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Sunday brings us a full slate of MLB action, so let's dig right into what's been a wild day of baseball ... 

Final scores

Orioles 11, Blue Jays 4 (box score)
Tigers 4, Indians 1 (box score)
Marlins 4, Mets 2 (box score)
Brewers 4, Reds 2 (box score)
Red Sox 7, Rays (box score)
Braves 9, Padres 2 (box score)
Nationals 6, Phillies 4 (box score)
Royals 1, Angels 0 (box score)
Pirates 6, Cubs 1 (box score)
Rockies, 4 Giants 3 (box score)
Mariners 8, Rangers 7 (boxscore)
Diamondbacks 3, Dodgers 1 (box score)
White Sox 3, Twins 1 in 10 innings (box score)
Yankees 9, Cardinals 3 (box score)
Astros at Athletics postponed due to rain (will be made up as part of doubleheader on Sept. 9)

Yankees win seventh straight game

The Yankees are the hottest team in baseball. They beat the Cardinals at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night for their second consecutive series sweep and seventh straight win. The seven-game winning streak is the longest by any team in baseball this season.

Once again, the Yankees were led by their starting pitcher and their young players. Michael Pineda twirled a gem, holding the Cardinals to two runs in seven innings. He retired the first 20 batters he faced in his previous start, so this is back-to-back strong outings for the talented but enigmatic right-hander.

Aaron Judge and Greg Bird hit what should have been back-to-back home runs, though Judge had to settle for a triple because a fan reached over the fence, and the MLB replay crew was unable to determine whether the ball would have cleared the wall. It looked to me like it would have, but no one asked me. Either way, Bird hit the next pitch out of the park.

Later in the game, after the Yankees broke it open in the eighth inning, the 6-foot-7 Judge high-fived the 5-foot-8 Ronald Torreyes. A jump was involved:

The Bird home run -- he also singled, doubled, and walked in the game -- was the best sign for the Yankees. Bird came into the game in a brutal slump, going 1 for 26 (.038) with 13 strikeouts in his first seven games of the season. He had a monster spring training, but it didn't carry over into the regular season. At least not until Sunday night.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, have lost three straight games and nine of their last 11 games. They're not hitting, they're not pitching, and they're definitely not playing defense. It was a sloppy weekend for St. Louis in the field. For at least one series, the Yankees and Cardinals looked like two teams heading in very different directions.

Bryce Harper walks it off vs. Phillies

When he stepped to the plate against the Phillies for the final time on Sunday, Nationals thunder-bringer Bryce Harper had already homered. However, with two outs in the ninth and his team down 4-3 and two runners on, Harper's Nats had just a 17.2 percent chance of winning the game. That's when Joaquin Benoit presented Harper with a full-count sinker that caught a bit too much of the plate ... 

That's a walk-off homer -- the fourth walk-off homer of his career. It's also his fourth homer of the season and the 125th homer of his career. 

Harper's now batting .333/.455/.644 on the young season. It's worth recalling, of course, that he got off to a hot start in 2016 before backsliding. Right now, though, he looks like he's back on course to be the kind of player he was during his 2015 MVP campaign. That's bad news for the rest of the NL. 

Marlins' Straily pulled with no-no intact

On Sunday, Marlins right-hander Dan Straily was lifted from his start against the Mets after 5 1/3 hitless, shutout innings. Yes, the no-no was intact, but Straily walked five batters on the day and with one out in the sixth found himself with runners on first and second in a 1-0 game. That's when manager Don Mattingly summoned Jarlin Garcia from the bullpen to snuff out the threat. Straily was also at 93 pitches, so Mattingly opted not to press his luck this early in the season. 

Greatly aiding Straily's cause? This catch by Marcell Ozuna in the fifth ... 

The combined no-hit bid lasted until two outs in the eighth, when Neil Walker and Yoenis Cespedes notched back-to-back singles off Brad Ziegler. The Mets rallied in the ninth, but the Marlins prevailed in the home half on a J.T. Riddle walk-off homer ... 

There are unlikely walk-offs, and then there's a walk-off that's the first career home run by a player who entered the game as a defensive replacement and who tallied just 20 homers across parts of five minor-league seasons. Hey, the Fish -- and most especially J.T. Riddle -- will take it.  

That Marlins win was a big one, as it means they took three out of four from the Mets. After dropping the series opener it didn't look good, but ... 

It's been a good weekend for the Fish. 

Harvey strong again

While the Marlins' no-hit bid got most of the attention, let it be known that Mets right-hander Matt Harvey turned in another strong start. After undergoing Tommy John surgery earlier in his career and then dealing with thoracic outlet syndrome last season, Harvey was facing a critical season in 2017. So far it's gone swimmingly. Against the Marlins on Sunday, he allowed two runs -- one earned -- on seven hits in six innings of work. Along the way he struck out five, walked two, and spotted 61 of 92 pitches for strikes. He's now allowed two runs in each of his three 2017 starts. Including Sunday's solid effort, here are his numbers on the year thus far ... 

player headshot
Matt Harvey
BAL • SP • #32
Harvey in 2017
Innings18 1/3
ERA2.45
Strikeouts15
Walks3
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Consider those to be some very promising early returns for Harvey, who entered this season as a bit of an unknown quantity. 

And regarding the broader topic of Mets' run prevention, please regard the plate-blocking chops of Travis d'Arnaud ... 

Out, was the call.

