In a matter of minutes -- maybe five, maybe 10 -- the complexion of the American League East race took a dramatic turn. At Yankee Stadium, the Yankees were on the verge of closing out a 7-5 win over the Tigers. Meanwhile in Chicago, the White Sox held a comfortable 4-0 lead over the Red Sox in the seventh inning. It appeared Boston's 7-game lead would shrink to 6, close enough to make Red Sox fans sweat.
In New York, Victor Martinez tied the game off Dellin Betances with a two-run homer that probably wouldn't have been gone out in any other right field in the majors:
Then the unthinkable happened. Betances gave up another home run to the next batter, Niko Goodrum:
It was the first time Betances had allowed two home runs in one game, let alone to consecutive batters. Yankees fans showered the stadium with boos, shocked at the turn of events that erased the earlier joy of Giancarlo Stanton's 300th career home run and Luke Voit's go-ahead shot in the seventh.
At about the same, Mookie Betts slammed a two-run homer to cap a four-run Red Sox rally and tie the game in Chicago:
Yeah, you don't want to miss middle-middle to Markus Lynn Betts. The Red Sox then blew the game open with five runs in the ninth, with Jackie Bradley Jr. lining a go-ahead single and J.D. Martinez capping the rally with a three-run home run, his 39th.
The Boston lead is back to a comfortable 8 games.
Yes, the Red Sox have blown September leads in the past, most notably in 2011, when they gave up a nine-game lead over the Rays in the wild-card race as they stumbled to a 6-18 finish. That won't happen to this team, which is still a good bet to end up with the most wins in Red Sox history.
The Yankees, meanwhile, are 16-13 in August, their first sub-.600 month of the season. The lineup is a little banged up, and after the game, word came that they've agreed to a deal for Andrew McCutchen, perhaps a sign that they're worried about Aaron Judge's return. McCutchen won't move the needle.
Nope, this race is over. The Red Sox will win the East. The Yankees might still win 100 games ... and then have to win one game to keep their season alive.
Javier Baez has range: He plays second base, he plays shortstop and apparently Javier Baez wants to play center field. Check out the play he made in the ninth inning to help preserve the Cubs' 5-4 victory over the Braves in a makeup game:
Baez is one of the most unique MVP candidates we've seen in a long time. The .327 OBP is substandard for an MVP, and the 127-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio would send most players back to the minors to work on their plate discipline. But he has made it work with 28 home runs and 71 extra-base hits and a .294 average.
Voters will remember plays in the field like this one as a potential edge for Baez in the voting. Plus, there's value you can't quantify with his ability to move over to shortstop to clear room for Daniel Murphy. We'll investigate the MVP race down the road, but Baez has a strong case.
Team of the month: The Cardinals blanked the Pirates 5-0 as John Gant tossed 5 scoreless innings and hit his second home run:
Gant has two career hits and -- you can't predict baseball -- he's not the first pitcher to have his first two career hits clear the fence. Jim Rooker did it for the Royals in 1969, and Reds reliever Danny Graves did it in 2000 and 2001. I'll let the Cardinals sum up what kind of month they've had:
Gant isn't a rookie (he exceeded his rookie eligibility with the Braves in 2016), but look at what he and rookies Jack Flaherty and Austin Gomber have done this month -- and remember that none of the three was in the initial rotation (Flaherty started the fifth game of the season as a fill-in and didn't start again until April 28):
Gant: 3-1, 3.06 ERA, 32 1/3 IP, 28 SO, 12 BB, 1 HR
Flaherty: 4-0, 1.13 ERA, 32 IP, 38 SO, 9 BB, 2 HR
Gomber: 4-0, 2.33 ERA, 27 IP, 26 SO, 14 BB, 1 HR
The Cardinals' organizational depth has really come into play this year and is the reason they've been able to turn the 2018 season from a big disappointment into a potential playoff year.
Brew Crew with the extra effort: The Brewers beat the Reds in extra innings for the second game in a row, taking the 2-1 victory on Lorenzo Cain's home run in the 11th, a strong start from Wade Miley and 3 scoreless innings from the bullpen.
