The dog days of August are upon us in Major League Baseball. We've got 12 games to cover, let's get to it. 

Thursday's scores

Pearce powers Red Sox to comeback win over Yanks

Runs were in abundance in this big series opener in Boston. The headliner? Recent addition Steve Pearce, who hit three homers on the night ... 

And that puts him in elite franchise company ... 

Pearce has been a part-timer this season, but he's done nothing but rake with the Blue Jays and now the Sox; he's now batting .318/.389/.583 in 149 plate appearances in 2018. 

Pearce's Red Sox trailed against the Yankees 4-0 early, but they chipped away and then broke loose for an eight-run fourth inning. By the end of the night, they'd matched a season high with 15 runs. In related matters ... 

Ritual abuse, that. With that win, the Red Sox are now 6 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East and on pace for 112 wins. 

M's fall behind A's with loss

The Mariners got five solid innings from Felix Hernandez and a pair of homers from Nelson Cruz, but it wasn't enough. The loss to the Blue Jays means the Mariners have dropped three in a row. That loss in tandem with the A's being off (they've won three in a row) means that the Mariners are now a half-game behind Oakland for the second wild-card position in the AL. This is also the first time Seattle has been lower than first or second place in the AL West since way back on May 17. 

Dodgers overpower Brewers

Well, the Dodgers brought the thunder in support of Clayton Kershaw, as they bashed seven homers against the Brewers (six off actual pitchers). Brian Dozier hit his second home runs in as many games since his trade to L.A., Justin Turner went deep in his return from the DL, Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig each homered twice, and Cody Bellinger pinged a grand slam off the foul pole ... 

The win means the Dodgers salvage a split of the four-game series. Next up? The Astros come to town for a World Series rematch.

Bullpen. Cart. Debut. 

The Dodgers won, and the Diamondbacks lost, which means L.A. moved one game in front of Arizona in the NL West race. That's not what's important, though. What's important is that during the course of Arizona's loss to Madison Bumgarner and the Giants, new D-Back Brad Ziegler became the first to ride in the team's bullpen cart. Please witness history ... 

Bless you, Mr. Ziegler. Bless you. 

Have a (weird) night, Rougned Odor

The Rangers smushed the Orioles. Know what stands out? Rougned Odor's night ... 

player headshot
Rougned Odor
SD • 2B • #24
vs. BAL, 8/2
PA6
H1
HR1
BB5
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So five walks and a homer -- that doesn't happen often ... 

It seems especially odd for a guy who came in with just 22 walks for the season to date. Speaking of all that ... 

Anyhow, Odor endured a rough couple of months to start the season, but now he's up to a respectable line of .267/.348/.451.

Franco walks it off for Phils

The Phillies trailed the Marlins going into the ninth on Thursday, but with two outs they pushed across the tying run against Kyle Barraclough. That brought up Maikel Franco with two on and two out ... 

That's Franco's 18th homer of the season and the first walk-off homer of his career. That's also a big win for the Phillies and their handsome throwbacks, given that the Braves and Nationals also prevailed on Thursday night. 

Nats keep it rolling

The Nats won their third straight on Thursday night, which means they're 3-0 since declining to undertake a teardown at the non-waiver trade deadline. Ace Max Scherzer worked six strong innings, and Bryce Harper -- en route to reaching base four times -- did this ... 

That's his 26th of the season, and that brings us to this ... 

Perhaps he's starting to find his level. As for his Nats, they've scored 40 runs in their last three games. 

Braves continue to own Mets

The Braves moved to 10-3 against the Mets this season with their win on Thursday night. The Atlanta bullpen worked three scoreless innings, and rookie phenom Ronald Acuna reached base three times and scored two runs. He also tallied the first triple of his career ... 

He can run, you know. The 20-year-old is now batting .270/.335/.502 on the season. 

Cardinals stun Rockies with walk-off win

On the strength of yet another very good performance from a starting pitcher, it looked like the Rockies were going to win Thursday in St. Louis. Instead, the Cardinals ambushed Wade Davis in the ninth. He managed to secure ground out before Greg Garcia singled and then Harrison Bader followed suit with another single. Bader's hit was to right and it got Garcia to third base. Bader then daringly stole second base, setting the table for a potential two-RBI walk-off single.

Pinch hitter Jose Martinez did just that. 

The Cardinals limped home last week at 51-51, having lost series to the Cubs and Reds, but they went 5-2 on this homestand against two of the better teams in the National League. They'll head to Pittsburgh now for a three-game set. 

Brewers look to close out impressive trip

Last week, the Brewers embarked on a trip out west that appeared to be pretty damn tough. They were tasked with four-game series in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

So far, so good. 

The Brewers took three of four against the Giants and Thursday look to do the same against the Dodgers. 

It won't be easy, as Clayton Kershaw is the opposing pitcher and he's coming off what looked like a vintage Kershaw outing. Still, the Brewers beat Kershaw on July 21 and have won seven of their last 10 in what looked like a tough stretch. This team just keeps proving naysayers wrong and demanding attention. They've earned it. 

Rays sweep Angels

One of these teams was expecting to contend this year, but that team was just swept by the Rays, who are now three games over .500 while the Angels are two games under. Daniel Robertson had a good game for the Rays and R.J. Anderson has more to say about him. 

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