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It took a great pitching performance from Chicago White Sox starter Gavin Floyd to end the Boston Red Sox six-game winning streak.

Sunday marked the fourth time in Floyd’s career that he carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, but he’s yet to finish one off. The Elias Sports Bureau notes that Floyd’s four such bids are the third-most among active pitchers.

How did Floyd pitch so well?

Our pitch-performance data showed that he got five of his nine strikeouts on pitches that were out of the strike zone. He finished off all 15 hitters on whom he got a two-strike count.

Floyd’s curveball was working in those two-strike counts. He threw 11 curveballs in two-strike situations and got five strikeouts with them.

The White Sox were bidding to become the first team with two regular-season no-hitters in the same season since the 1973 Angels, who got two from Nolan Ryan. The 2010 Phillies are the last team with two no-hitters, if you combine regular season and postseason (both by Roy Halladay).

Floyd is 7-0 with a 2.75 ERA in eight career starts against the Red Sox. He’s the first pitcher to win his first seven career decisions against the Red Sox since former Minnesota Twins right-hander Kevin Tapani.

Other notable performances from Sunday included:

The day’s best pitchers
Johan Santana threw six scoreless innings in his Coors Field debut, in the New York Mets wild win over the Colorado Rockies. Santana has now pitched 22 scoreless innings against the Rockies, which (via Elias) is the longest streak by any pitcher to start his career.

CC Sabathia beat the Tigers to remain undefeated this season. The Tigers right-handed hitters were 1-for-21 against him. Sabathia got five strikeouts with his slider. He’s had at least five with that pitch in all five of his starts this season.

Speaking of sliders, Chicago Cubs starter Matt Garza got 10 outs with his, and notched six strikeouts with the pitch, in a 5-1 win over the Phillies.

Also chiming in with impressive efforts were Arizona Diamondbacks starter Wade Miley, who is 6-1 with a 2.47 ERA in his last eight starts dating back to last season after beating the Diamondbacks, and Cleveland Indians starter Derek Lowe, who beat the Los Angels of Anaheim with an efficient effort- he threw single-digit pitch totals in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.

The day’s best hitter
Rightfielder Jay Bruce homered for the fourth straight game, the longest streak by a Cincinnati Reds player since Adam Dunn homered in five straight games in May, 2008.
The streaky Bruce has had another hot week, hitting .476 with an OPS of 1.685 since Tuesday. His last three home runs have come on pitches over the outer-third of the plate. Bruce has 40 home runs on outer-third pitches since 2009, sixth-most in the majors in that span.

Pitching was the story of the day as opening week continued with 13 teams playing their first game of the season.

After Kyle Lohse tossed a gem on Wednesday, Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander, Justin Masterson and Ryan Dempster all allowed two or fewer hits while throwing at least 7 innings. Even with 13 teams yet to make their 2012 debut, this is the first time in the Modern Era (since 1900) that there have been five season-opening starts to meet that threshold. According to Elias, the previous high was three in 1910.

The New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds all opened their season today by throwing shutouts. Elias points out that the last time there were three shutouts thrown by teams that opened their season on the same day was April 9, 1976. That season, the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals all pitched Opening Day shutouts.

The Miami Marlins became the first team with two losses this season and have managed a single run on seven hits in their two games. From Elias, they are the first team with that low an offensive output in their first two games since 1993. That season, the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies each had one run on six hits after two games.

Not all of the pitching news was good. Justin Verlander was denied a win after pitching 8 shutout innings after Jose Valverde blew a save for the first time since Sept. 2, 2010. Valverde was 49-for-49 in save opportunities last season and had converted 51 in a row dating back to 2010.

Going Long
The highest scoring game of the day was the Toronto Blue Jays' 7-4 win over the Cleveland Indians. But that won’t be what the game is remembered for.

