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Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.
The longest home run drought of Buster Posey’s career ended with an emphatic blast on Friday night.*Two months to the day and 212 plate appearances since his last home run in San Diego, Posey unloaded against St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Jaime Garcia in front of a charged up crowd at AT&T Park.
The two-run homer*proved to be the dagger in a game San Francisco would win 8-2. The Giants plated six runs in the third inning. After St. Louis responded with single runs in the next two frames, Posey put an end to any thoughts about a St. Louis comeback with his homer in the fifth.
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More so than anything, Posey’s drought represents how difficult it is to maintain the workload he faces as every day catcher. As much as those guys are banged up, it can’t help but sap some energy and ultimately some strength. It’s a tough position, but through it all Posey continues to be a factor with his .290 average. In fact, his mere presence makes the Giants more respected as everyone knows it’s only a matter of time before he gets hot again.
Buster Posey celebrates the end of his two-month home run drought in Friday’s 8-2 win against the Cardinals. (AP) As for the Giants, they’ve picked up two straight huge wins against the Cardinals. With Friday’s win, they maintained a one-game lead over the Mets for the first wild-card position, while opening a three-game edge on St. Louis.
TOP PERFORMERS
Bartolo Colon: The 43-year-old right-hander continues doing some heavy lifting for the Mets. On Friday, he delivered seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 win against the Twins, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out six. That’s just the latest in a string of gems at a time when the Mets needed quality outings. In fact, dating back to June 1, they are 14-6 in his 20 starts.
Hanley Ramirez: Stay hot, Hanley. After hitting a walk-off home run on Thursday, Ramirez continued killing Yankees pitching with another home run in Friday’s 7-4 win. He’s not just crushing the Yankees though. Over his last 19 games, he’s hitting .351 with 10 homers and 25 RBIs.
Trea Turner: You cannot stop Trea Turner, nor can you contain the Nationals rookie. Turner went 4-for-5 with a home run, two steals, four runs scored and two RBIs in their 7-2 win against the Braves. He’s hitting .365 in September with nine multi-hit games.
Colin McHugh: Houston’s right-hander silenced the hottest team in baseball. Seattle entered with an eight-game winning streak, but McHugh limited them to just two hits over seven innings as the Astros took home a 6-0 win. McHugh allowed just a pair of singles to Nori Aoki and Kyle Seager. He also added six strikeouts in picking up his 11th win.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
After rallying to take the lead with a three-run sixth, the Baltimore Orioles closed Friday’s 5-4 win against the Rays with some flair. On the final play of the game Mikie Mahtook attempted to challenge Baltimore’s defense on Alexei Ramirez’s double to the left-field corner. Left fielder Michael Bourn and strong-armed third baseman Manny Machado were up to the task, executing a beautiful relay to cut down Mahtook at home. That secured Baltimore’s win and Zach Britton’s 44th save in 44 attempts.
REST OF SCOREBOARD
Cubs 5, Brewers 4*(10 innings): The party was on at Wrigley Field. Even though the Cubs officially clinched the NL Central thanks to a Cardinals loss on Thursday, they celebrated Friday’s walk-off win*in grand fashion. Miguel Montero added to the excitement by delivering the game-winning homer in the 10th inning.
Indians 11, Tigers 4: Cleveland’s Mike Napoli defied gravity with a ground-rule double, then he clubbed his career-best 34th homer.
Dodgers 3,*Diamondbacks 2: The Dodgers hold steady in the NL West, maintaining their four-game lead over San Francisco behind five innings of one-run ball from Kenta Meada. It took six relievers to record the final 12 outs, but Kenley Jansen finally sealed it with his 45th save.
Rangers 7, A’s 6: Texas lowered its magic number to five in the AL West thanks to Jonathan Lucroy’s walk-off, two-run single.
Phillies 4, Marlins 3 (13 innings): The end is drawing near for Miami. Jimmy Paredes’ 13th-inning walk-off single drops them to 4 1/2 games behind the Mets for the second wild-card spot.
Pirates 9, Reds 7 (10 innings): Pittsburgh scored three in the first and three more in the 10th to win. David Freese’s two-run single proved to be the difference.
White Sox 7, Royals 4: Ace Chris Sale went the distance to pick up his 16th win. It wasn’t a typical complete game in that he allowed four runs (three earned), but Robin Ventura wanted the job done right.
Rockies 8, Padres 7: A hailstorm delayed the action in the ninth inning, then the Rockies bats brought some thunder. Colorado rallied for three runs to win it, with Nick Hundley’s walk-off single sending the remaining fans home happy.
Blue Jays 5,*Angels 0: Toronto got home runs from Troy Tulowitzki and Edwin Encarnacion, to go along with five scoreless innings from R.A. Dickey. The Blue Jays remain two games behind Boston in the AL East and tied with Baltimore in the wild card. They currently hold the two positions and are three games ahead of Detroit.
