester.

Baltimore Orioles 4  Boston Red Sox 6: In the battle for the AL East lead, the records are tied again. Steve Wright does a good enough job to hold off the Orioles while a three-run homer from Hanley Ramirez did most of the offensive work.

Toronto Blue Jays 7  Philadelphia Phillies 2: The Blue Jays are lurking behind the O’s and the Sox, getting the usual big hitting from Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson, hitting home runs number 17 and 16 (respectively) of the season.

Cincinnati Reds 8  Atlanta Braves 9: Most Braves wins this season are a huge surprise. Not against the pretty bad Reds. Freddie Freeman hits for the cycle, including his 11th home run of the season, as the Braves come back from 2-runs down in the 13th with Jake Peterson, Tyler Flowers and Chase d’Arnaud making the clutch RBI hits.

Pittsburgh Pirates 2  New York Mets 11: Noah Syndergaard strikes out 11 batters to stop the Mets 3-game losing streak, getting offensive help from Kelly Johnson, hitting a home run, and Wilmer Flores, also hitting a homer and finishing with four RBIs.

Seattle Mariners 2  Tampa Bay Rays 3: The Mariners lose their fourth consecutive game by giving up a walk in the 13th inning with the bases loaded, giving the Rays a walk-off win, their third in a row.

Houston Astros 4  St. Louis Cardinals 1: The Cards had a 1-0 lead heading into the 8th, but Kevin Siegrist ruined the work of Adam Wainwright, giving up a two run homer to George Springer, followed by Carlos Gomez hitting a 2-RBI single.

Detroit Tigers 3  Chicago White Sox 5: The changing White Sox get a strong performance from Chris Sale, striking out 7 in 7 innings while giving up 6 hits and 3 runs, and also enjoy offense that was mostly about sacrifice flies and ground outs scoring players.

Cleveland Indians 4  Kansas City Royals 9: The Indians lose the lead they had in the AL Central, with the Royals picking up win number 5 in a row. Salvador Perez hit another home run, this time driving home three, while Eric Hosmer picked up two RBIs in the game, including the first one to get the Royals going in the first.

Minnesota Twins 2  Los Angeles Angels 10: Albert Pujols got his 43rd RBI of the season, C.J. Cron and Jett Bandy had some big hits too, handing the Twins their 45th loss of the season.

Texas Rangers 7  Oakland Athletics 5: The Rangers continue to set the pace in the American League, with the bulk of their offense coming from Robinson Chirinos and Rougned Odor, both hitting two home runs. The Rangers are off to the franchise’s best start ever through 67 games. The A’s had a 5-run lead they managed to let slip away from them, mostly due to Sonny Gray losing control.

American League Standings

American League East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	37	27	0.578	—	24–11	13–16
Boston Red Sox	37	27	0.578	—	20–13	17–14
Toronto Blue Jays	37	31	0.544	2	18–16	19–15
Tampa Bay Rays	31	32	0.492	5½	15–16	16–16
New York Yankees	31	34	0.477	6½	18–14	13–20

American League Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	35	30	0.538	—	17–12	18–18
Kansas City Royals	35	30	0.538	—	22–7	13–23
Detroit Tigers	33	32	0.508	2	17–13	16–19
Chicago White Sox	33	33	0.500	2½	17–17	16–16
Minnesota Twins	20	45	0.308	15	12–21	8–24

American League West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Texas Rangers	41	25	0.621	—	24–10	17–15
Seattle Mariners	34	31	0.523	6½	15–18	19–13
Houston Astros	32	35	0.478	9½	17–14	15–21
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	29	37	0.439	12	15–20	14–17
Oakland Athletics	27	38	0.415	13½	14–18	13–20

National League Standings

National League East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Washington Nationals	41	25	0.621	—	20–12	21–13
New York Mets	35	29	0.547	5	16–13	19–16
Miami Marlins	34	32	0.515	7	14–16	20–16
Philadelphia Phillies	30	36	0.455	11	16–17	14–19
Atlanta Braves	19	46	0.292	21½	8–27	11–19

National League Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	44	20	0.688	—	22–8	22–12
St. Louis Cardinals	35	30	0.538	9½	15–18	20–12
Pittsburgh Pirates	33	32	0.508	11½	18–15	15–17
Milwaukee Brewers	30	36	0.455	15	19–17	11–19
Cincinnati Reds	26	40	0.394	19	17–19	9–21

National League West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
San Francisco Giants	41	26	0.612	—	22–13	19–13
Los Angeles Dodgers	35	32	0.522	6	17–14	18–18
Colorado Rockies	32	33	0.492	8	15–16	17–17
Arizona Diamondbacks	29	39	0.426	12½	13–25	16–14
San Diego Padres	27	40	0.403	14	16–20	11–20

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