The game wasn’t decided until J.P. Arencibia hit a three-run home run in the top of the 16th inning. Elias confirmed that this was the longest season opener in MLB history. The Indians have the dubious distinction of losing two of the three season openers that lasted at least 15 innings. In the other, Walter Johnson threw a 15-inning complete game as the Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics.

Going Deep
The wait for a National League home run is finally over. Jay Bruce hit a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth as the Reds beat the Marlins. Four NL games had been completed before Bruce went deep, and his homer came in the 44th NL inning of the season.

After nearly winning the MVP Award last season, Matt Kemp added to his legend in the season opener this year. Kemp became the first right-handed hitter with two opposite field home runs at Petco Park since the start of the 2009 season.

On Saturday, Cameron Maybin agreed to a five-year, $25 million contract with the San Diego Padres. The deal will keep the 24-year-old in San Diego through at least his first free agent year.

It's been a long journey for the former first-round pick, who was drafted ahead of the likes of fellow outfielders Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce and Jacoby Ellsbury and was involved in trades for both a star (Miguel Cabrera) as well as two middle relievers (Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb). But now on his third team and fresh off his fifth season of Major League action, Maybin has found a home.

Maybin had the best season of his young career in 2011, posting a .265/.323 /.393 triple slash line and swiping a team-leading 40 bases. He also led the Padres in runs scored (82), total bases (203), and triples (8). He tied for the team lead in hits (136) and was tied for second in home runs (9). His 4.7 Wins Above Replacement ranked sixth among all center fielders last season and tied for sixth among Padres outfielders in the Wild Card era.

Despite the success, Maybin’s offensive numbers suffered from hitting in the cavernous Petco Park, which consistently ranks in the bottom-third of the Majors in home runs hit and runs scored according to ESPN’s Park Factors. He batted .231 at home last year compared to .294 on the road, and there was an even bigger discrepancy in his slugging percentage (.324 to .457).

But while his home park punishes his surface-level offensive numbers, it is that same home park that represents one of the reasons Maybin is so valuable to the Padres - centerfield defense. Few parks are as spacious in the outfield as Petco, and Maybin's ability to track down batted balls represented a significant portion of his value in 2011.

Baseball Info Solutions has worked to upgrade its defensive analysis, a re-tooling that will be unveiled in The Fielding Bible III. Suffice it to say, the adjusted defensive metrics suggest Maybin was one of the premier defensive players at his position in 2011 - he ranked tied for third in Defensive Runs Saved.

While Maybin's defensive value is evident and his offense progressed, the latter still has significant room for growth. Most notably, Maybin's issues with changeups provide a clear area for potential improvement.

Maybin chased almost 39 percent of soft pitches (changeups, sliders, curveballs) low and away out of the strike zone and had only two hits on 239 such pitches in 2011. That .038 BA ranked 131st out of 145 qualified hitters. Specific to the changeup, Maybin ranked among the bottom of the league in batting average, OPS and strikeout rate against that pitch over the last three seasons combined.

He did, however, improve against the changeup from 2010 to 2011 - he raised his batting average (.091 to .197) and his OPS (.182 to .505), while reducing his strikeout rate (46 percent to 27 percent). Maybin - and the Padres - hope the trend continues in 2012.

Evan Longoria had a heck of a season for a guy who finished the year with a .244 batting average for the Tampa Bay Rays. The Boston Red Sox may have collapsed, but Longoria was as responsible for carrying his team as any player has been all season.

Longoria’s second home run of the game Wednesday night – a walk-off with one out in the 12th inning against the New York Yankees that gave Tampa an 8-7 win and the AL Wild Card berth – was his fourth career walk-off HR and second of this season. Longoria's HR is the sixth game-ending HR in MLB history which clinched a postseason berth, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Here’s a closer look Longoria’s 2011 season:

• All 31 of his HR hit came with the score tied, or within four runs, one way or the other.

• The last 10 home runs he hit during the regular season either tied a game, gave the Rays a lead, extended a lead of one or two runs, or cut a deficit to a run.

