The Houston Astros won a 4-3 nail biter in 11 innings against the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Friday night, increasing their lead over the second place Texas Rangers to ten full games. The Oakland A's knocked off Texas, 5-3 on Friday and are in third place in the A.L. West race.
The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays continue to be neck and neck in the A.L. East division, separated by just one-half game. The Indians toppled the Yankees, 5-2, spoiling the season debut of Yanks' shortstop Didi Gregorious, who had been sidelined by off-season surgery. The Rays beat Boston, 5-1 in Fenway Park behind stellar pitching by Yonny Chirinos, who went eight innings while limiting the Bosox to just two hits.
Over in the National League, the Chicago Cubs rode eight solid innings by pitcher Cole Hamels, who allowed no runs, three hits, only one walk and ten strikeouts in a 3-1 win at Wrigley Field. The Cubs are tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the N.L. Central division. The Cards slipped to 3 1/2 games back while Pittsburgh is five games back after getting hammered by the Brewers, 10-4 on Friday.
The Philadelphia Phillies remain two games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the N.L. East after a 4-2 win over Cincinnati on June 7. Outfielder Jay Bruce, acquired from Seattle last week, socked his fourth home run since joining the Phillies, who lost starting OF Andrew McCutchen for the season to a knee injury on June 3. The Braves kept pace with Philly as they rolled the Miami Marlins, 7-1 on Friday. Braves rookie pitcher Mike Soroka improved to 7-1, going eight innings while allowing only three hits and lowered his ERA to 1.38 in the win.
Over in the West division, the first place Los Angeles Dodgers are still on cruise control, leading Colorado by nine full games, even though they lost 2-1 at San Francisco on Friday night. It was the first loss of the season for L.A. starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who had not lost in 21 consecutive starts dating back to last season.
The second place Rockies beat the New York Mets, 5-1 while third place San Diego defeated the Washington Nationals, 5-4 as they rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning against Nats closer Sean Doolittle. The Arizona Diamondbacks blasted the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-2 to get back to the .500 mark and stay close to Colorado and San Diego in the National League Wild Card chase.
There were two big signings this week as the Chicago Cubs agreed to a three-year deal with closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel while the Atlanta Braves inked starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel to a one-year deal. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles selected catcher Adley Rutschman (Oregon State) with the first pick in the MLB Draft on June 3. Kansas city took shortstop Bobby Witt, Jr. (high school player from Texas) with the second pick and the Chicago White Sox made first baseman Andrew Vaughn (California) the third overall selection.
AL STANDINGS (through June 7) NL STANDINGS (through June 7)
East East
NY Yankees 39-23 Philadelphia 36-27
Tampa Bay 38-23 Atlanta 34-29
Boston 33-30 NY Mets 30-33
Toronto 23-40 Washington 28-35
Baltimore 19-44 Miami 23-38
Central Central
Minnesota 42-20 Chicago 35-27
Cleveland 32-31 Milwaukee 36-28
Chicago 29-33 St. Louis 31-30
Detroit 23-37 Pittsburgh 30-32
Kansas City 20-43 Cincinnati 28-34
West West
Houston 44-21 LA Dodgers 43-21
Texas 32-29 Colorado 33-29
Oakland 32-31 San Diego 33-31
LA Angels 30-34 Arizona 32-32
Seattle 27-40 San Francisco 26-36
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