MLB Friday scores, highlights, updates, news: Jesus Aguilar's career night keeps Brewers red hot (2024)

Friday was a pretty wild night in baseball action, so let's jump right in without some long-winded intro ...

Friday's games

Cubs 6, Pirates 1 (box score)
Padres 4, Phillies3 (box score)
Nationals5, Braves 4 in 10 (box score)
Brewers 9, Yankees4 (box score)
Astros12,Blue Jays2 (box score)
Red Sox 8, Rays3 (box score)
Indians11, Tigers 2 (box score)
Rangers10, Angels 0 (box score)
Twins9, Orioles 6 (box score)
Mets 6, Cardinals5 (box score)
Rockies12, White Sox 4 (box score)
Diamondbacks6, Reds 3 (box score)
Mariners7, Athletics 2 (box score)
Dodgers4, Royals 1 (box score)
Marlins 6, Giants1 (box score)

Red-hot Brewers get career night from Aguilar

Rookie first baseman Jesus Aguilar was 3 for 5 with a home run and four RBI on June 29 in an 11-3 win over the Reds. To that point, it was the best game of his career. He wouldn't have to wait long to improve on it, though, because he went bonkers Friday night in the Bronx.

In a big win over the Yankees, Aguilar did it almost single-handedly on offense. In fact, he drove home more runs than the Yankees did with room to spare. He was 3 for 4 with two homers and seven RBI. Seven! That ties a club record. He entered the game with 32 RBI in 241 plate appearances for his career.

He was clutch, too. Aguilar broke a tie with a grand slam in the seventh inning:

What a night.

The Brewers have eight of nine and sit a season-high nine games over .500 (49-40). Their lead over the Cubs in the NL Central remains 4 1/2 games, but with the win they assure themselves a lead of at least 2 1/2 games at the All-Star break. If they were able to win two while the Cubs lost two, it would be 6 1/2 games. Wouldn't that be something?

Regardless, we're far past the point in taking the Brewers' chances to win the NL Central seriously. They've played 89 games. They are for real.

Bryant comes up big in Cubs win

First off, you are fortunate if you missed the first three innings of the Pirates-Cubs game in the afternoon. It was the sloppiest baseball you'll see at the big-league level. There were errors on simple plays, walks, ridiculously-high pitch counts, and a double-digit number of runners left on base, and it was a 0-0 score through three innings and roughly 90 minutes. Yuck.

Things did pick up, notably on the Cubs' end. With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Ben Zobrist singled, Kris Bryant tripled and Anthony Rizzo homered. In the span of three hitters with two outs, the Cubs now had a 3-0 lead.

Bryant would later crush this home run to give the Cubs more breathing room:

He would later add another homer. So Bryant was 4 for 5 with a triple, two home runs, four RBI and three runs. Decent day, eh?

Bryant was actually in a power slump heading into the game. He hadn't homered since June 22. In that time, Bryant was hitting .243/.378/.351 and he saw his slugging percentage on the season drop from .522 to .502. In Friday's win, Bryant pushed his slugging percentage up to .534, the highest it has been since June 13.

Springer, Astros unload on Blue Jays

Carlos Correa went 2 for 5 with a double, home run and two RBI. Jose Altuve went 3 for 5. Evan Gattis went 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBI. And yet, they all took a back seat -- in a big way -- to leadoff man extraordinaire George Springer.

In a 12-2 thrashing of the Jays in Toronto, the Astros pounded out 14 hits, including four doubles and four homers. On his own, Springer would go 4 for 4 with a double, two homers, five RBI and four runs. Here's his second homer:

Springer is hitting .307/.378/.614 on the season with 20 doubles and 27 home runs. The Astros team record for homers in a season is 47 (Jeff Bagwell, 2000). At this rate, Springer has a shot.

The Astros still hold the best record in the majors at 59-28.

Nationals come back, stun Braves

Heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, it appeared the Nationals were facing the possibility of losing a Max Scherzer start and seeing their once-13-game lead in the NL East down to 7 1/2 games. They trailed the Braves 4-1. On came closer Jim Johnson to face the meat of the Nationals' order. They would do their job.

Bryce Harper singled. Ryan Zimmerman walked. Daniel Murphy singled. So did Anthony Rendon, to drive home two runs and cut the lead to 4-3 with no out and two on. After one out, Matt Wieters would drive home the tying run on a sac fly.

The game would go to extras, but the Nationals didn't need much more time. With runners on first and third and one out, Murphy would knock a ball over the left fielder's head for the walk-off winner.