• Longoria had four home runs in the eighth inning or later that either tied a game or put the Rays ahead. Only two players in MLB had more -- Jose Bautista with six, and Jay Bruce with five.

• In the two-week stretch from September 15 to the end of the season, Longoria faced a two-strike situation 32 times. He reached nine times via hit and seven times via walk, giving him a two-strike on-base percentage of .500 (MLB average for the season was .247). He also reached base via error once.

• Despite missing 29 games, Longoria entered the final day of the season fifth in the major leagues in Defensive Runs Saved among third basemen with 12.

A chronology of some of Longoria's biggest moments down the stretch:

September 15-18 - Longoria was 6-for-15 with two home runs and seven RBI as the Rays won three of four games in Fenway Park from the Red Sox. In the game the Rays lost, Longoria homered, singled, walked twice, and made an amazing catch on a Dustin Pedroia line drive that turned into a double play in the seventh inning, with the Rays down a run.

September 27 - With the Rays down 3-2 in the sixth inning against the Yankees, and the bases loaded with nobody out, Longoria starts a 5-4-3 triple play to get the Rays out of a jam.

Then, in the seventh inning, facing an 0-2 count, Longoria fouls off three pitches (including two well out of the strike zone) and works out a walk from Rafael Soriano. The next batter, Matt Joyce, hits a home run that propels the Rays to a 5-3 win.

September 28 - Longoria helps the Rays rally from a 7-0 deficit. He hits a three-run home run to cut the lead to 7-6 in the eighth inning. Then, he hits a walk-off home run to win the game and clinch the wild card in the 12th inning.

The NL Central race couldn't be much tighter with four teams separated by only three games heading into Tuesday, when the Cincinnati Reds visit the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals.

Jaime Garcia is on the hill for the Cardinals, which could not be much worse news for the Reds. Garcia has been lights out at home this season, going 4-1 with an 0.88 ERA in seven starts.

We're just halfway through the season, but it's worth noting that no pitcher has finished with a sub-1.00 ERA at home for an entire season since Sandy Koufax (0.85) in the 1964 campaign.

Opponents are batting only .173 against Garcia at Busch Stadium while compiling a paltry .218 slugging percentage. On the road those numbers balloon up to a .326 batting average and a .470 slugging percentage.

Garcia's key to success at home has been his fastball. Opponents are batting .225 in at-bats ending in a fastball when Garcia pitches in St. Louis and hitting .419 elsewhere. At home he has not allowed a single home run in 71 at-bats ending in fastballs, but has given up four long balls in 86 such at-bats on the road.

The lefty faces one of his toughest tests this season in a Reds lineup that has killed left-handed pitching.

Cincinnati ranks first in the National League in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging against southpaws.

Last year's NL MVP, Joey Votto is among the Reds players to tear apart lefties this season, compiling a .372 batting average and .616 slugging percentage, second on the team in both categories behind Jonny Gomes.

It will be interesting to see how Garcia attacks Votto, who has been devastating against fastballs versus left-handed pitchers. He's hitting .512 in at-bats ending with that pitch, second highest in the majors among players with a minimum of 50 such plate appearances.

Reds slugger Jay Bruce was 12-for-24, with four home runs against lefties in May, but faltered in June. He was just 5-for-34 (.147) and did not homer.

Bruce is just one home run shy of matching Johnny Bench (87) for the fourth most all-time by a Reds player in his first four MLB seasons. With 14 more home runs he would join Frank Robinson (134) and Adam Dunn (118) as the only Reds players with 100 home runs in their first four MLB seasons.

News came out on Monday that the Cardinals may enjoy the return of their MVP Albert Pujols ahead of schedule. Along with Lance Berkman that would give the Cardinals a duo that has tormented the Reds. Pujols has more hits (219) and runs scored (142) against the Reds than any active player.

