Los Angeles 5 – Milwaukee 1

W: Clayton Kershaw (15-5) L: Marco Estrada (3-8)
HR: Rod Barajas (11)
SB: Matt Kemp (33)

- Clayton Kershaw turned in another dominant performance tossing eight shutout innings, striking out six and walking none. I didn't realize that beside tossing his hat in the Cy Young race, Kershaw is batting a respectable .228 this season.

- Counterpart Marco Estrada was also impressive, allowing only one run over five innings. His conversion from being a reliever seems to be going nicely.

Atlanta 1 – San Francisco 0

W: Mike Minor (3-2) L: Tim Lincecum (11-10) S: Craig Kimbrel (37)
HR: Chipper Jones (11)
SB: Jose Constanza (6)
CS: Cody Ross (2), Dan Uggla (3)

- Mike Minor had his best outing of his major league career, striking out nine and walking only one over six innings. Other than a leadoff double to Cody Ross, Minor only allowed three singles. Derek Lowe's spot in the rotation might be in jeopardy once Tommy Hanson returns.

- Chipper Jones not only homered off Tim Lincecum, he also doubled. Larry Wayne is hitting 13-for-34 (.382) during the month of August.

Washington 3 – Cincinnati 1

W: Jordan Zimmermann (8-10) L: Bronson Arroyo (7-10) S: Drew Storen (33)
HR: Jesus Flores (1)
CS: Ian Desmond (8)

- In what was likely one of his final starts of the season, Jordan Zimmermann shut down the Reds with 5.2 scoreless innings. The game started after a 32-minute rain delay.

- Besides the Jesus Flores homer (which barely made it out), the other two runs were driven in by former Red Jonny Gomes.

- Speaking of Jesus, Bryce Harper injured his hamstring to the point where he could not leave the field under his own power. It's likely he'll be shut down for the rest of the season.

Cleveland 4 – Chicago 2

W: Justin Masterson (10-7) L: Will Ohman (0-3) S: Chris Perez (27)
HR: Matt LaPorta (11), Paul Konerko (28)
SB: Jason Donald (1)

- Philip Humber was knocked out of the game in the second inning after taking a line drive off his face. He was able to walk off under his own power and had recorded three strikeouts out of his first four outs.

- The Indians had a strange box score scoring only four runs, leaving 21 men on base and recording 13 strikeouts. The game marked the 21st time Justin Masterson has allowed two runs or less this season.

- Tyler Flowers raised his batting average to .321 and reached base in all four of his plate appearances. He's an interesting pickup if you're looking for catcher help. The batting average won't stay high but he has legit power as evidenced by 15 home runs in 222 at-bats at Triple-A.

Boston 4 – Kansas City 3

W: Josh Beckett (10-5) L: Luke Hochevar (8-10)
HR: Alex Gordon (16)
SB: Carl Crawford 2 (17), Jacoby Ellsbury (33), Dustin Pedroia (24)

- Alex Gordon homered for the second consecutive day but Beckett shut down the rest of the Royals (no extra base hits) to get his 10th win.

- The Red Sox swiped four bags on Luke Hochevar and youngster Salvador Perez.

- Ryan Lavarnway was called up and despite going 0-for-4 is an interesting player to take a chance on. He should get regular playing time over the next two weeks with Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz banged up. Between two minor league levels Lavarnway had 30 homers before the call-up.

New York 8 – Minnesota 4

W: C.C. Sabathia (17-7) L: Brian Duensing (8-12)
HR: Mark Teixeira (33), Nick Swisher (15), Andruw Jones (8)

- This game could have been totally different had a home run in the first inning by Justin Morneau not been overturned. Sabathia went on to allow only three earned runs over seven innings, striking out nine and walking only one.

- Brian Duensing now has a 6.75 ERA over four August starts. He's already surpassed last year's innings total so this could be a fatigue issue and he's a candidate to get shut down at some point.

Los Angeles 2 – Texas 1

W: Horacio Ramirez (1-0) L: Mike Adams (4-3)
HR: Mike Napoli (20), Mark Trumbo (23)
SB: Elvis Andrus (32), Craig Gentry (14), Peter Bourjos (16)

- Mark Trumbo had a walk-off, two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth to win the game for the Halos.

- Jered Weaver rebounded from his worst outing of the season, throwing seven innings of one-run ball. Colby Lewis was the hard-luck loser, shutting down the Angels for seven innings before Mike Adams blew the save in the ninth.

Toronto 7 - Oakland 0 

W: Ricky Romero (12-9) L: Trevor Cahill (9-12)
HR: Colby Rasmus (14)

- Ricky Romero has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball over the last four weeks, sporting a 0.89 ERA over his last five starts (40.1 innings). He was able to pitch a complete game shutout over the As, striking out six and walking two. The key to his success over his last five starts? The ground ball; he has a 64:34 GB:FB ratio over that span.

- Colby Rasmus homered for the second straight day and has gone 5-for-12 with seven RBI over his last three games. Teammate Brett Lawrie went 2-for-3 and raised his small sample-sized batting average to .378.

San Diego 3- Florida 1

W: Tim Stauffer (8-9) L: Javier Vazquez (7-11) S: Heath Bell (33)
HR: John Buck (15)
SB: Cameron Maybin (32)

- Tim Stauffer retired 11 straight Marlins before allowing the solo shot to John Buck. He now has a home/away ERA split of 2.52/4.38.

- Mike Stanton had his streak of four consecutive games with a home run snapped. He laced a breaking pitch for a double in the first inning and walked two other times as the Padres tried to nibble on the outside corner. With the fearsome Greg Dobbs protecting him, I'd put the over/under for Stanton walks at 4.5 for the rest of the series.

Philadelphia 4 – Arizona 1

W: David Herdon (1-2) L: Ian Kennedy (15-4) S: Ryan Madson (23)
HR: Paul Goldschmidt (4), John Mayberry (10)
CS: Wilson Valdez (3)

- This game had a lengthy rain delay (over two hours) but was able to finish. Ryan Howard sat this one out with a hand injury but could return as soon as Friday.

- While I realize there really isn't room to play him on a regular basis, John Mayberry has an OPS over 1.000 since July 1 which includes seven home runs in 75 at-bats. While the Phillies typically platoon him, there isn't a drastic lefty/righty split when looking at his stats.

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