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Thursday afforded the baseball enthusiast a healthy 11-game slate, including a pair of matinees and big matchups between the Astros and Yankees and Dodgers and Rockies. Now let's jump right in ... 

Final scores

Royals 6, Rays 0 (box score)
Red Sox 4, Brewers 1 (box score)
Astros 3, Yankees 2 (box score)
Blue Jays 7, Mariners 2 (box score) 
Rangers 5, Padres 2 (box score)
Twins 7, White Sox 6 (box score)
Rockies 10, Dodgers 7 (box score)
Diamondbacks 2, Pirates 1 (box score)
Tigers 7, Angels 1 (box score)
Reds 3, Giants 2 (box score)
Orioles at Nationals rained out (makeup date is Thursday, June 8)

Greinke flirts with no-hitter

Thursday night, Zack Greinke did something he'd never done before in his big-league career. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Greinke faced the minimum through seven no-hit innings against the Pirates and he needed only 90 pitches to do it. The no-hitter was well within reach.

Gregory Polanco put an end to that in the eighth inning, however. He ended the no-hit bid and the shutout with one swing by leading off that eighth inning with a solo home run.

Polanco very nearly homered earlier in the at-bat as well, though the ball hooked just foul. I'm a bit surprised Greinke went back to the same pitch in the same spot as the near homer, but I guess he figured the best Polanco could do is pull it foul, assuming he could make contact at all.

Prior to Thursday's game, the deepest Greinke had ever taken a no-hitter into a start was only five innings, which surprises me. He's been a great pitcher for a long time and he's won two Cy Young awards. Never more than five no-hit innings to start a game? Weird.

Rockies hammer Ryu to increase NL West lead

The young, upstart Rockies made a bit of a statement against the Dodgers on Thursday. They hammered Hyun-Jin Ryu to the tune of two runs in the first, five runs in the second, and three runs in the fourth. Colorado hung 10 runs (five earned) on Ryu in four innings, and went on to win the game 10-7.

In addition to all the offense, they also got some great defense from DJ LeMahieu.

Rookie Jeff Hoffman, the headliner in the Troy Tulowitzki trade, allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings for the Rockies in the spot start. Colorado still has yet to use a starting pitcher older than 27 in 2017.

With the win, the Rockies are now 23-13 on the season --they're 2 1/2 games up on the second place Dodgers in the NL West -- which is the second-best record in the NL behind the 22-12 Nationals. According to FanGraphs, their postseason odds have increased from 10.4 percent on Opening Day to 45.4 percent following Thursday's win. Keep in mind they've done that despite not having Ian Desmond or ace Jon Gray for much of the season due to injury.

By the way, that 23-13 record? Best start in franchise history. Never before have the Rockies won 23 of their first 36 games. Only twice before (1997, 2014) did they win as many as 22 of their first 36 games. Whether Colorado can qualify for the postseason remains to be seen. If nothing else, this is clearly a team on the rise thanks to their young talent.

Correa homers at Yankee Stadium (again)

The two best teams in baseball met at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. The Yankees, who came into the day with baseball's best winning percentage at .677, hosted the Astros for the first game of a four-game weekend series. Houston had the second-best winning percentage at .676.

Houston jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead thanks to Carlos Correa's first-inning home run. He loves hitting at Yankee Stadium. It was his fourth dinger in six career games at the ballpark.

Correa also loves hitting against Michael Pineda. He's crushed the big right-hander throughout his career.

The Astros eventually turned a 3-1 lead over to closer Ken Giles. The Yankees aren't where they are by accident though. They've made a few dramatic comebacks already this season, and with runners at second and third with two outs in the ninth, they were poised to do so again.

Reigning AL Rookie of the Year runner-up Gary Sanchez came through with the clutch single, and the speedy Jacoby Ellsbury running from second, it sure seemed like Sanchez had just tied the game. Jake Marisnick had other ideas. He threw Ellsbury out at the plate to end the game. To the action footage:

Pretty much a perfect throw. To the plate on the line, and not so far away from the plate that Ellsbury could slide around Brian McCann. In hindsight, it looks like a bad send by the third base coach. I think the odds of Marisnick's throw being off-line were greater than the odds of the next batter, Matt Holliday, coming through with a two-out hit against Giles. The Yankees forced Marisnick to make the play and he did. Tip your cap.

Correa and the Astros were very much expected to be one of baseball's top teams coming into this season. The Yankees are a bit more of a surprise. This weekend will be a good early season test for both clubs.

Napoli walks it off for Texas

Mike Napoli's third stint with the Rangers has not gone well thus far. He went into Thursday night's game hitting only .160/.222/.320 on the season -- though, on the bright side, he had two doubles and two home runs in his first nine games this month. It's progress.

Napoli took a huge step towards getting his numbers back to respectability Thursday night by hitting two home runs in his team's win over the Padres. The second was a walk-off three-run dinger. Here's the video:

Napoli went 2 for 3 with a walk and the two home runs in the game overall. He is now hitting .172/.237/.375. Still not great! But better than the batting line he carried into the game.

The Rangers, by the way, have now won three straight games.

Dickerson robs Hosmer of a home run

Many years ago, the Rays chopped off the top of the wall in the left field corner at Tropicana Field specifically so Carl Crawford could rob home runs. On Thursday, Corey Dickerson used the cutout for that exact purpose. He reached over the wall to take a dinger away from Eric Hosmer.

Check it out:

Dickerson is not in there for his glove. There's a reason he's started 19 games at DH and only 12 in the outfield this year. He's in there for his bat. I guess that makes the catch even more impressive? Sure, sounds good to me. It's always fun when a not-great defender makes a great defensive play.

Hosmer has really heated up of late, but he's still trying to bring his season batting line up to respectability. Losing that homer hurts.

Kimbrel is back

As you see above, the Red Sox avoided the sweep by beating the Brewers on Thursday. Mookie Betts provided the most conspicuous blow ... 

Also playing a big role in the Sox's much-needed win was closer Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel entered the game in the eighth and struck out five of the six batters he faced. Four of those five strikeouts came on swinging strikes. Some pretty pictures ... 

That brings us to this recent run ... 

That's in keeping with what Kimbrel has done so far in 2017 ... 

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Craig Kimbrel
HOU • RP • #46
2017
IP15 2/3
ERA1.15
H6
HR1
SO31
BB2
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In 2016, Kimbrel showed significant signs of decline, in terms of both run prevention and underlying indicators. This year, though, he has come storming back. As you see above, yes, he has struck out 31 batters in 15 2/3 innings. Last season, he struck out a still impressive 37.7 percent of batters faced. This season? That figure is up to an unthinkable 55.4. Perhaps even more unthinkable is that Kimbrel coming into Thursday boasted a swinging-strike rate of 22.1 versus a league-average mark of 10.2. That's utter dominance. 

Yes, the Red Sox have disappointed thus far, thanks in part to injuries in the rotation, but Kimbrel is looking like an elite shutdown closer once again. That's a promising development. 

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