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  • The Juice: Justin Upton helps Braves Slam the Dodgers; Paul Goldschmidt mashes two homers for Arizona

    The Juice returns for season No. 6! It's almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more.

    With their desired lineup intact for the first time in 40 games, the Atlanta Braves offense turned it up a notch in their 8-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jason Heyward, who just returned from the disabled list on Thursday after undergoing an emergency appendectomy in Colorado last month, reached base three times to help set the table. Justin Upton then cleared it in the sixth, cracking his third career grand slam off Paco Rodriguez.

    ''As soon as he took that swing, I knew that ball was going to be out of the ballpark,'' said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. ''That was one of the prettiest swings I've seen put on a baseball.'

    After traveling an estimated 461 feet, we're sure the baseball agreed with Gonzalez's assessment. It was Upton's tenth homer — out of 14 — to travel over 420 feet this season. He's averaging 427 feet on all of his home runs, which is the most for any players with more than five.

    Just awesome, game-changing power. As we're about to learn, though, the Diamondbacks aren't exactly lacking that type of player despite trading Upton during the offseason. But boy how nice would it be to have two of them?

    Good as Goldy: How about the start for Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt? After going 4 for 5 with two more home runs and 4 RBIs in the D-Backs 9-2 win over the Marlins on Friday night, the 25-year-old slugger is up to .338 on the season with 12 big flys and 35 driven in. Only Upton has more homers in the National League with his 14. Goldschmidt is also second in RBIs to Brandon Phillips. An all-star bid seems more likely with each passing day.

    Hiroki Special: For the fifth time since the beginning of the 2012 season, Hiroki Kuroda gave the New York Yankees eight plus innings of scoreless baseball. Only Felix Hernandez has more during that time with eight. Kuroda didn't have much room for error on this night as Mark Buehrle nearly matched him through six innings. New York did manage single runs in the first and fifth, and then finally broke it open with a three spot in the seventh to lock up their 5-0 win.

    Rosales strikes again! And this time... it counts! After hitting a game-tying home in Cleveland last week that was incorrectly ruled (despite a review) a double, Adam Rosales left no doubt on Friday. His eighth inning solo home run was the difference in Oakland's 2-1 victory over James Shield and the Royals.

    ''I think I was pretty sure about that one,'' Rosales said with an ear-to-ear grin. ''It felt good to get over that hump. Every ballfield I went to, they all were saying, 'Oh, it was a homer,' or you talk to family and friends and like, 'Yeah, it was a homer.' So, now they'll be talking about something else. They'll talk about a real homer.''

    And more importantly, a real win.

    MORE SCORES

    Mets 3, Cubs 2: Matt Harvey gets the win on the hill and the game-winning RBI at the plate. He’s already 5-0.

    Phillies 5, Reds 3: Philly gets two in the eighth after bullpen blows lead for Cliff Lee.

    Pirates 5, Astros 4: The Astros lose in the most Astros way possible.

    Indians 6, Mariners 3 (10 inn.): Three-run, walk-off home run by Jason Kipnis sends Indians fans home happy.

    Rays 12, Orioles 10: Camouflaged Rays strike early and often, then hold on as O's rally for six runs in eighth.

    Red Sox 3, Twins 2 (10 inn.): Boston steals another game late on the road. Jonny Gomes' sac fly in the tenth is the difference.

    Tigers 2, Rangers 1: The pitching duel scheduled for Thursday arrived one day late.

    Cardinals 7, Brewers 6: David Freese's long-awaited first home run in 2013 was a grand slam. That helped St. Louis overcome two three-run homers by Aramis Ramirez.

    Rockies 10, Giants 9: Jordan Pacheco's go-ahead grand slam in the fifth holds up as Colorado snaps their 10-game losing streak to San Francisco.

    White Sox 3, Angels 0: Even dozen strikeouts for Chris Sale.

    Nationals 6, Padres 5 (10 inn.): Chad Tracy homers off Huston Street in the tenth. That's six allowed by San Diego's closer in 17 innings.

    ''We don't want to be the heart-attack kids, but it's a good character check for us right away.''

    — Jonny Gomes on Boston's back-to-back dramatic road victories in their final at-bats.

    • Elias says the Yankees are the first team in AL history to begin a season 17-0 in games they've scored first.

    • Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson became first pitcher to allow eight earned runs and still win the game since Andy Pettitte in 2007.

    • According to Yahoo!'s Jeff Passan, the Kansas City Royals have lost six of James Shields' nine starts this season, with each coming by one run.

