Last Night In Baseball: 5 Walk-Offs, A Bunny And Dodgers Keep Homering

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball: The San Francisco Giants took a 6-3 lead over the Colorado Rockies into the bottom of the ninth inning. Then, disaster struck for the Giants. Colorado opened the inning with back-to-back singles, with catcher Hunter Goodman blasting a game-tying, three-run home run two batters later. San Francisco got the second out in the inning on a Troy Johnston strikeout, but following a Willi Castro single, shortstop Ezequiel Tovar hit a walk-off, two-run homer to left field, giving the Rockies a dramatic, 8-6 win. Tovar also hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth — with the Giants getting those two runs back in the top of the ninth — and stole home in the bottom of the second on a double steal (runners stole second and home). He entered Friday night with two home runs on the season and left with double that amount. Tovar, Goodman, Castro and outfielders Jake McCarthy and Tyler Freeman each had two hits for Colorado. Meanwhile, San Francisco wasted a four-hit performance from right fielder Jung Hoo Lee. Oh, and there was a bunny on the field in the eighth inning. Trailing 6-5, Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Spencer Horwitz led off the bottom of the ninth with a single. Following a Brandon Lowe strikeout, right fielder Bryan Reynolds sent PNC Park into a frenzy. In a 2-2 count with one out in the inning, Reynolds demolished a walk-off, two-run homer to left, giving the Pirates a 6-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Pittsburgh plated three runs in the first inning on RBI singles from third baseman Nick Gonzales and designated hitter Konnor Griffin and an RBI ground out from center fielder Oneil Cruz, who later hit a solo homer in the third, which was his 12th long ball of the year. As for Minnesota, it got a solo homer from Kody Clemens in the first, a two-run single from shortstop Tristan Gray in the second and a two-run homer from left fielder Trevor Larnach in the third. Nevertheless, the Twins have now lost three consecutive games. As for the ninth-inning hero, Reynolds boasts an .834 OPS and a 135 OPS+, while having driven in a team-high 37 runs. By the way, this isn’t the last one of these. The Detroit Tigers scored a run in the top half of the 10th against the Chicago White Sox, but it wouldn’t be enough. While Detroit reliever Drew Anderson got the first two batters out in the bottom half of the inning, Chicago infielder Miguel Vargas hit the second pitch he saw over the left-field wall for a walk-off, two-run homer and a 4-3 Chicago victory. Moreover, Detroit led 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, but Chicago was able to tie the game on a sacrifice bunt from right fielder Rikuu Nishida to force extra innings. As for Vargas, he also doubled home a run in the bottom of the third; Detroit’s other two runs came from catcher Dillon Dingler hitting a two-run home run — his 11th homer of the year — in the top of the third. Through 56 games, Vargas has totaled 13 home runs, 34 RBIs, nine stolen bases, a 137 OPS+ and 2.2 wins above replacement, while sporting a .235/.365/.485 slash line. Chicago has won four of its last five games. The New York Mets got a win — it was just more complicated than it probably had it be. First, they got out to a 4-0 lead in the opening inning against the Miami Marlins with a pair of two-run singles from center fielder A.J. Ewing and third baseman Brett Baty. The two teams then traded runs in the third and fourth before a two-run fifth for the Marlins. And, after trading runs in the seventh, right fielder Owen Caissie evened up the score at 7-all for the Marlins with a two-run homer in the eighth, which would ultimately force extra innings. But after the Marlins failed to score a run in the top half of the 10th, MJ Melendez hit a walk-off, two-run home run to right field in the bottom half of the inning for the Mets. The 9-7 win was New York’s first victory over Miami this season (the Mets lost their first three games to the National League East-rival Marlins). On the homer front, the Mets also got a solo blast from first baseman Mark Vientos in the third, while the Marlins got three hits, including two doubles, from left fielder Kyle Stowers. The Marlins have lost three consecutive games. The Seattle Mariners got out to a sizable lead against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but it was challenged. Seattle shortstop J.P. Crawford hit a pair of home runs (a solo homer in the first and a two-run homer in the fifth), while star center fielder Julio Rodríguez — who had a team-high three hits — launched a two-run homer in the bottom of the third, giving the Mariners a 5-1 lead going into the sixth. But Arizona fought back. A four-run sixth inning that saw catcher Gabriel Moreno hit a two-run double, third baseman Jose Fernandez — who was one of three Diamondbacks players to tally three hits (Moreno and shortstop Geraldo Perdomo were the other two) — single home a run and first baseman Ildemaro Vargas bring in a run on a force-out tied the game at five apiece. Seattle got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning on a solo home run from right fielder Luke Raley, but Vargas tied the game at 6-all in the top of the ninth with an RBI force-out, which forced extra innings. All that said, the D-backs went down one-two-three in the 10th, and left fielder Randy Arozarena walked it off for the Mariners with a double to right-center field in the bottom half of the inning for a 7-6 win. Yes, this means there were four walk-off home runs and five walk-off hits altogether in the sport on Friday night. As for the Friday night run-producers, Raley leads the Mariners this season with 12 home runs, 30 RBIs, a .569 slugging percentage and a 155 