O's Mancini makes history

As you see above, the Orioles thumped the Blue Jays on Sunday. As part of that winning effort, Baltimore rookie Trey Mancini went 3 for 5 with a pair of homers. That gives the 25-year-old Mancini four homers in seven games this season and seven homers in 12 career games overall. That, as it turns out, puts him in rare company ... 

You might recall Mr. Story's rookie efforts last season. As for Mancini, he's now got an OPS of 1.372 for 2017. 

Red Sox starters not named Chris Sale still struggling

Red Sox lefty Chris Sale has been as a good as advertised thus far in his still-young Boston tenure. But what about the remainder of the Sox rotation? Some 2017 numbers heading into Sunday's action ... 

PitcherRuns/9K/BB ratioInnings/start

Chris Sale

1.25

5.80

7.22

Other Red Sox starters

7.68

2.80

5.86

As you can see, Sale's been vastly better in every regard than his rotation label-mates. You'd expect that to an extent but probably not to this extent. To be sure, there's some bad luck baked into those non-Sale numbers, but guys like Rick Porcello and Steven Wright were probably in for varying degrees of regression this season. This is where David Price's ongoing absence is acutely felt. 

Regarding all of this, lefty Drew Pomeranz went out on Sunday and allowed three runs to the Rays in the first inning. A bad play by Andrew Benintendi in center greatly aided Brad Miller's two-RBI triple, but Pomeranz also allowed a single and walked two in the frame. Mitigating circumstances aside, Pomeranz's early returns didn't help those numbers you see above. Pomeranz wound up striking out 10 in 4 1/3 innings against Tampa Bay, which is excellent, but he also allowed five runs and two homers over that brief span.

More broadly, they could use more volume out of their other starters, especially with Price sidelined and especially with the bullpen not at its healthiest. To be sure, that Boston potent offense forgives a lot of pitching sins, but the non-Sale portion of the rotation has been disappointing thus far. 

Pirates complete sweep of Cubs

Last season the Pirates won exactly one game at Wrigley Field. One. They were 1-8 at the home of the Cubs. So far this season, the Pirates are a perfect 3-0 at the Friendly Confines. They completed the three-game sweep at Wrigley Field on Sunday afternoon thanks largely to Jameson Taillon. The 25-year-old right-hander held the high-powered Cubbies to one unearned run on seven hits and three walks in seven innings. He struck out six.

Sunday's game remained scoreless until the seventh inning, when the Cubs struck first on a Tommy La Stella single. Pittsburgh them rallied for six unearned runs, the final three of which came on Adam Frazier's home run:

Sweeping the Cubs at Wrigley Field is no small feat these days. Naturally, the Pirates did that after getting swept at home by the Reds in a four-game series. Ouch. Before that, the Pirates swept the Braves at PNC Park. Their new motto:

Yep. Works for me.

Dozier goes yard without leaving the yard

A year ago Twins second baseman Brian Dozier smacked 42 home runs, a new AL record for the position. He hit his second home run of the 2017 season on Sunday, though it didn't leave the yard. It was an inside-the-parker. Here's the video:

How about that outfield positioning? The White Sox had center fielder Jacob May in left-center field, basically. Dozier is an extreme pull hitter -- last season he ranked dead last among all qualified hitters by hitting only 15.3 percent of his batted balls to the opposite field -- and shading the outfielders toward left makes sense. He just hit it over May's head.

Rangers closer issues continue

Sam Dyson has three save opportunities and three blown saves this season. That is ... not a good ratio. Dyson blew the save and took the loss against the Mariners on Sunday, though, to be fair, Seattle didn't even hit the ball out of the infield. Not once. Three infield singles and two walks (one intentional) led to two runs. Dyson walked Mitch Haniger to bring in the tying run. Nelson Cruz then smacked an infield single off Elvis Andrus' glove to win the game.

Following Sunday's game, Dyson is sitting on a 27.00 ERA and a 4.39 WHIP in 4 2/3 innings. Yikes. Jeremy Jeffress and Matt Bush represent closer alternatives, and with Dyson struggling this much, it's hard to see the club sticking with him in the ninth inning going forward. It would be wise to let him right the ship in middle relief and low leverage work. Once Dyson is back to being himself -- he threw six perfect innings for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, remember, so it wasn't that long ago that he was throwing -- he can go back to the ninth inning. What he's doing now is untenable.

Quick hits

  • The Brewers and Dodgers may be revisiting Ryan Braun trade talks. 
  • The Rangers have traded INF Frandy De La Rosa to the Giants for RHP Clayton Blackburn.
  • The Orioles have placed closer Zach Britton on the 10-day disabled list with a forearm strain. 
  • The Reds have placed LHP Brandon Finnegan on the 10-day disabled list with a shoulder issue. 
  • The Blue Jays have placed RHP Aaron Sanchez on the 10-day disabled list with finger blister.
  • The Athletics have placed SS Marcus Semien on the 10-day disabled list with a right wrist contusion. 
  • Giants OF Jarrett Parker broke his clavicle while crashing into the outfield wall on Saturday against the Rockies. He's expected to miss significant time.
  • Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera left Sunday's game against the Indians because of lower back tightness. 
  • Dodgers LHP Rich Hill left Sunday's game with another blister problem.
  • Blue Jays LHP J.A. Happ left Sunday's game with an elbow issue. He'll go for tests Monday.
  • Cubs manager Joe Maddon thinks umpires might be willing to agree to automated ball-strike calls.