Mets gain separation in wild-card race as Giants and Cardinals fall

Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.

The circumstances the Mets walked into this week were not easy. As the city of Miami and the Marlins organization mourned the tragic death of Jose Fernandez, the Mets had to balance their own emotions with taking care of business.

They managed to do so effectively. After losing the opener, New York bounced back to win the series, concluding with a 5-2 win on Wednesday night.

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The Mets got a solid start from Seth Lugo, who allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings. They also got two-run homers from James Loney and Jay Bruce, who is heating up with three homers over his last five games. That allowed them to leave Miami with some breathing room atop the NL wild-card standings.

That breathing room would grow even more as the night wore on.

The Mets owe a big thank you to the Colorado Rockies and in particular starting pitcher Tyler Chatwood. The veteran right-hander pitched eight scoreless innings in San Francisco to pace Colorado’s 2-0 victory against the Giants.

San Francisco attempted to snap its 0-61 record when trailing after eight innings against Colorado’s hapless bullpen. With help from Boone Logan, they nearly succeeded. Logan forgot to cover first base on what should have been a game-ending ground out. That extended the game and set up Buster Posey as the potential winning run. However, Adam Ottavino got him to ground out to end the game.

As for the Cardinals, they simply couldn’t get any offense going against Anthony Desclafani and the Reds. St. Louis mustered one run on seven hits, with their lone tally scoring on a Matt Adams double play. Cincinnati put a two-spot in the third inning on Adam Duvall’s two-run single and held on to beat the Cardinals 2-1. The Reds have now won two of the first three in the series.

After Wednesday’s results, there’s separation for the first time in a long time in the NL’s wild card race. The Mets own the top spot and a 1 1/2-game lead over San Francisco. They also own the tiebreaker over San Francisco, which is pretty big.

The Giants remain in the second spot with a one-game lead over St. Louis.

TOP PERFORMERS

Hyun Soo Kim: If the Orioles clinch a wild-card berth this weekend, they might look back at Kim’s ninth-inning, pinch-hit home run on Wednesday as a season-saving moment. In danger of losing for the sixth time in nine games and falling into a tie with Detroit for the second wild-card, Kim unloaded against Toronto closer Roberto Osuna for his sixth homer of the season, which held up for a 3-2 win. Baltimore got a home run from Mark Trumbo, who has 46, while Zach Britton picked up his 47th save. Baltimore still holds a one-game edge on Detroit and is one-game behind Toronto for the first spot.

Freddie Freeman: The Braves first baseman has very quietly put together a strong second half. That continued in their 12-2 win against Philadelphia, as Freeman extended his hitting streak to a career-best and MLB high 30 games with a single in the sixth inning. Freeman also extended his remarkable on-base streak to 46 games. During that stretch, Freeman is hitting .390 with a .509 on-base percentage.

John Jaso: Speaking of Freddie Freeman, he along with Rajai Davis were the only two players to hit for the cycle this season entering play on Wednesday. John Jaso became the third, and also the first-ever at PNC Park, clinching his cycle with a seventh-inning triple in the Pirates 8-4 win against the Cubs. Jaso singled, homered and doubled against Cubs’ starter Jake Arrieta.

Carlos Gomez: The former Brewer continued his big series against Milwaukee. With the game tied in the eighth inning, Gomez capped a four-run rally by smashing a three-run homer that held up as the difference in Texas’ 8-5 win. Gomez finished the series 7-for-12 with two homers and seven RBIs.

MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT

With the champagne on ice in the Red Sox clubhouse, Mark Teixeira put a temporary damper on their mood with a dramatic walk-off grand slam. Having already clinched the AL East thanks to Toronto’s loss, Boston needed just three outs to protect a three-run lead and celebrate on the field at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees weren’t about to let that happen. Teixeira, who like Ortiz is retiring at season’s end, hit his first career regular season walk-off home run to complete a 5-3 win.

REST OF SCOREBOARD

Tigers 6, Indians 3 (five innings): Mother Nature wreaked some havoc on Wednesday, causing multiple delays and two games to be cut short. One happened in Detroit, where Miguel Cabrera’s three-run homer through the raindrops in the fifth inning essentially served as a walkoff.

Mariners 12, Astros 4: Seattle finishes off a critical series win that keeps their wild card alive while all but ending any hope for Houston. The Mariners are now two games back of the second wild-card spot, while the Astros falls to 3 1/2 back.

Diamondbacks 3, Nationals 0 (five innings): This game was also shortened by rain, which could have been significant in the race for home-field advantage. The Nationals are trying to hold off the Dodgers for the No. 2 seed in the NL.

Padres 6, Dodgers 5: Fortunately for Washington, the Dodgers lost too. Their lead for the second seed remains two games.

Royals 5, Twins 2: Despite the win, Kansas City was eliminated from postseason contention. It’s a small consolation, but at least the Royals won’t suffer a losing season coming off their World Series championship. Kansas City won its 81st behind Eric Hosmer (two-run homer) and Jason Vargas (five shutout innings).

White Sox 1, Rays 0: The rains fell early and often and yet both offenses remained dry. Chicago scored the lone run on Todd Frazier’s 40th home run while Miguel Gonzalez tossed 8 1/3 scoreless innings.

Angels 8, Angels 6: The Angels scored all eight runs in the fourth inning. Of greater concern though was the health of Mike Trout, who left in the eighth inning after being hit in the shoulder by a pitch. Thankfully, it appears he’ll be fine and back in the lineup on Friday.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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