Friday night in MLB occasioned 15 games, many of them with postseason implications. Here is our daily recap of everything that happened in the world of baseball ... 

Final scores

Giants at Nationals -- Postponed
Mets 7, Phillies 6 (box score)  
Yankees 5, Red Sox 4 (box score)
Pirates 4, Blue Jays 2 (box score)
Twins 9, Tigers 4 (box score)
Indians 5, Rays 0 (box score)
Marlins 6, Rockies 3 (box score)
Rangers 6, Astros 4 (box score)
White Sox 6, Royals 3 (box score)
Reds 11, Brewers 10 (box score)
Cardinals 8, Braves 5 (box score)
Cubs 8, Diamondbacks 3 (box score)
Athletics 5, Orioles 4 (box score)
Padres 4, Dodgers 3 (box score)
Angels 6, Mariners 5 (box score)

Yankees rally late to snap Red Sox winning streak

One of the most important series of the 2017 season (to date) started with a bang Friday night in New York. The Yankees are hosting the first place Red Sox for three games, and since Boston came into Friday with a 4 1/2-game lead, this weekend is a perfect opportunity for the Red Sox to bury their rivals.

And for seven innings Friday, it seemed like the Red Sox would cruise to an easy win. Eduardo Rodriguez kept the Yankees off balance for six innings, but once he was out of the game, the Yankees went to work against the bullpen. Six straight batters reached base to begin the bottom of the eighth, and among those six batters was an Aaron Hicks two-run home run, and a Todd Frazier go-ahead single. Here's the Frazier hit:

The Yankees tacked on an insurance run and took a 5-3 lead into the ninth. Aroldis Chapman instantly made a mess of things -- he walked the bases loaded with no outs -- but was able to escape thanks in part to Hicks, who threw out Eduardo Nunez trying to advance to third base on a sacrifice fly. Check it out:

Hicks has an incredible arm, one of the best in the league, and that was just a great throw to get Nunez. Don't sleep on Frazier's pick and tag either. Great play all around. It was going to take a perfect throw and tag to nail Nunez, and the Yankees executed.

How big was that play? This big:

  • Chances of scoring one run with runners on the corners and one out (Nunez is safe): 65.3 percent
  • Chances of scoring one run with runners at first and second with one out (Nunez does't tag): 42.5 percent
  • Chances of scoring one run with a runner on first and two outs (Nunez is thrown out): 23.0 percent

Had Nunez been safe, the Red Sox would have had a 65.3 percent chance to score the one run they needed to tie the game. Once Nunez was thrown out, their chances to score the tying run dropped to 23.0 percent. Pretty huge swing in probability there.

The loss snapped Boston's eight-game winning streak and brings the Yankees to within 3 1/2 games of first place in the AL East. And they'll have ace Luis Severino on the mound Saturday afternoon. The Yankees still have a lot of ground to make up, but gosh, a win like that sure must feel good.

Cardinals win seventh straight

Make it seven straight wins for the red-hot Cardinals, who have scored 62 runs in those seven games. They've scored at least eight runs in each of their last six games. St. Louis scored four runs in the second inning to take control of the game early.

Also, there was a neat moment during Friday's game, when Matt Adams got a standing ovation prior to first at-bat at Busch Stadium as a visiting player. Check it out:

Adams originally broke in with the Cardinals in 2012 before being traded to the Braves earlier this year. He had some memorable moments with St. Louis, most notably his game-winning three-run home run off Clayton Kershaw in Game 4 of the 2014 NLDS.

Anyway, the seven straight wins have the Cardinals just one game back of the Cubs in the NL Central. The NL Central race is getting mighty interesting.

Moustakas approaching Royals' home run record

With two home runs Friday night, Mike Moustakas is two short of the Royals' single-season franchise record. The record is 36 by Steve Balboni in 1985. Here's video of Moustakas' two homers:

Moustakas is sitting on 34 home runs this season, tying John Mayberry for the most by a left-handed batter in franchise history. Here is the club's single-season home run leaderboard:

  1. Steve Balboni, 1985: 36
  2. Gary Gaetti, 1995: 35
  3. Mike Moustakas, 2017: 34 and counting
  4. John Mayberry 1975: 34
  5. Dean Palmer, 1988: 34
  6. Danny Tartabull, 1987: 34

No other player has ever hit more than 32 home runs in a season for the Royals, if you can believe that. They've been around since 1969. Moustakas isn't just going to break Balboni's record, he's going to shatter it. There's still plenty of games left to play this season.

Rosario's first homer is a game-winner

Friday night one top Mets prospect made his MLB debut and another hit his first big-league home run. First baseman Dominic Smith made his big league debut and went 1 for 3 with a strikeout. Not a bad debut.

Amed Rosario, the team's top young shortstop, hit his first big-league homer later in the game. He has been with the club about two weeks now. Rosario's first career homer was a game-winning ninth inning shot. To the action footage:

Boy, can't beat that for your first career home run, can you?

Stanton hits 40th home run

There is no stopping Giancarlo Stanton right now. He hit another home run Friday night, his 40th of the season and his 19th in the last 31 games. Nineteen in the last 31 games!

Here's video of Stanton's latest moonshot, which further extends his career high home run total:

No other player has more than 35 home runs this season, so Stanton is really starting to separate himself from the pack. Again: 19 homers in his last 31 games. Nineteen homers is a good season for most mere mortals. It's a good month for Stanton.

Arenado becomes first to 100 RBI

Stanton wasn't the only player to reach a nice round-number milestone Friday night.

The MLB leader in RBI in 2015 and 2016 is the first to reach the 100-RBI plateau in 2017. Rockies megastar Nolan Arenado reached the century mark with a two-run home run Friday night.

Here's the home run:

Reminder: it is August 11. The Rockies still have 47 games to play after Friday night. Arenado's going to top 130 RBI again this year. He had 130 on the nose in 2015 and 133 in 2016.

Here is the MLB RBI leaderboard coming into Friday:

  1. Nolan Arenado, Rockies: 98
  2. Nelson Cruz, Mariners: 90
  3. Paul Goldschmidt, Diamondbacks: 90
  4. Jake Lamb, Diamondbacks: 90
  5. Bryce Harper, Nationals: 87
  6. Marcell Ozuna, Marlins: 87
  7. Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins: 85
  8. Joey Votto, Reds: 83
  9. Jonathan Schoop, Orioles: 82
  10. Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals: 81

Baseball has not had multiple players with 130-plus RBI since Chris Davis (138) and Miguel Cabrera (137) did it in 2013. Sure seems like it could happen again this year.

Judge extends strikeout streak

The second half has not been too kind to Yankees rookie Aaron Judge. He's hitting .173/.336/.356 in 25 games since the All-Star break, and after striking out in his second at-bat Friday night, he has now struck out in 28 consecutive games. That is the second longest such streak (among non-pitchers) in baseball history. Here are the top five:

  1. Adam Dunn, 2012 White Sox: 32 games
  2. Aaron Judge, 2017 Yankees: 28 games (and counting)
  3. Brad Hawpe, 2007: 26 games
  4. Geoff Jenkins, 2001 Brewers: 26 games
  5. Mike Cameron, 2001 Mariners: 26 games

As poorly as he's played in the second half, Judge still came into Friday's game with a .294/.422/.616 batting line and an AL-best 35 home runs. He was that good before the All-Star break. Right now though, it's a real grind. Simply putting the ball in play has been difficult.

Marlins sold to Jeter group?

Retired Yankees legend and future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter might soon become a team owner. Reportedly, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has agreed to sell the club to the group publicly fronted by Jeter for $1.2 billion. Read all about it here. 

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