So the Nationals' lead goes back to 9 1/2 games after all. It felt like it was headed that way in looking at the pitching matchup, but sometimes things don't go as planned. This roundabout route was surely fun for Nats fans -- in the end, at least.

Twins stage huge comeback over Orioles

Through only three innings, the Orioles held a 6-0 lead in Minnesota. Kevin Gausman was even threatening to put together a third straight excellent start.

And then things completely unraveled.

The Twins got two in the bottom of the fourth, but everything still seemed in order. It was 6-2 through four, after all.

The fifth was the disaster spot for the O's. Brian Dozier tripled, Robbie Grossman doubled, Miguel Sano reached on a Manny Machado error and then Max Kepler singled. Gausman would be removed with the Orioles clinging to a 6-4 lead. Kennys Vargas would get reliever Miguel Castro for a two-RBI double and the game was tied.

Gausman -- after a scoreless first three innings -- was charged with six runs (five earned) in four innings.

The Twins would take the lead later that inning and never look back, scoring nine unanswered runs. They are now 45-41 and right in the thick of playoff contention. By the way, closer Brandon Kintzler leads the AL with 24 saves.

The Orioles are now 40-46 after a 22-10 start. They have serious pitching issues, needless to say.

Red Sox are second AL team to 50

Boston had lost two straight games, but got back in the win column on Friday against the Rays. Overall, the Red Sox are in a very good way right now, having won nine of their last 12 games and they've now opened up a 4 1/2 game lead in the AL East. It's their biggest lead of the season and actually a 9 1/2 game difference from where things were on May 10. Huge turnaround in a short time, there.

With the win Friday, the Red Sox are now 50-37. It might seem sneaky, but they are the second AL team to 50 wins, after the Astros, obviously.

Judge makes history

Yankees rookie Aaron Judge clubbed his 30th home run of the season on Friday night. It means he broke the franchise's rookie record for home runs in a season, which was previously held by Joe DiMaggio. Read more here.

A tale of two starts in Texas

The Rangers utterly destroyed Ricky Nolasco on Friday. He couldn't even get out of the second inning, coughing up eight runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings.

On the flip-side, Cole Hamels was brilliant for the Rangers. He worked 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only three hits (all singles) while striking out six.

Other than how odd the two stat lines look side-by-side, this is pretty important. For the three-game series, the Angels' bullpen is now a bit taxed while the Rangers' is not.

Carrasco deals for Tribe

The Indians offense exploded for 11 runs, but don't let that overshadow the night by starter Carlos Carrasco. He would strike out 11 Tigers while allowing two runs in seven innings of work.

Greinke stifles Reds

All-Star righty Zack Greinke had an off-year last season in his first with the Diamondbacks after signing a $200M+ contract. This time around, he's been as advertised. On Friday, he worked seven scoreless innings, striking out seven while walking one. He heads to his fifth All-Star Game 11-4 with a 2.86 ERA. And his Diamondbacks are 53-34.

Francona to miss All-Star Game

Indians manager Terry Francona has beendealing with some health issues in recent days, and now he'll miss the upcoming All-Star Game. The Indianshave confirmedthat Francona underwent a cardiac ablation procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat. Cleveland bench coach Brad Mills will replace Francona as manager of the AL All-Star team and be assisted by Rays manager Kevin Cash. Francona of course was in line to manage the AL All-Stars since he led the Indians to the pennant last season.

Read more here.

Quick hits

• The Twins have signed Bartolo Colon to a minor-league deal.
• Cubs president Theo Epstein says the team isn't likely to make a major addition leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline.
• MLB on Friday named seven replacement players to the NL and AL All-Star rosters.
• The first-place Brewers are reportedly in the market for starting pitchers.
• Thursday night reminded us that the Diamondbacks have serious closer concerns.
• Jim Callis reports that the Reds signed No. 2 overall draft pick Hunter Greene just prior to Friday's deadline.
• The Cardinals have activated OF Dexter Fowler from the DL and optioned OF/1B Jose Martinez back to Triple-A.
• Angels SP Matt Shoemaker (forearm) has been diagnosed with posterior interosseous nerve syndrome and has been shut down for seven to 10 days. He's been sidelined since June 14.
• The Braves have placed INF/OF Danny Santana on the DL with a bacterial infection.
• The Blue Jays have activated SP Aaron Sanchez from the DL.
• The Astros have activated SP Charlie Morton from the DL.
• The Rays have activated INF Brad Miller from the DL and placed INF Tim Beckham on the DL with a sprained left ankle.
• The Nationals have placed OF Michael Taylor on the DL with a right oblique strain.
• The Twins have placed 1B Joe Mauer on the DL with a left side low back/lumbar strain.