The Pirates complete a three-game sweep of the Rangers with a 7 – 5 win in Arlington. A.J. Burnett is the winner and Kyle Farnsworth registers his first save in almost two years with top relievers Jason Grilli and Mark Melancon both unavailable. Meanwhile, the Cardinals stay in first place in the NL Central with a 5 – 1 win over Milwaukee after not getting a hit until the 6th inning; they still lead the Pirates by a game.

The Rays complete a three-game sweep of the Red Sox with an emphatic 9 – 1 win at Tropicana Field. B.J. Upton hits his first career grand slam off Matt Albers in the 5th to put the game away. It is Upton’s 20th homer this year, putting him in the 20-20 club alongside his brother Justin, who has also reached 20 homers and 20 stolen bases with the Diamondbacks. It is the first time a pair of brothers has reached the mark in the same season; six other brother combos have done it in different seasons. Winner James Shields comes within two outs of recording his 12th complete game, but happily settles for his 15th win, a career high. The Rays have now cut Boston’s lead in the wild card race to 3 1/2 games.

The Mets’ request to wear caps honoring police, firefighters, and other first responders for their September 11th game against Chicago is denied by Major League Baseball. The hats, which were worn during the pregame ceremony of remembrance, will be autographed and sold on Mets.com, with the proceeds to be given to charities through the Mets’ foundation.

The Tigers win their 9th straight game, 2 – 1 over the Twins, to cut their magic number in the AL Central to 7. Doug Fister improves to 5-1 after being acquired by the Tigers at the trading deadline; he was 3-12 with the Mariners before the trade.

The Rockies win their 9th straight game, 2 – 1 over Arizona, and are back in the middle of the playoff race. Tonight, reliever Matt Reynolds picks up his first major league win when pinch-hitter Jonathan Herrera drives in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 7th.

A walk-off home run by Alex Gonzalez off Mitchell Boggs in the 12th inning propels the Braves to a 6 – 3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. With the win, the Braves are once again tied with the Phillies atop the NL East.

Meanwhile, in a struggle between the top two teams in the NL West, the Padres shut out the Giants, 1 – 0, to move one game ahead of their chief rivals. Tim Stauffer pitches 6 scoreless innings and the game ends when Pads closer Heath Bell strikes out Buster Posey and Yorvit Torrealba guns down pinch runner Darren Ford at second base on a stolen base attempt. Torrealba had earlier driven in the game’s only run with a solo home run.

The Marlins lose, 11 – 4, to the Phillies, but Dan Uggla goes deep in the 8th to become the first major league second baseman with four 30-homer seasons.

Jim Thome connects for career homer No. 587 to pass Hall of Famer Frank Robinson for eighth place on the all-time career list. The Twins DH’s historic round-tripper, which he blasts in the top of the twelfth inning at Progressive Field, is the lone run scored in Minnesota’s 1-0 victory over Cleveland.

For the 10th consecutive campaign, starting with his rookie year, Albert Pujols drives in 100 or more runs. Only Al Simmons, with 11, has more seasons with 100 RBIs to start a career than the Cardinals’ first baseman.