Berkman has more hits (175), home runs (50), RBIs (139) and runs scored (127) against Cincinnati than any other team he has faced. Berkman ranks in the top three among all active players versus the Reds in each of those categories.

He has also fared well against Reds starter Edinson Volquez, reaching base eight times in 13 plate appearances, reaching on a walk five times.

(The Tampa Bay Rays host the Cincinnati Reds on Monday at 7 ET on ESPN2.)

Despite a 3-9 record in interleague play, one team the Cincinnati Reds will be happy to face is the Tampa Bay Rays. Cincinnati -- which begins a three-game road series with the Rays on Monday -- is 6-0 all-time against Tampa Bay.

Mike Leake, who’s lost his last two starts, takes the mound for the Reds. He still struggles against left-handed hitters (.294 opponent batting average), but he has improved against righties. Last season, right-handed batters hit .292 against Leake, but are hitting just .230 in 2011.

Lefties have hit Leake well this season (.297), as have leadoff and cleanup hitters. The top of the order has hit .385 (15-39) with two home runs against Leake. No. 4 hitters have fared even better, going 15-for-33 (.455) with two home runs.

Opposing Leake will be Jeremy Hellickson. He was the American League pitcher of the month in May, going 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA. His June ERA is 3.81, but he’s lost three of his four starts and has allowed four home runs in 26 innings and struck out just one more hitter than he’s walked (10).

Hellickson, however, has not received much in the way of run support. In his last three starts, the Rays’ offense is hitting a combined .091 (8-88) with one run scored.

Some other notes from tonight’s game:
• Since their 1-8 start, the Rays are 43-26, the second-best record in the majors over that span.

• The Reds are tied with the Colorado Rockies for the most comeback wins this season with 23, but they're the worst team in the NL in one-run games at 11-15.

• Jonny Gomes is the only individual who has played at least 300 games for both the Rays and Reds, and is one of two players with 45 HR for both franchises, along with Greg Vaughn.

• Jay Bruce has cooled off considerably for the Reds. After hitting .342 with 12 home runs in May, Bruce has gone deep just once in June and is hitting .225 this month.

• Only one pitcher has 10 wins for both franchises: Paul Wilson.

For Chris Heisey tonight was more than just amazing, it was "three-diculous" as he hit three home runs in the Cincinnati Reds win over the New York Yankees. Heisey had never even hit more than one in a game.

He is the seventh player in the majors with a three-homer game this season. This is the earliest we have had seven three-homer games in a season since the 2001 when there had already been 10 such games.

In addition to his first multi-homer game Heisey also connected on his first career leadoff home run. With Wednesday's performance Heisey has already matched his output for the 2010 season with eight longballs, doing so in 74 fewer at-bats.

He is the 32nd player in Reds history to hit three home runs in a game, and the first to do so in interleague play. The last Reds player with a three-homer game was Jay Bruce in 2010.

Like Heisey, Bruce also did it out of the leadoff spot. The only other Reds player in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) to do so was Pete Rose back in 1978 against the Mets.

Heisey is the sixth player in the last 25 years to hit three home runs in a game against the Yankees and first to do so since Kevin Millar in 2004. Heisey is the only leadoff hitter to ever homer three times in a single game against the Yankees.

Cliff Lee loving June

Cliff Lee continued his spectacular run in the month of June notching his second consecutive shutout as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the St. Louis Cardinals. Lee is the first Phillies pitcher since Cory Lidle in 2004 to throw consecutive shutouts and just fourth to do so in the last 35 seasons.

Interesting to note the last three pitchers to throw consecutive shutouts in the majors all currently reside in the Phillies rotation. Before Lee in 2011, Roy Halladay accomplished the feat in 2009 with the Toronto Blue Jays while Roy Oswalt did so in 2008 with the Houston Astros.

Lee is on a historic pace this month, now 4-0 with a 0.27 ERA in four June starts. Since the end of World War II, only four Phillies pitchers have had an ERA under 1.00 for a single month (minimum of five starts). The last to do so was Jim Bunning with a 0.87 ERA in August of the 1967 season.

