Giants 6 Padres 5- Gregor Blanco went 2-5 with a home run, and his .284/.390/.440 slash line is surprising everyone. His .360 BABIP is high, but similar to the .353 mark he had in 2010 when he played 85 games and was last seen playing regularly in the major leagues.

Yankees 4 Rays 1- Ivan Nova allowed one run over eight innings for his seventh win of the season despite a 5.09 ERA. Nova gets 8.15 runs scored for him a game, which is 13th among starting pitchers and 9th in the American League.

Indians 9 Tigers 6- Chris Perez recorded his MLB leading 19th save in the win despite a seemingly low 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings. It turns out that among the dozen players with at least 14 saves, five players have worse strikeout rates than Perez. Not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. Craig Kimbrel’s 14.57 strikeouts per nine leads all closers who have at least 10 saves.

Nationals 5 Mets 3- Adam LaRoche homered and drove in four for Washington, continuing his excellent season. He’s fourth among MLB 1B in WAR with superior numbers compared to Adrian Gonzalez and Mark Teixeira. If he sustains his .508 slugging percentage for a full season, it would be his best year since 2006.

Dodgers 6 Phillies 5- Chris Capuano grabbed his eighth win of the season, which is tied for the major league lead, to go with a 2.82 ERA. Though he’s due to regress via xFIP, Capuano didn’t get his eighth win last season until July 4. When he won a career high 18 games in 2005, his eighth win came on June 30. He’s clearly having a season for the ages.

Orioles 2 Red Sox 1- Wei-Yin Chen allowed one run over seven innings to advance to 5-2 with a 3.49 ERA. Chen’s ERA is third among rookies and has a better WHIP than fellow eastern import Yu Darvish. Baltimore is 7-4 when he starts.

Reds 5 Pirates 4- Ryan Ludwick’s three-run double was the difference, and he’s made his hits count this season. He only has 25 hits in 121 at bats (.209), but 12 of those have gone for extra bases and six are home runs. Having 24 RBI’s on 25 hits is rather impressive. Cincinnati would probably like him to get more hits.

Braves 2 Marlins 1- The trio of Jonny Venters, Eric O’Flaherty and Craig Kimbrel pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings to close things out. Atlanta is trying to keep the trio more fresh this season. Venters has made 25 appearances this season. He reached that number on May 18 last season. O’Flaherty has made 23 appearances this season, and reached that number on May 16 last season. Kimbrel has made 21 appearances and reached that on May 16 of 2011. The Braves are managing the bullpen better and it could pay dividends later on.

Cardinals 4 Astros 3- Bud Norris struck out 12 in defeat for Houston, and is having a strong season despite his 4.65 ERA. His 9.82 strikeouts per nine innings is fifth among big league starters and his .332 BABIP is the 9th unluckiest mark in the league. Expect Norris’ results to improve if his strikeout rate remains consistent.

Blue Jays 4 White Sox 0- Brandon Morrow pitched a complete game shutout for Toronto and has been either feast or famine for about six weeks now. In 10 starts since April 18, Morrow has allowed either six, one or no earned runs. Nothing in between. Check it out, it’s quite bizarre.