A game between between the Astros and Indians begins as a pitcher’s duel between Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer, former college teammates and rivals at UCLA, but ends with a 10 – 9 Indians win in 14 innings. Bauer strikes out 13 in 7 1/3 innings for Cleveland, while Cole has 8 in 7 innings. Both bullpens falter however, as Houston scores 6 runs in the 8th, but Cleveland comes back with 5 in the bottom of the 9th to force extra innings. Evan Gattis hits a three-run homer off Ben Taylor for the Astros, before three relievers allow 7 hits to the Indians in the 9th, with a two-out, two-run single by Michael Brantley being the key blow. The two teams exchange solo home runs in the 13th, with Gattis going deep again and Yonder Alonso replying, before Greg Allen homers off Brad Peacock’s first pitch of the bottom of the 14th to end the game.

Mike Trout has the first five-hit game of his career and drives in 4 runs to lead the Angels to an 11 – 4 win over the Yankees. The hits include three doubles and a homer which ties him for the AL lead. For the Yankees, Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge lead off the bottom of the 1st with back-to-back homers off Jaime Barria, the second of these making Judge the fastest player to reach 70 career homers. He has needed 231 games, two fewer than previous record holder Ryan Howard.

The Mariners obtain CF Denard Span and P Alex Colome from the Rays in return for Ps Andrew Moore and Tommy Romero. Span will help out a line-up hollowed by the 80-game suspension handed out to 2B Robinson Cano and an injury to CF Dee Gordon over the past couple of weeks, while the Rays continue the youth movement started during the spring.

The Seattle Mariners sign a new 25-year lease to continue playing at Safeco Field. The lease will take effect at the expiration of the current 20-year lease at the end of the season, a lease which was signed when the ballpark opened in 1999.

Baseball has a new phenom as 19-year-old Juan Soto of the Nationals, making his first start ever in the outfield after striking out as a pinch-hitter in his debut the day before, crushes the first pitch he sees from Robbie Erlin of the Padres for a three-run homer. He goes 2-for-4 in 10 – 2 win by Washington. He is the first teenager to homer since teammate Bryce Harper did so in his rookie year in 2012.

Rookie Jordan Hicks of the Cardinals ties Aroldis Chapman’s record for the fastest pitch ever recorded by pumping a couple of fastballs at 105 mph while facing Odubel Herrera of the Phillies. The first one goes for a ball, and Herrera manages to foul off the second before striking out on a pitched timed at 103.7 mph.

The Rays have been experimenting with “bullpen days” all season, when the starting pitcher is not expected to go deep into the game, going all out for 3 or 4 innings before handing the ball over to another reliever, but today they take it even further. Short reliever Sergio Romo starts today’s game against the Angels, his first start in the majors after 588 appearances out of the bullpen, and is only asked to pitch one inning before handing the ball over to Ryan Yarbrough. The plan works perfectly as Romo strikes out the three men he faces – Zack Cozart, Mike Trout and Justin Upton, all righthanders – then hands the ball over to lefty Yarbrough in the 2nd. Yarbrough pitches scoreless ball until allowing a run in the 8th as Tampa Bay wins, 5 – 3. It is the first time a starting pitcher leaves after a perfect 1st inning since Ernie Shore had done so on October 5, 1915. Manager Kevin Cash is so pleased with how the scheme goes that he picks Romo to start the next day’s game as well.

In a case of how the mighty have fallen, the Dodgers, coming off an appearance in the World Series and winners of five straight division titles, enter today’s game against the Marlins, who have just gone through an off-season fire sale, with an identically bad record of 16-26. Worse, the Dodgers have just lost six straight against the two worst teams in the National League, the Marlins and the Reds. They manage to stop the bleeding with a 7 – 0 win, thanks to 5 RBIs from Justin Turner in just his third game back after missing six weeks due to an injury sustained at the end of spring training, and 8 solid innings by Kenta Maeda. While they may look like they are already out of the postseason race given how much ground they have lost, they will turn things around to win the division again and return to the World Series.

Two days after being sidelined by a broken bone in his hand, 2B Robinson Cano of the Mariners is suspended for 80 days for testing positive for a banned substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

Called up from AAA earlier in the day, Joey Rickard has a great game for the Orioles against the Rays as he homers twice and drives in 4 runs in a 17 – 1 rout. Danny Valencia and Trey Mancini also homer for the last-place Birds and Dylan Bundy pitches 7 scoreless innings in his first start since allowing 7 runs and 4 homers without retiring anyone in a start against the Royals on May 8th.