Looking ahead to his next start Lee could join some other elite company within the Phillies franchise.

With another shutout on June 28 against the Red Sox, he would join Robin Roberts in 1950 as the only Phillies pitchers in the Live Ball Era to throw three consecutive shutouts.

Two of the league's best offenses -- the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds -- meet on Monday Night Baseball (ESPN, 7 ET) as interleague play continues. Johnny Cueto, coming off back-to-back outings of seven innings pitched and no earned runs allowed, is scratched and Travis Wood takes his place.

The Yankees lead the American League in runs per game, walks, home runs and slugging and are second in on-base percentage. Despite reports of a shoulder injury, Yankees cleanup hitter Alex Rodriguez has been hot in the past month.

It’s believed that the injury occurred during a series with the Rangers May 6-8. He’s hitting 44 points higher since May 10 than he did up until that point and he’s hit more home runs per game since that date.

Ivan Nova will start for the Yankees, and he’s struggled with cleanup hitters this season, allowing 13 hits in 33 at-bats (.394 BA) to the opposing No. 4 hitter.

Jay Bruce has been hitting cleanup for the Reds this month, but he’s hit worse against righties than lefties this season. His performance against left-handed pitchers this season is the best it’s been in his brief career.

Bruce doesn’t have to come to the plate in the first inning for Cincinnati to have early success. Nova has allowed four runs in the first inning this season, but he’s allowed 12 runs in the second inning.

Nova will also have to deal with Joey Votto, who might be having a better season than he did in 2010 when he won the NL MVP award. He’s striking out a lower rate than he did last season and his .449 on-base percentage would tie for the second-best by any Reds player since 1900.

Bruce and Votto anchor an offense that is again among the best in the league in 2011, but the Reds bullpen is on a downward trend. Cincinnati's bullpen ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio have decreased each month this season.

On the other side, the Reds will want to get their damage done against Nova while they have the chance. The Yankees bullpen is first or second in the American League in ERA, opponents' batting average and percent of inherited runners who score. In fact, their 2.81 bullpen ERA would be the lowest for the Yankees since 1981.

-- Jeremy Lundblad and Mark Simon contributed

Curtis Granderson ranks second only to Jose Bautista this season with 17 home runs, and also leads the New York Yankees in RBI (41) and OPS (.960). The center fielder is hitting a home run once every 12.3 at-bats, and is on pace to hit 51. (His career-high is 30 in 2009, his last season with the Detroit Tigers.)

Granderson’s power surge coincides with a swing change he made last August. He worked with hitting coach Kevin Long to shorten his swing and simplify his approach. The result has been an increase in power and much more success against left-handed pitchers.

After struggling throughout his career against left-handed pitching (career .213 batting average entering this season), Granderson actually has a higher average against left-handers than righties in 2011. Against left-handed pitching, Granderson leads all of baseball with nine home runs and is hitting one every 7.3 at-bats. Against right-handers, he’s hitting a homer once every 17.9 at-bats.

Why is Granderson having success against left-handers? One reason is that he’s hitting fly balls with more power since his swing change. In the first 54 games of 2010, he hit 23 fly balls against lefties, but only one of those left the park. Through 54 games this season, Granderson has hit 25 fly balls, but has been hitting home runs with much more frequency.

Since changing his swing on Aug. 12, 2010, Granderson has hit 31 home runs. That’s the third-most behind Bautista (39) and Jay Bruce (32). His HR/Flyball rate has increased from 9.6 percent to 22.1 after the change. (The league average was 10.6 percent in 2010.)

Granderson’s performance on fastballs against lefties is another reason for his power surge. When he’s seen fastballs this season from left-handed pitchers, Granderson is hitting .385 with a slugging percentage of 1.000.

