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The 2017 non-waiver trade deadline is now only six days away, and, to mark the occasion, we made seven predictions leading up to the big day. Make sure you check that out. Now here's a recap of the day in MLB ... 

Tuesday's scores

Encarnacion saves Indians from rough night

Tuesday night could've been a bad one for the first-place Tribe. First, the rival Royals won their seventh in a row (despite, it would seem, their decision to carry 14 pitchers on the 25-man roster) and momentarily pulled even with the Indians in the wins column. Meantime, the Indians blew a 7-0 lead over the Angels. The Indians built that lead in the second, squandered it, and didn't score again until the 11th. 

Speaking of the 11th, Edwin Encarnacion provided the margin of victory with a walk-off grand slam. Such a moment, of course, calls for some Tom Hamilton on the mic ...

That's EE's 21st homer of the season. Said homer also took him from 997 career RBI to 1,001 career RBI. Oh, and it also made for the Indians' fifth consecutive victory. As such, Cleveland now maintains a slim 1½-game lead over KC in the AL Central. 

Cespedes hits checked-swing "Little League home run"

Mets outfielder/cloutsman Yoenis Cespedes certainly had a night against the Padres on Tuesday. He launched a home run in the first, doubled in the fifth, and did this in the seventh ... 

The literalists among us will call that a triple and an error. The baseball-ists among us will call that a Little League home run -- of the checked swing variety. Mr. Cespedes also wound up a single shy of the cycle. 

Nats sense need for pitching after Jackson struggles

Edwin Jackson became a part of the Nationals' rotation only because fifth starter Joe Ross underwent Tommy John surgery. The veteran retread pitched well against the Angels in his first big-league start of 2017, but against the Brewers on Tuesday night things didn't go quite so swimmingly ... 

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Edwin Jackson
ARI • SP • #36
vs. MIL, 7/25
IP5
H7
R7
SO3
BB3
HR3
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To be fair, only three of those seven runs were earned. However, Jackson had as many home runs allowed as strikeouts, and that's not the stuff of a passable outing.

Speaking of home runs allowed by Jackson on Tuesday night, regard this smash by Eric Thames ... 

Golly, we say. Jackson has allowed seven home runs in 17 innings this season. That might have a little something to do with this ...

If true, this might be a case of misplaced priorities. The Nats are all but locks to win the NL East, and they have a rotation front four that's the envy of almost every other team in baseball. The fifth starter often winds up being nothing more than a bullpen arm in the playoffs, so they might be better served by homing in on a true reliever.

Yes, the trade for Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson helped matters, but bullpen depth is still a concern in D.C. Addressing that or adding a center fielder might be a better use of their dwindling resources as the deadline approaches. 

No. 99 hits a bomb, but it's not the No. 99 you think

Diamondbacks righty Taijuan Walker entered Tuesday night's start against the Braves with zero home runs in 41 career plate appearances. Let's just say he got on the board in a big way ... 

Yep, that's a massive tater by No. 99. This No. 99, of course, happens to be a pitcher. The digits ... 

That's the longest home run by a pitcher since Jon Gray's 467-foot crank in 2015, but that one took place at Coors Field. Yes, Chase Field is a hitter's haven, but it's not quite Planet Coors. 

North Side-South Side tensions in Wrigley?

So here's this regarding Tuesday's Cubs starter John Lackey and his crosstown opponents ... 

Lackey hit Jose Abreu in the first and then plunked three batters in the fifth (all with two outs). In the bottom of the fifth, Sox starter Carlos Rodon countered by drilling Ian Happ, at which point plate ump Lance Barksdale warned both benches.

Also, Lackey succeeded in sticking in the craw of Sox broadcaster/gentleman-at-large Hawk Harrelson ... 

You can bet your sweet bippy, people. Yes, these same two teams get together on Wednesday and Thursday, this time on the South Side.

Yankees pull off rare run-scoring triple play

So here's how Todd Frazier's first home at-bat as a member of the Yankees went ... 

Well then. That's a 6-3-5-4 in the books, and since the final out was not a force play Gary Sanchez was able to score the first run of the game. As you might expect, run-scoring triple plays are not exactly common ... 

So that's the first time such a thing has happened in more than a decade, and it's only the seventh time since 1930. It's a run, I suppose.

Herrera bat-flips on flyout

A central tenet of bat-flip best practices is that you should be certain that the ball is gone before you flip thine implement in righteous celebration. This lesson was lost on Odubel Herrera on Tuesday night ... 

That was a well-struck baseball, and in the end it was a deep flyout and thus unworthy of bat-flippage. Then again, members of the 2017 Phillies must take their moments of bravado where they can find them. 

Red hot Contreras homers again

Not many players are more locked in than Cubs catcher Willson Contreras these days. Contreras clubbed his 16th home run of the season -- and fourth in his past six games -- in the first inning of Tuesday afternoon's game against the White Sox. He went down and got a Carlos Rodon fastball, yanking it out to left field.

Check it out:

Not too many players can get around on a ball down there that quickly and still have the strength to drive it out of the park. It wasn't a bad pitch at all. Most hitters get eaten up by a fastball down there and swing over top of it. Not Contreras, though.

Going into Tuesday's game Contreras, 25, was hitting .308/.357/.692 with three doubles and four home runs in nine games since the All-Star break. Take it back even further and Contreras is hitting .313/.374/.652 with eight doubles and 10 home runs in his past 31 games. Pretty great month for the sophomore backstop.

Also Tuesday was a pretty special day for Contreras in other ways, as he was part of 10-year-old Daniel Rodriguez's birthday celebration at Wrigley ... 

Well done, Cubs. 

Trade rumors

Quick hits

  • Astros 2B Jose Altuve is in the middle of a truly historic month. He came into Tuesday hitting .507 in July, and has a chance to become only the eighth player in history to bat .500 or better in a calendar month with at least 80 plate appearances.
  • Nationals RHP Stephen Strasburg will not go for an MRI despite leaving his last start after being unable to get loose, according to the Washington Post. Strasburg saw a doctor and remains day-to-day. According to the team, he had "some nerve impingement that has been alleviated." It's possible he'll make his next start.
  • The Cardinals placed OF Dexter Fowler on the 10-day DL with a left forearm strain, the team announced. Outfield prospect Harrison Bader was called up in a corresponding move. Bader is hitting .297/.354/.517 with 19 home runs in 97 Triple-A games this year.
  • Rays OF Kevin Kiermaier will begin a minor-league rehab assignment Thursday, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Kiermaier has been out since June 8 after suffering fracture in his hip running through first base.
  • The Marlins have placed 1B Justin Bour on the DL with a right oblique strain.
  • The Cardinals have placed SP Adam Wainwright on the DL with mid-back tightness.