It's Wednesday, which many work folk refer to as "hump day." In our baseball world, it's actually a pretty great day, because it provides a smattering of day games mixed with night games. The result is more than 12 hours of baseball. For those able to at least follow along, it's a thing of beauty. You know the drill. Let's get to it. 

Wednesday's scores

Pujols creeps closer to 3,000

Albert Pujols is now two hits from joining the 3,000-hit club. He entered Wednesday with 2,996 to his name. He added a pair, including a home run:

That's the 620th dinger of Pujols's career, for those wondering.

The Angels will conclude their series against the Orioles on Thursday. Baltimore is scheduled to start Chris TIllman, who will enter his start with a 7.03 ERA. In other words, Pujols has a fair shot at making history. 

Paxton notches 16 strikeouts

M's lefty James Paxton had a big night, recording 16 strikeouts across seven innings against the A's. Read more about that here.

Yanks win behind Severino, Stanton

The Yankees and Astros continued their ALCS rematch on Wednesday. For the second night in a row, it was the Yankees who prevailed -- this time by a 4-0 score. The stars of the night for the Yankees were Luis Severino and Giancarlo Stanton.

Severino threw a shutout, his first career complete game, holding the Astros to five hits and a walk while notching 10 strikeouts. Along the way, he dropped his seasonal ERA down to 2.11. Severino found particular success with his fastball, recording 10 whiffs on 60 heaters. Another 15 went for called strikes. He also notched seven swing-and-misses on his slider and changeup combined.

Stanton, for his part, homered twice and drove in all four Yankees runs as part of a three-hit showing -- that despite going up against Dallas Keuchel. Stanton entered the game with a 91 OPS+ on the season. His performance upped his seasonal OPS from .713 to .796 -- still not where he or anyone else would want it to be, but better than the alternative.

The Yankees have now guaranteed at least a split in the series. Masahiro Tanaka will try to give the Yanks the series win on Thursday. He'll be opposed by Lance McCullers Jr. in a battle that's sure to be heavy on breaking balls. 

Darvish struggles against Rockies

Yu Darvish's career with the Cubs has gotten off on the wrong foot. In three of his first five outings, he's failed to complete five innings. Most recently, he showed signs of being the Darvish of old: Tossing six one-run frames against the Brewers, all the while fanning eight and walking just two.

Unfortunately for Darvish and the Cubs, he was back to fighting his command on Wednesday when he took on the Rockies. Darvish permitted seven hits and six runs (five earned) in 4 1/3 innings. He walked three and allowed three home runs, including two in the fifth inning that precipitated his departure.

Darvish's seasonal ERA is now 6.00, a far cry from his career mark (3.47 entering the day) and from the expectations placed upon him when he signed a six-year, $126 million deal during the winter. If there's a bright side here, it's that it's still early and that the wind was blowing out. But, sooner than later, the Cubs are going to need Darvish to get on steadier footing -- especially if they intend to make another deep postseason run.

Romero's solid debut

The Twins have been playing pretty terrible baseball for several weeks. They entered Wednesday having lost three in a row and 11 of their last 12. For their matinee on Wednesday, they tabbed rookie right-hander Fernando Romero to make his MLB debut. It was a success. 

Romero worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only four hits while striking out five. We got to see glimpses of his excellent stuff, too. How about this: 

Romero entered the season as the 68th-ranked prospect in baseball, per MLB.com. In 21 innings with Triple-A Rochester before his call, he had a 2.57 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 21 innings. If he can stay in a groove in the big-league rotation moving forward while the Twins get Ervin Santana back from injury, they'll have five worthwhile rotation pieces along with Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi and either Kyle Gibson (if he keeps throwing well) or Lance Lynn (if he ever gets it figured out). 

Another three-homer game for Mookie

Back on April 17, Mookie Betts hit three homers in a winning Red Sox effort. Wednesday, he chose to play it again. Here they are: 

That's actually the fourth three-homer game of Betts' career and, get this: That's a Red Sox record. He broke Ted Williams' record for three-homer games. 

In the 5-4 win, Betts was 4 for 4 with three homers, three runs and three RBI. He's having a monster season, hitting .365/.451/.823 with 11 homers, 32 runs and 21 RBI. The 11 home runs took over the MLB lead during the afternoon. 

Indians offense explodes

The Indians' offense hasn't been very good this season. They entered Wednesday ranking 11th in the AL in runs scored, 14th in average, 14th in on-base percentage and 13th in slugging. Jason Kipnis has been awful and Edwin Encarnacion has been mostly only home runs and strikeouts. 

Perhaps the worm is starting to turn? The Indians scored seven runs on Monday and six on Tuesday. In the Wednesday matinee, the Tribe knocked the ball around the yard for 12 runs on 15 hits. Kipnis went 2 for 4 with a double, home run and three RBI. Francisco Lindor went 3 for 5 with a home run. Encarnacion went bonkers, clubbing three home runs and driving home six. He set the tone with a three-run shot in the first: 

Maybe it was just the Rangers pitching, maybe it's that the weather is better or maybe they just needed time to get going. Regardless of what, the Indians' offense seems to be righting itself. 

Carlos Martinez does it all

Cardinals starter Martinez gathered the win as he worked 7 1/3 innings, allowing just one runs on five hits. He's now 3-1 with a 1.40 ERA on the young season. 

Oh, also ... he hit his first career MLB home run: 

That wasn't cheap at all. Have a day, Mr. Martinez. 

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