In his time with the Yankees, Granderson’s increased his slugging percentage on fastballs from left-handed pitchers from .422 before the swing change to .797 after the switch. He was hitting a home run once every 64 at-bats on these pitches before the swing change, but now is hitting a homer once every 7.7 at-bats since altering his swing.

Jay Bruce dialed long-distance like no one else in the big leagues in May, according to ESPN's Home Run Tracker, and Mark Trumbo had the kind of mammoth blast that hadn't been seen in Kansas City in four years. What were some of the other home run oddities from the month of May?

Player Power Surge: HRs Totaling Most Distance (Jay Bruce, Cincinnati Reds)
Mike Stanton averaged more than 425 feet per home run in May, but no one totaled more total distance than Bruce. His 12 home runs tallied 4,776 feet, besting last month's winner, Ryan Braun, by nearly 700 feet. Jose Bautista, who leads the majors in home runs, has yet to win this award.

No Doubter: Longest True Distance (Mark Trumbo, Los Angeles Angels)
Trumbo's Memorial Day blast off of Royals pitcher Louis Coleman at Kauffman Stadium traveled a true distance of 472 feet. It was the longest home run hit by an Angels player since Vladimir Guerrero's 473-foot shot off Zack Greinke at Kauffman on May 1, 2007.

Wall-Scraper: Shortest True Distance (Danny Valencia, Brennan Boesch)
On May 8, Valencia hit a 329-foot HR off Daisuke Matsuzaka. Eleven days later, Boesch hit a 329-foot shot off of Daniel Bard. Both home runs were hit at Fenway Park, which is not surprising. Of the 10 shortest home runs hit in 2011, six have been at Fenway Park.

Moonshot: Highest Apex* (Shelley Duncan, Cleveland Indians)
Duncan's 431-foot shot on Memorial Day off of Blue Jays pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes landed in the fifth deck at Rogers Centre, with an apex of 152 feet. Duncan became just the 15th player to reach the fifth deck at Rogers Centre, and the first since Jayson Werth on June 27, 2009 off of Brad Mills.

Line Drive: Lowest Apex (Carlos Peguero, Seattle Mariners)
Peguero’s May 16 shot came off Twins starter Scott Baker. With an apex of 39 feet, it was the lowest home run hit since Travis Snider’s 39-foot apex home run on May 3, 2010.

Fastball of the Month: Fastest Speed Off Bat (Juan Rivera, Toronto Blue Jays)
While his teammate Jose Bautista may steal all the attention, Rivera hit the fastest speed off bat in May. Rivera’s shot on May 22 off of Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez traveled 117.7 mph off the bat, and went 431 feet.

Server of the Month: Greatest Total Distance Allowed (Bronson Arroyo, Cincinnati Reds)
Arroyo allowed 10 home runs that traveled 3,981 feet. Last month's winner, Armando Galarraga, now finds himself in Triple-A Reno.

* Defined as the maximum vertical height a ball reaches during its flight

April showers have brought May flowers for Jay Bruce.

The Cincinnati Reds slugger Sunday hit his National League-leading 15th home run of the season and his 11th homer in May, which ties Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays for the most during the month this season.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 11 home runs in May are the most by a Reds player in a single calendar month since Adam Dunn hit 12 in July 2008.

Bruce ended the month of April struggling with four home runs, 11 RBI and a .237 batting average, which ranked 135th in MLB among players with at least 75 plate appearances.

This month has seen a completely different story. He’s hitting .330 with 11 HR and 29 RBI. In his previous two years in May, Bruce had just a .239 batting average with 12 homers and 30 RBI over 57 games.

So what’s been the difference? According to Inside Edge, Bruce is getting aggressive and taking advantage of fastballs. In the month of April, Bruce had a slugging percentage of .364 on at-bats that ended on the first pitch. That is up to .778 this month.

On at-bats that ended on the fastball, Bruce hit .254 during the month of April. That was below the MLB average of .285 in the situation. This month, he’s increased that to .344 and his slugging percentage is at .889.