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The longest home run drought of Buster Posey’s career ended with an emphatic blast on Friday night.*Two months to the day and 212 plate appearances since his last home run in San Diego, Posey unloaded against St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Jaime Garcia in front of a charged up crowd at AT&T Park.
The two-run homer*proved to be the dagger in a game San Francisco would win 8-2. The Giants plated six runs in the third inning. After St. Louis responded with single runs in the next two frames, Posey put an end to any thoughts about a St. Louis comeback with his homer in the fifth.
[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now]
More so than anything, Posey’s drought represents how difficult it is to maintain the workload he faces as every day catcher. As much as those guys are banged up, it can’t help but sap some energy and ultimately some strength. It’s a tough position, but through it all Posey continues to be a factor with his .290 average. In fact, his mere presence makes the Giants more respected as everyone knows it’s only a matter of time before he gets hot again.
TOP PERFORMERS
Bartolo Colon: The 43-year-old right-hander continues doing some heavy lifting for the Mets. On Friday, he delivered seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 win against the Twins, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out six. That’s just the latest in a string of gems at a time when the Mets needed quality outings. In fact, dating back to June 1, they are 14-6 in his 20 starts.
Hanley Ramirez: Stay hot, Hanley. After hitting a walk-off home run on Thursday, Ramirez continued killing Yankees pitching with another home run in Friday’s 7-4 win. He’s not just crushing the Yankees though. Over his last 19 games, he’s hitting .351 with 10 homers and 25 RBIs.
Trea Turner: You cannot stop Trea Turner, nor can you contain the Nationals rookie. Turner went 4-for-5 with a home run, two steals, four runs scored and two RBIs in their 7-2 win against the Braves. He’s hitting .365 in September with nine multi-hit games.
Colin McHugh: Houston’s right-hander silenced the hottest team in baseball. Seattle entered with an eight-game winning streak, but McHugh limited them to just two hits over seven innings as the Astros took home a 6-0 win. McHugh allowed just a pair of singles to Nori Aoki and Kyle Seager. He also added six strikeouts in picking up his 11th win.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
After rallying to take the lead with a three-run sixth, the Baltimore Orioles closed Friday’s 5-4 win against the Rays with some flair. On the final play of the game Mikie Mahtook attempted to challenge Baltimore’s defense on Alexei Ramirez’s double to the left-field corner. Left fielder Michael Bourn and strong-armed third baseman Manny Machado were up to the task, executing a beautiful relay to cut down Mahtook at home. That secured Baltimore’s win and Zach Britton’s 44th save in 44 attempts.
REST OF SCOREBOARD
Cubs 5, Brewers 4*(10 innings): The party was on at Wrigley Field. Even though the Cubs officially clinched the NL Central thanks to a Cardinals loss on Thursday, they celebrated Friday’s walk-off win*in grand fashion. Miguel Montero added to the excitement by delivering the game-winning homer in the 10th inning.
Indians 11, Tigers 4: Cleveland’s Mike Napoli defied gravity with a ground-rule double, then he clubbed his career-best 34th homer.
Dodgers 3,*Diamondbacks 2: The Dodgers hold steady in the NL West, maintaining their four-game lead over San Francisco behind five innings of one-run ball from Kenta Meada. It took six relievers to record the final 12 outs, but Kenley Jansen finally sealed it with his 45th save.
Rangers 7, A’s 6: Texas lowered its magic number to five in the AL West thanks to Jonathan Lucroy’s walk-off, two-run single.
Phillies 4, Marlins 3 (13 innings): The end is drawing near for Miami. Jimmy Paredes’ 13th-inning walk-off single drops them to 4 1/2 games behind the Mets for the second wild-card spot.
Pirates 9, Reds 7 (10 innings): Pittsburgh scored three in the first and three more in the 10th to win. David Freese’s two-run single proved to be the difference.
White Sox 7, Royals 4: Ace Chris Sale went the distance to pick up his 16th win. It wasn’t a typical complete game in that he allowed four runs (three earned), but Robin Ventura wanted the job done right.
Rockies 8, Padres 7: A hailstorm delayed the action in the ninth inning, then the Rockies bats brought some thunder. Colorado rallied for three runs to win it, with Nick Hundley’s walk-off single sending the remaining fans home happy.
Blue Jays 5,*Angels 0: Toronto got home runs from Troy Tulowitzki and Edwin Encarnacion, to go along with five scoreless innings from R.A. Dickey. The Blue Jays remain two games behind Boston in the AL East and tied with Baltimore in the wild card. They currently hold the two positions and are three games ahead of Detroit.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!Follow @Townie813