The Brewers have thrived in one-run games, going 27-17, and they have a slim hold on the second wild card; but it has been an uneven month for them, as they've gone 12-13 while getting outscored by 30 runs. Yes, that figure was affected to a large degree by a 21-5 loss to the Dodgers, and they've bounced back from a rough stretch to win three straight series against the Reds, Pirates and Reds again.
Their schedule the rest of the way isn't all that difficult. There are two series against the Cubs and one against the Cardinals, but they have a homestand against the Pirates and Reds in mid-September and finish up with three at home against Detroit.
Still, it's difficult to get a good read on where the Brewers are at right now. The bullpen, the supposed strength of the team, has a 5.19 ERA in the second half. Even Josh Hader, who got the save Thursday, was tagged for four runs Wednesday. The rotation ERA has climbed from 3.87 in the first half to 4.46.
The Brewers made two big-name additions at the trade deadline in Mike Moustakas and Jonathan Schoop. Moustakas has been OK, hitting .280/.345/.486, although he hasn't been as good on defense as Travis Shaw. Schoop has been terrible, hitting .205/.256/.356, and you wonder if the Brewers would have been better off adding another arm than two infield bats.
The offense, however, has had its best month of the season in August, hitting .277/.346/.471 and averaging 5.0 runs per game (against a season average of 4.47). Christian Yelich (1.031 OPS) and Cain (.977) have led the way, as they have all season.
It's going to be a mad scramble in September. FanGraphs gives the Brewers playoff odds of 65 percent -- better than the Diamondbacks' 42 percent or Rockies' 36 percent. If the bullpen gets back in a groove, they should be back in the postseason for the first time since 2011.
Two swings: I keep thinking the Dodgers are going to get on a roll, win seven in a row or nine of 10, something like that, and climb to the top of the National League West. But then games like this happen and I think maybe they don't have what it takes to beat out the Diamondbacks or Rockies. The Diamondbacks beat them3-1in a game that featured three keys:
-- Robbie Ray wobbled through a 25-pitch first inning but escaped with strikeouts of Matt Kemp and Enrique Hernandez. He then settled into a groove to fire off 5 innings before giving up a run in the sixth.
-- David Peralta lined a three-run homer off Rich Hill in the top of the sixth, a low screamer that somehow stayed high enough to clear the fence. It was his 10th home run in August:
-- The Dodgers got runners at the corners with one out in the eighth, but Yoshihisa Hirano got Kemp to hit into a 5-4-3 double play. Game over. Round 1 of four goes to the Diamondbacks, and now the Dodgers have to face Zack Greinke on Friday (Clayton Kershaw has been pushed back to Saturday).
Post-A's letdown: After an emotional walk-off win on Wednesday, the Astros were a little flat in a 5-2 loss to the Angels, as Andrew Heaney pitched six scoreless innings. Justin Verlander was cruising with a shutout into the sixth inning, but he couldn't complete the frame, and Tony Sipp allowed two inherited runners to score.
Verlander finished with 11 strikeouts over 5 innings and departed after just 99 pitches, so A.J. Hinch could have left him in, but instead brought in Sipp to face Shohei Ohtani to get the lefty-lefty matchup. Ohtani walked, then Andrelton Simmons cleared the bases with a double.
Verlander had a strange August: 50 strikeouts and just five walks in 32 innings (good!), but a 5.29 ERA (bad!) that has hurt his Cy Young chances. Verlander obviously was in a groove early in the season, but I wouldn't be too worried about a guy who has a 96-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio over the past two months. On the other hand, he has allowed 16 home runs in July and August -- as opposed to five over his first 12 starts -- so that accounts for his rise in ERA.
Still, if you're Hinch and the Astros, you'd like to see Verlander reel off a couple of those early-season gems before October kicks in. After all, you still have to hold off the A's.
Fun side note from ESPN Stats & Information: The Astros have had a pitcher strike out 11-plus batters 21 times this season, tied for the most by any American League team in the live ball era (since 1920). Verlander and Gerrit Cole have each done it seven times, Charlie Morton four times and Lance McCullers Jr. three times.
The team they tied was the 1973 California Angels. Nolan Ryan did it 18 times all by himself. The record for most 11-strikeout games actually belongs to Randy Johnson, who had 19 such games in 2000, and the 2001 Diamondbacks, whose starting rotation, led by Johnson and Curt Schilling, had 26 games in which the starter fanned at least 11 batters.