With the winning run on third with only one out and the team tied at 6 with the Mariners in the bottom of the 12th, Cubs skipper Jon Maddon goes to the bench, sending up poor-hitting pitcher Jon Lester to pinch hit. The left-hander, a 083/.138/.125 hitter in 216 career at-bats, doesn’t disappoint when he lays down a perfect squeeze bunt, giving Chicago a dramatic 7-6 walk-off victory at Wrigley Field.

Wilmer Flore is honored by the Brooklyn Cyclones with a bobblehead, commemorating his emotional roller coaster at the end of July last season. The 23-year-old Venezuelan infielder, falsely believing the Brewers had traded for him, cried on the field, but three days later, hit a walk-off homer to lift the team in a jubilant victory over the division-leading Nationals, beginning a sweep that will put the Mets in first place for the rest of the season.

For the second time in a week, the Yankees trade a top-rank relief pitcher in return for four players. After trading Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs on July 25th, today they send Andrew Miller to the Indians for OF Clint Frazierand Ps J.P. Feyereisen, Ben Heller and Justus Sheffield. The Indians also work out a tentative deal with the Brewers for All-Star C Jonathan Lucroy, but Lucroy invokes his no-trade clause to nix the trade, which falls through. In a separate move, the Orioles acquire P Wade Miley from Seattle for prospect Ariel Miranda.

The Cubs’ 7 – 6 win over the Mariners can be credited to a series of brilliant moves by manager Joe Maddon. Trailing 6 – 2 in the 6th, he sends in P Travis Wood in relief of Joe Nathan, and he gets out of a runners on second and third with nobody out situation without allowing a run. Maddon then moves Wood to left field in the 7th as Pedro Strop takes the mound, and Wood robs Franklin Gutierrez by crashing into the ivy at Wrigley Fieldto snag a line drive. With two outs in the 8th, Wood replaces Strop and picks off Shawn O’Malley at first base to end the inning. The Cubs score three runs off Steve Cishek in the bottom of the 9th to force extra innings, then in the 12th, Maddon asks P Jon Lester to pinch-hit with Jason Heyward on third base, and the otherwise awful hitter lays down an excellent squeeze bunt to drive in the winning run against Cody Martin.

A couple of big deals are made ahead of the trading deadline. The Padres, who have been the most active dealers on the market, send OF Matt Kemp to the Braves in return for 3B Hector Olivera; both players are due hefty sums of money over the next few years, but Kemp is having a productive year while Olivera, who is about to come off from an 82-game suspension for a domestic violence incident, has a lot of money due him, so the Padres will still be winners from a financial standpoint even if, as expected, Olivera is designated for assignment. The other trade is motivated by more traditional baseball reasons: the Nationals whose Achilles heel is closer Jonathan Papelbon’s up-and-down performance, acquire Mark Melancon from the Pirates for Ps Felipe Rivero and Taylor Hearn.

The Astros Valencia win their first Division Honor title. They finish the year at 24-4, tied with the Tenerife Marlins, and the teams split the head-to-head games 2-2 but the Astros won the run differential between the teams, the second tie-breaker.

In front of 2,000 fans at Fayetteville’s JP Riddle Stadium, the Coastal Plain League’s SwampDogs became the first team to play all nine starters at nine different positions when the team rotates the players during the nine-inning game. The exhibition game against the Carolina-Virginia Collegiate League’s Kernersville Bulldogs ends in a 5-5 ten-inning deadlock, when both teams run out of players.

“With all due respect to Tom Hanks, there is crying in baseball.” – MIKE PIZZA, responding to his emotional state about being inducted into the Hall of Fame and having his number retired by the Mets.Mike Piazza, considered by many the greatest-hitting catcher in baseball history, has his number retired by the Mets, a team he played with for eight seasons, batting .296 and slugging 220 home runs. The 2016 Hall of Fame inductee is the second person, along with right-hander Tom Seaver (41) honored for what he accomplished as a player for the team and he joins managers Gil Hodges (14) and Casey Stengel (37) and baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson’s (42), also recognized by the franchise for their contributions to team and to the sport.

The Marlins and Padres pull off a big trade, as San Diego sends starting pitchers Andrew Cashner, Tayron Guerrero and Colin Rea to Miami in return for Ps Carter Capps and Jarred Cosart and prospects Josh Naylorand Luis Castillo.

The Nationals accomplish the first 3-3-5 triple play in major league history when, with the bases loaded, Giants cleanup hitter Brandon Crawford lines out to first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who steps on the bag for the second out before throwing to third baseman Anthony Rendon to catch Denard Span for the third out. Washington’s eighth-inning triple killing, the team’s first since moving from Montreal twelve years ago, contributes to the first-place club’s 4-2 victory over San Francisco at AT&T Park.