It's a Sunday, and that meant a full 15-game slate of big league baseball. The biggest storylines of the day included important intra-division matchups in Queens and Minneapolis. Here is everything you need to know about Sunday's MLB action.

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Baseball scores for Sunday, August 11

Santana slams Twins after Hand's blown save

One of the most important series of the season took place this weekend in Target Field. The Indians have been slowly gaining ground in the AL Central the last few weeks -- the Twins were up 11 games as recently as June 15 -- and, with wins Thursday and Friday, Cleveland moved into a first place tie with Minnesota. The Twins won Saturday to move back into first place.

On Sunday, the Indians nursed a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning, and with All-Star closer Brad Hand available, that's usually an automatic win. It wasn't Sunday. Hand allowed two runs in the ninth, but Ehire Adrianza was thrown out at the plate on Marwin Gonzalez's game-tying double, keeping the Indians alive. Here's the play:

In hindsight, that was a bad send. Holding Adrianza at third means the Twins would've had second and third and one out, and that's a pretty good situation. In reality though, the Indians executed a perfect relay play to cut the winning run down at the dish. So much could go wrong on that play -- an off-line throw, a muffed transfer, etc. -- that I think it's worth pushing the envelope, especially since that run would've ended the game.

Sending Adrianza didn't work for the Twins and Hand escaped the ninth inning with the score tied 3-3. A crushing blown save given the circumstances, to be sure, but the Indians were still alive. Sure enough, in the top of the tenth, Cleveland loaded the bases against Taylor Rogers, and Carlos Santana came through with what proved to be the game-winning grand slam.

The Indians won three of four this weekend and are currently tied with the Twins atop the division. According to SportsLine, the Twins had a 97.5 percent chance to win the AL Central on June 15 (the last time they had an 11-game lead) while the Indians sat at 2.5 percent. Now each team's division title odds are close to 50/50.

Keep in mind though, the Twins and Indians still have two series remaining this year. They'll play three games in Target Field from Sept. 6-9 and three games in Progressive Field a week later. The AL Central race is far, far from over.

Nats snap Mets' winning streak; Soto hurt

The Mets entered Sunday's game having won eight in a row, including consecutive come-from-behind efforts against the Nationals. Both streaks ended on Sunday. The Nationals, who would've dropped beneath the Mets in the standings with a loss, were finally able to hold onto a lead as part of a 7-4 win. Eventually, anyway.

Washington jumped out in front 3-0 in the top of the first thanks to an error, but permitted the Mets to tie up the game in the second. The Nationals again took the lead in the seventh, the product of an Asdrubal Cabrera double. Naturally, the Mets cut into that lead in the bottom half of the inning, slicing it in half on a Michael Conforto sacrifice fly.

Victor Robles hit a two-run homer in the ninth and that, good people, ultimately provided enough insurance for the Nationals to put down the Mets and avoid the sweep. 

Perhaps just as importantly is the status of Juan Soto, who left the game due to an apparent foot or leg injury:

If the Nationals are going to maintain their lead over the Mets (and everyone else in the wild-card hunt) they're going to need Soto to be hearty and hale. 

Orioles stun Astros after Santander's blunder

Give the Orioles some credit. They may not be good, but they rebounded from Saturday night's 23-2 depantsing with a strong character win Sunday afternoon. Of course, the win came after Anthony Santander made a silly error on Michael Brantley's go-ahead triple in the top of the ninth. Santander's throw was a a tad off the mark:

Rather than pack it in and look ahead to Monday's doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, the Orioles rallied in the bottom of the ninth, and won the game on Rio Ruiz's two-run walk-off home run. Check it out:

Ruiz is a former Astros prospect, you know. They selected him in the fourth round of the 2012 draft. Houston sent him to the Braves in the Mike Foltynewicz-Evan Gattis trade a few years ago, and Baltimore claimed him off waivers this past winter. Given his Astros roots, I'm guessing Sunday's walk-off felt very good for Ruiz.

