We are now only four days away from the 2017 non-waiver trade deadline. Plenty of trades have already gone down and there are surely many more on the way.

As for the on-the-field action, Thursday brings a very light MLB schedule. Only eight games total, meaning roughly half the league is enjoying an off-day. Here is our recap of the day in baseball.

Thursday's scores

Yankees walk off against Rays

The Rays might have won the day in one sense -- acquiring Dan Jennings and Lucas Duda in widely praised trades. However, they lost in another -- on the field against the Yankees.

The Yankees scored a run in both the eighth and ninth innings against the Rays' poor bullpen to tie things up, then later won in the 11th on Brett Gardner's walk-off home run.

New York's victory affords them greater separation from the Rays in the standings, who entered Thursday's contest 1 1/2 games back in the race for a wild-card spot.

Perhaps the other most comforting development of the night for the Yankees was the fact that Aroldis Chapman looked good. He fanned four batters over two perfect innings, allowing his lineup sufficient time to deliver the winning run.

The Yankees and Rays will play the second matchup of their four-game series on Friday. 

Harper extends hitting streak with a homer

Less than 24 hours after getting ejected from Wednesday night's game -- and blaming it on his pregame music -- Nationals slugger Bryce Harper extended his hitting streak to 19 games Thursday afternoon. He did it with a first inning home run against the Brewers.

Harper would go on to add another home run in the third inning. His 19-game hitting streak is the longest of his career -- his previous career long was a 13-gamer earlier this year -- and tied for the longest hitting streak in baseball his season. Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield had a 19-gamer earlier this year. Here are the longest current hitting streaks:

  1. Bryce Harper, Nationals: 19 games after Thursday's homer
  2. Jose Altuve, Astros: 18 games
  3. Ben Gamel, Mariners: 13 games
  4. Mikie Mahtook, Tigers: 11 games
  5. Marwin Gonzalez, Astros: 9 games

Harper is the only one of those players who will play Thursday. Everyone else has an off-day.

In other dinger news, the Nationals swatted eight total home runs in Thursday's win over the Brewers, including back-to-back-to-back-to-back homers in the third inning. Michael Blazek became the first pitcher in baseball history to allow five home runs in a single inning in that game. Goodness.

Three Blue Jays ejected

In the fifth inning Thursday afternoon, home plate umpire Will Little ejected three Blue Jays for arguing balls and strikes: pitcher Marcus Stroman, catcher Russell Martin, and manager John Gibbons. They were all chapped because they believed Little was calling too tight a strike zone.

Here's video of the ejections:

For what it's worth, both teams were barking at Little about his strike zone throughout the game, though A's starter Sean Manaea managed to avoid issuing any walks in his seven innings of work. Stroman walked a career-high six batters in 4 2/3 innings before the ejection. 

Little is relatively new to the umpiring circuit -- he joined MLB full-time in 2015 -- and he already has a reputation for calling a tight zone. Stroman, Martin, and Gibbons let him have it Thursday, and all had to watch the end of the game from the clubhouse.

Blue Jays walk-off again

Despite Little's strike zone, the Blue Jays walked away with a win Thursday. Kendrys Morales clubbed a game-tying solo home run in the ninth inning to send the game to extras, then, in the tenth, Steve Pearce clubbed a walk-off grand slam. To the action footage:

Amazingly, Pearce called his shots weeks ago. Here's what he said while rehabbing an injury with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats early last month:

Morales smacked a walk-off home run Wednesday night, so the Blue Jays have given their fans some really exciting baseball this week. Never before have they had back-to-back games like this.

As for the A's, they went 1-6 on their seven-game road trip and manager Bob Melvin remains stuck on 999 career wins. Win No. 1,000 has eluded him the past two days.

Trade rumors

Quick hits

  • The Rays acquired LHP Dan Jennings from the White Sox for minor league 1B Casey Gillaspie. Tampa Bay has been looking for a reliable lefty reliever all year. The ChiSox, meanwhile, have now traded four veteran relievers within the last week.
  • The Rays also acquired 1B Lucas Duda from the Mets for RHP Drew Smith. Duda figures to be the Rays' new DH.
  • The Diamondbacks acquired C John Ryan Murphy from the Twins for LHP Gabriel Moya, both teams announced. Moya, 22, has a 0.82 ERA with 68 strikeouts in 43 2/3 Double-A innings this year. Murphy is hitting .222/.298/.330 in Triple-A.
  • The Athletics placed C Josh Phegley (oblique) on the 10-day DL and designated RHP John Axford for assignment, the team announced. C Ryan Lavarnway was called up and RHP Ryan Dull (knee) was activated off the DL in corresponding moves.
  • Nationals RHP Shawn Kelley will begin a minor league rehab assignment this Saturday, reports the Washington Post. Kelley has been sidelined by a trap strain since June 17. Getting him back will be a huge lift to Washington's bullpen.
  • Brewers RHP Chase Anderson threw 25 pitches in the bullpen Wednesday, reports MLB.com. He's been out since June 28 with an oblique strain. Anderson is 6-2 with a 2.89 ERA in 16 starts and 90 1/3 innings so far this season.
  • Yankees OF Aaron Hicks and 1B Tyler Austin are tentatively scheduled to begin minor league rehab assignments next week, reports MLB.com. Both have been out since late last month, Hicks with an oblique issue and Austin with a hamstring injury.