The Pirates take an early 7 – 0 lead against Mike Pelfrey and the Mets, but New York rallies for 9 straight runs. The Mets score 3 on Carlos Beltran’s three-run blast in the 3rd, add a four-run inning in the 6th to even the score against Paul Maholm, then win it in the 8th with 2 more runs. Mets manager Terry Collins does some fancy maneuverings in the 8th, sending pitcher Chris Capuano to pinch-hit with pinch-runner Willie Harris on first, hoping for a sacrifice bunt; when losing P Jose Veras balks the runner over, Collins calls Capuano back, and sends in Josh Thole to finish the at-bat. In the end, four walks and a wild pitch in the inning sink the Bucs, who lose, 9 – 8, in what is the Mets’ biggest comeback in 11 years.

Aubrey Huff hits three homers and drives in 6 runs, leading the Giants to a 12 – 7 win over the Cardinals. His performance makes a winner of Jonathan Sanchez, despite his walking six batters against only one K in 5 1/3 innings. Huff’s first two long balls come against two pitchers making their major league debut, loser Lance Lynn and reliever Maikel Cleto. Colby Rasmus hits a grand slam in a losing cause.

Stunning the crowd, Teddy, it appears, has finally won a President’s Race at Nationals Park, bringing an end to his winless streak. Unfortunately, because TR sped into first place riding a Segway, he is quickly and emphatically disqualified by Screech, the team’s mascot.

The Blue Jays hit three triples in a row courtesy of Eric Thames, Rajai Davis and Jayson Nix in the 5th inning against Cleveland. No team had done that in the majors since the 1981 Expos.

Major League Baseball announces changes to the format of the World Baseball Classic for its 2013 edition. The tournament will be preceded by a 16-team qualifying tournament, to be held in the Fall of 2012. Taking part will be the four teams that failed to win a game in 2009 – Canada, Panama, Taiwan and South Africa – and 12 teams that have recently played in the Baseball World Cup, including Colombia and Nicaragua, who had been excluded from the first two editions of the WBC in spite of a solid tradition of international play. The four winners from the qualifying tournament will advance to the main event the following spring.

After earning 15 wins before the All-Star break last year, the Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez finally notches win number 1 this season with a 3 – 0 shutout of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Todd Helton homers in support of his four-hitter.