Yankees salvage series versus Blue Jays

Admit it: when you saw the Yankees were playing four games against the Blue Jays this weekend, you mentally marked that down as a series victory for New York. But baseball is an unpredictable animal, and an easy stretch nearly turned into an embarrassing one. In fact, were it not for a 1-0 victory on Sunday, the Yankees would have lost three of the four.

Masahiro Tanaka
SP
August 11 vs. Blue Jays
IP8
H3
R0
BB0
K4

The Yankees can thank Masahiro Tanaka for avoiding that fate. Tanaka limited the Blue Jays to three hits over eight innings. He struck out four and walked no one on 94 pitches. Aroldis Chapman took over for Tanaka in the ninth after he permitted a leadoff single. Chapman retired Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a double-play ball, yielded a single to Bo Bichette, then struck out Cavan Biggio to end the game.

The Yankees will now return home for a four-game set against the Orioles. They're hoping this one turns out to be as easy as it looks.

Bryant's blast lifts Cubs

The Reds had a chance to reduce the distance between themselves and the first-place Cubs this weekend as part of a four-game set. Alas, they'll have to settle for not losing ground.

On Sunday, the Cubs won the series finale by a 6-3 margin thanks to some timely hitting.

Chicago fell behind 3-0 early, and didn't plate its first run until a Javier Baez double in the sixth. Tony Kemp plated Ian Happ in the seventh with a fielder's choice, and Kris Bryant delivered a three-run jack later in the frame that proved to be the difference. Happ himself would homer in the eighth to give the Cubs a 6-3 lead, which is obviously how the game stayed.

The banged-up Cubs bullpen -- which lost Steve Cishek to the injured list on Sunday -- held firm despite having to cover four innings. David Phelps, Rowan Wick, and Pedro Strop combined to permit one hit, one walk, and no runs while fanning six batters. 

The Cubs will resume their season on Tuesday in Philadelphia against the Phillies. The Reds, for their part, will travel to D.C. for three against the Nationals. 

Minor throws another gem as Rangers avoid sweep

The Rangers entered Sunday's contest having lost four in a row, and at risk of being swept by the Brewers. Nobody really cares about that one way or another, but they may care about Mike Minor.

Minor, who would've been a fair choice to start the All-Star Game, has continued his excellent season. On Sunday, he tossed eight shutout innings, striking out 11 batters, walking one, and permitting just four hits. It was the fifth time this season he's thrown at least seven shutout innings.

player headshot
Mike Minor
CIN • SP • #31
August 11 vs. Brewers
IP8
H4
R0
BB1
K11
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In case you were wondering, that's the most in the AL, and tied with Zack Greinke for the second-most in baseball overall. Hyun-Jin Ryu leads the majors with seven such starts.

Stat of the Day: Royal pair combines for four HRs

Not many things have gone right for the Royals this season, but how about Jorge Soler and Hunter Dozier? They entered Sunday having each posted an OPS+ over 125. They then took out some frustration on the Tigers, launching a pair of dingers apiece that added up to more than 1,600 feet of home run:

It's football season in both cities, so we'll note that's about 533 yards. Not bad, not bad at all.

Highlight of the Day: No. 33 for Acuna

We're making this fairly ordinary home run the highlight of the day because of the fact it puts Ronald Acuna Jr. that much closer to a 40-40 season:

Acuna now has 33 home runs and 28 stolen bases with more than a month and a half left. It's not a given, but it's possible.

For those wondering, the last 40-40 season happened in 2006, when Alfonso Soriano homered 46 times and swiped 41 bags. The other 40-40 seasons in majors history belong to Alex Rodriguez (1998), Barry Bonds (1996), and Jose Canseco (1988).

For the record, the Braves have had three 30-30 seasons: Ron Gant in 1990 and 1991, and Dale Murphy in 1983. At minimum, Acuna seems likely to join that group.

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