Curtis Granderson, otherwise having a tremendous season, is embarrassed when he falls for the “play that never works”, when the opposing pitcher fakes a throw to third base, then throws to first. Granderson is picked offby Jordan Walden of the Angels to end the Yankees’ 6 – 4 loss to the Halos. Yanks manager Joe Girardi is philosophical about the blunder though: “Our aggressiveness has won us a lot of ballgames; tonight it cost us”, adding that baserunners were 15 for 15 in steal attempts against the Angels’ closer this year.

The Giants set an obscure record, but it is little consolation as they relent the NL West lead to the Diamondbacks. In the Giants’ 9 – 2 loss to the Pirates, Pablo Sandoval hits a solo homer off Jeff Karstens – the 19th consecutive solo shot by the team, tying a record set by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1914. The Giants’ last long ball with men on base was on July 6th. Meanwhile in Phoenix, the D-Backs set down the Astros, 6 – 3, as Henry Sosa is the loser in his major league debut, to go half a game up on the Giants. Josh Collmenter is the winner.

With the tying runs at the corners and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Curtis Granderson is picked off at first, ending the game as Mark Teixeira, the Yankees’ leading home run hitter, stands at the plate. The last out of New York’s 6-4 loss to the Angels is the result of the seldom effective fake to third, throw to first move perpetrated by closer Jordan Walden, which easily catches the Bronx Bomber outfielder off the base when he attempts to steal second base on a 1-6-3 play.

Tempers flare in a game in the independent North American League. The trouble starts in the top of the 3rd inning when the Chico Outlaws’ bench yells at the Yuma Scorpions’ batter, 52-year-old former major leaguer Tony Phillips, for calling time-out as a pitch is being thrown, resulting in a tense stand-off in front of the Chico dugout. Taking his defensive position at third base in the bottom of the inning, Phillips has words with Chico manager Mike Marshall, who is coaching third base. A fight breaks out, and another former big leaguer, Yuma manager Jose Canseco rushes out to the scene, followed by the rest of his team, resulting in a free-for-all brawl. When peace is restored, Yuma decides to forfeit the game, because manager Canseco says he “feared more trouble” if the game continued. Both Phillips and Marshall will receive three-game suspensions for their role in starting the fracas.

The Braves also win in extra innings, 4 – 3, over the Marlins. Martin Prado’s fourth hit of the day scores Michael Bourn in the top of the 11th, then Craig Kimbrel picks up his 36th save. Dan Uggla singles in the 5th to extend his hitting streak to 30 games, tying Andre Ethier of the Dodgers for the longest this year, and one game shy of the Atlanta record of 31 set by Rico Carty in 1970.

The Indians win a key match-up with their AL Central rivals the Tigers, 3 – 2, thanks to a 14th-inning run. The game is further slowed by a two-hour rain delay, with the winning run scoring at 1:52 a.m. Kosuke Fukudomeends the game with a walk-off hit-by-pitch, served by David Pauley. Seven Indian relievers combine for 12 scoreless innings, with Frank Herrmann getting the win.

The Pirates end a 10-game losing streak that has taken the team out of playoff contention with a 5 – 0 win at San Francisco. Charlie Morton is the winner over Ryan Vogelsong with 8 scoreless innings. Garrett Jones has four hits for the Bucs, whose goal for the season is now to finish above .500. The losing streak took the team to 5 games below the mark, and they will be unable to stop their record string of 18 consecutive losing seasons.

The Rockies outblast the Reds, 10 – 7, in a game that features 7 homers. Carlos Gonzalez hits a two-run shot in the 8th off Bill Bray to put the Rox ahead to stay. Seth Smith – twice – and Todd Helton also hit homers for Colorado, while Jay Bruce, Drew Stubbs and Brandon Phillips reply for the Reds.

Dan Uggla extends his hitting streak to 28 games as the Braves defeat the Mets, 6 – 5. He has to wait until the 8th inning to deliver a single to keep the streak alive; his teammate Freddie Freeman is not so fortunate, as an 0-for-4 day ends his streak at 20 games. It is the first time a pair of teammates have had simultaneous 20-game streaks since Mickey Rivers and Al Oliver with the 1980 Texas Rangers. The real hero for the Braves, though, is the man Mets fans love to hate, Chipper Jones, who drives in the winning run with a 9th-inning single off Bobby Parnell.

The Red Sox win the rubber match of their three-game series against the Yankees, 3 – 2, to recapture first place by a game in front of New York in the AL East. Josh Reddick ends the game with a run-scoring single in the 10th inning, after the Sox rally against Mariano Rivera to tie the game in the 9th. The Yankees take a 2 – 1 lead on homers by Eduardo Nunez and Brett Gardner, but Marco Scutaro leads off the 9th with a double – his fourth hit of the game – then scores on a sacrifice fly to send the game into extra innings. Also of note, Jorge Posada is benched tonight amid talk that his job as the Yankees’ starting DH may be in jeopardy.