OPS+; Arozarena has totaled 26 RBIs, 15 stolen bases, a 146 OPS+ and a team-high 2.4 wins above replacement, while owning a .297/.382/.467 slash line; Rodriguez has driven in 29 runs; Crawford boasts a 115 OPS+. Seattle has won four consecutive games and sits atop the American League West at 29-29. The Los Angeles Dodgers scored four runs in the loudest manner possible: on four solo home runs. The first homer came in the bottom of the first by first baseman Freddie Freeman; third baseman Max Muncy, who’s tied with Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages with a team-high 13 home runs, hit the next one in the second inning; designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, who had a game-high three hits, smacked the third homer in the third inning; catcher Will Smith hit the fourth homer in the fifth in what was a 4-2 win for the Dodgers over the Philadelphia Phillies. Meanwhile, Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski held the Phillies to just one hit — a solo homer by Kyle Schwarber, who leads MLB with 22 long balls — over seven innings and posted nine strikeouts. In all, Philadelphia was held to just three baserunners (three hits) over the entire game. Through nine starts/10 appearances, Wrobleski has recorded a 2.87 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP, a 139 ERA+ and 1.5 wins above replacement over 62 ⅔ innings pitched. The southpaw has pitched through the seventh inning in four of his nine starts and pitched through eight innings in two of those four outings. Los Angeles has won each of its last six games and 13 of the last 15. Yandy Díaz is the Tampa Bay Rays. En route to an 8-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels, Díaz hit two home runs, the first one being a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the first and the second being a go-ahead, two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh in what would become a seven-run frame for Tampa Bay. Following the Díaz homer in the seventh, first baseman Jonathan Aranda hit a solo homer, Oliver Dunn had an RBI single, second baseman Richie Palacios had a two-run triple and catcher Nick Fortes drove in a run on a sacrifice bunt. Tampa Bay, which has the best record in the AL at 35-19 (64.8% winning percentage), snapped a four-game losing streak. Díaz is having arguably the best season of his 10-year MLB career. Through 51 games, the veteran designated hitter/corner infielder has totaled 10 home runs, 36 RBIs, a 157 OPS+ and 1.8 wins above replacement, while boasting a .313/.392/.523 slash line. His .313 batting average leads the AL and is fifth in MLB as a whole. Ben Rice is on a tear. As part of an 8-2 win over the Athletics, the New York Yankees designated hitter logged four hits, including a solo home run in the top of the seventh and two doubles, one driving in a run. Rice is 9 for his last 14 with five extra-base hits and just one strikeout. On the season, Rice has totaled 17 home runs, 39 RBIs, a 189 OPS+ and 2.2 wins above replacement, while having a .303/.393/.654 slash line. Rice’s .654 slugging percentage leads MLB, while his 39 RBIs, 57 hits, .303 batting average, 1.047 OPS and 189 OPS+ all lead the Yankees; his 17 home runs are tied with superstar Aaron Judge for first on the team. As for the game, Rice was one of three New York players to leave the yard, as first baseman Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run home run in the first and third baseman Ryan McMahon hit a solo homer in the third. The Yankees got six innings from left-hander Carlos Rodon, who surrendered just one run. The Yankees have won five in a row. This was a beatdown. The Texas Rangers got the action started in the bottom of the first, with shortstop Ezequiel Durán hitting a two-run single and outfielder Alejandro Osuna driving in a run on an error and later stealing home on a double steal (runners stole second and home) to cap off a four-run frame. Then, in the fifth, right fielder Brandon Nimmo tattooed a cutter into the right-field seats for a two-run home run, with second baseman Nicky Lopez hitting a two-run homer of his own in the sixth and designated hitter Joc Pederson hitting a solo shot in the eighth. On the mound, Rangers left-hander MacKenzie Gore pitched 6 ⅓ shutout innings and has given up just four runs and 11 hits over his last 21 ⅓ innings pitched. As for the opposition, the Royals’ one run came on a ninth-inning single from first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino. Kansas City has lost its last four games. We had five games end in walk-offs and four games end in extra innings. As for the latter scenario, the Milwaukee Brewers squeaked out a 5-4 win on the road in 10 innings over the Houston Astros. The Astros drew first blood in the bottom of the second on a solo home run by Cam Smith, which was answered by a solo home run from Brewers shortstop David Hamilton in the top of the third. Smith and fellow outfielder Jake Meyers later had RBI doubles for Houston in the fourth, with second baseman Nick Allen driving in a run on a sacrifice fly in a three-run inning. Left fielder Jackson Chourio got two of those runs back for the Brewers with a two-run homer in the fifth and an RBI ground out from first baseman Jake Bauers, who has a team-high .485 slugging percentage, in the eighth tied the game at four apiece. Both teams went scoreless in the ninth, and Milwaukee took the lead for good in the top half of the 10th with second baseman Brice Turang hitting a fly ball to right field and designated hitter Christian Yelich sliding under the throw to the plate for the go-ahead sacrifice fly; Trevor Megill had a one-two-three 10th inning to close out the game. Milwaukee (34-20) has won 16 of its last 20 games and has a four-and-a-half-game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the National League Central.