    Looking for more baseball chatter?
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  • Ten crazy food creations you can eat at minor league baseball games

    In the minor leagues, creativity is king. When you're running a team, you can't necessarily count on players being there. They get shuffled around all the time. Instead, you have to sell tickets with gimmicks, weird promo nights and crazy food creations.

    Minor League Baseball, in its current Food Fight contest, has narrowed down 64 crazy culinary treats you can get at its stadiums around the country. There are four categories — gut busters, hogs 'n' dogs, local legends and scrumptious sandwiches. You can head to their site to vote for the ones that look most appetizing.

    Here at The Stew, we're going to forego all the categories and just show you 10 that we think are the craziest — we're talking weird, wacky, over-the-top. Stuff you'd expect to find at the county fair. It's up to you whether you actually want to track these down and eat them, or just stare at the pictures and drool. No judgement either way. 

    (Pics and descriptions via Minor League Baseball)

    • Name: Queen City Club
    • Made by: New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Double-A, Toronto Blue Jays)
    • Description: A pretzel roll piled with pulled pork and topped with coleslaw, with a half-pound bacon-Swiss burger on top. There's another layer of turkey and ham, with honey mustard and a speared pickle to finish it off.
    • Pepto-scale rating: Five (out of five) = Gulp it between bites

    * * *

    • Name: Three Dog Night
    • Made by: Akron Aeros (Double-A, Cleveland Indians)
    • Description: A hot dog, stuffed inside a bratwurst, stuffed inside a kielbasa, served on a hoagie roll and topped with sauerkraut and ballpark mustard.
    • Pepto-scale rating: Three = Keep it handy. You never know.

    * * *

    • Name: Funnel Dog
    • Made by: Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Double-A, Kansas City Royals)
    • Description: Simple: Hot dogs wrapped in funnel cake and coated with powdered sugar.
    • Pepto-scale rating: Four = Right after you're done eating

    * * *

    • Name: Triple Play Sandwich
    • Made by: Reno Aces (Triple-A, Arizona Diamondbacks)
    • Description: Pulled pork and brisket wedged between three slices of bread and generous amounts of coleslaw. BBQ meatballs, pickles and cherry peppers adorn the skewers that hold the sandwich together.
    • Pepto-scale rating: Two = Leave it in the car

    * * *

    • Name: Fifth Third Burger
    • Made by: West Michigan Whitecaps (Single-A, Detroit Tigers)
    • Description: A five-pound, 5,000-calorie burger the contains, from bottom to top, an 8-inch bun, a half cup of chili, five one-third pound burger patties, five slices of American cheese, crushed corn chips, nacho cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, optional jalapenos and another 8-inch bun.
    • Pepto-scale rating: Five = Gulp it between bites

    * * *

    • Name: Fried Bologna
    • Made by: Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A, Toronto Blue Jays)
    • Description: Polish-style bologna, pan-fried, topped with sharp American cheese. It's smothered with sautéed sweet peppers and onions and placed in a fresh-baked Kaiser roll.
    • Pepto-scale rating: Three = Keep it handy. You never know.

    * * *

    • Name: BBQ Sundae
    • Made by: Rome Braves (Class-A, Atlanta Braves)
    • Description: A layer of cornbread topped with BBQ pork, covered with homemade coleslaw and finished off with another slice of cornbread, served sundae style in a cup with a spoon.
    • Pepto-scale rating: One = Wait until you get home

    * * *

    • Name: Pickle Dogs
    • Made by: Charleston RiverDogs (Class-A, New York Yankees)
    • Description: A double sour dill pickle sliced lengthwise, then hollowed out and filled with cole slaw and an all-beef hot dog.
    • Pepto-scale rating: Three = Keep it handy. You never know.

    * * *

    • Name: The Babe
    • Made by: Corpus Christi Hooks (Double-A, Houston Astros)
    • Description: Cheddar wurst, wrapped in a hamburger, then bacon and packed into a fresh roll.
    • Pepto-scale rating: Four = Right after you're done eating.

    * * *

    • Name: Moby Dick Sandwich
    • Made by: Lake County Captains (Class-A, Cleveland Indians)
    • Description: Five quarter-pound fish filets, eight slices of cheese, six ounces of clam strips, one-third pound of french fries and a cup of cole slaw, all topped with gobs of lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and tartar sauce and packed in a 15-inch hoagie roll.
    • Pepto-scale rating: Four = Right after you're done eating

    * * *

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