But Bruce wasn’t the only “Jay” that had a strong Sunday.

• The Toronto Blue Jays scored 13 runs, including a six-run first inning as they clubbed the White Sox 13-4.

• Ricky Romero got the win for the Blue Jays as he allowed two runs over seven innings. According to Baseball Reference, his nickname is “RR Cool Jay”, like the rapper and entertainer “LL Cool J.”

• J.A. Happ (pronounced “Jay") did not allow a hit until the fifth inning for the Houston Astros. He also hit his first career home run.

• Jayson Werth of the Washington Nationals had three hits, but he was left stranded in scoring position in the eighth inning as the potential go-ahead run.

• J.J. Hardy of the Baltimore Orioles had a pair of hits, including a double.

• Jay Gibbons of the Los Angeles Dodgers had three hits. He entered Sunday with a .190 batting average and eight total hits for the season.

• Jon Jay of the St. Louis Cardinals and John Jaso of the Tampa Bay Rays each hit their eighth career home run. Alphabetically, those two are next to each other on the active player list. It was the first time they've gone deep on the same day.

After scoring only 14 runs combined in four games entering Wednesday's contest with the Cleveland Indians, the Boston Red Sox have now hammered out 14 runs in each of their last two games, with Thursday's victim being the Detroit Tigers.

This marked the eighth time since 1919 that Boston scored at least 14 runs in back-to-back games, and first time since July of 1998.

Much to the relief of Red Sox fans, at the forefront of this offensive outburst is Carl Crawford, who had two triples as part of his second straight four-hit game. He's just the fourth different Red Sox player (joining Dustin Pedroia, Jim Rice and Wade Boggs, who did it three different times) with consecutive four-hit games in the divisional era.

Crawford's also the first Red Sox player with at least four hits and at least two extra-base hits in consecutive games since Del Pratt did it in back-to-back games on August 23-24, 1921.

In the last two games alone Crawford has raised his average from .212 to .244 and seen his slugging percentage jump from .293 to .368 during that same stretch.

While all the talk following the game centered on Boston's offense, entering Thursday's contest the buzz surrounded the man tasked with shutting it down. Heading into the game, Max Scherzer was 3-0 in five home starts with a 0.77 ERA, the lowest ERA for a Tigers pitcher in his first five home starts of a season since 1945, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Scherzer's home ERA is now 2.43 following the Tigers' 14-1 loss to the Red Sox.

Scherezer faced three batters in the second inning without recording an out before exiting. Almost all the damage was done by the seven left-handed hitters in Boston's lineup. Nine of the 15 batters Scherzer faced reached base, and six of the seven hits he allowed were to left-handed batters.

Elsewhere around the majors:

• After using eight different relief pitchers on Wednesday in their 19-inning win over the Cincinnati Reds, Cliff Lee gave the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen a much-needed day off, throwing eight innings. But it was his bat that contributed almost as much as his arm. Cliff Lee had two hits and three RBI, without the benefit of a home run. He's just the fifth Phillies pitcher since Divisional Play began in 1969 to do that.

Jay Bruce did hit a two-run home run off Lee. It was Bruce's 10th home run in the month of May, currently tied with Jose Bautista for the most in the month of May.

• The Florida Marlins defeated the San Francisco Giants 1-0 behind Anibal Sanchez who pitched the third shutout of his career. It marked just the fifth time in franchise history that a pitcher threw a 1-0 shutout. Sanchez has allowed zero earned runs in four of his last seven starts.

As for the Giants, their first game without Buster Posey displayed their offensive deficiencies that could prevent them from reaching the playoffs. According to 10,000 simulations done by Accuscore.com, the injury dropped the Giants' chances of making the playoffs to 44.4 percent if he is out for the entire season.

Fans got their money’s worth across baseball Tuesday with plenty of walk-off wins and last at-bat heroics.

Alex Avila hit his second home run of the game in the bottom of the eighth to give the Detroit Tigers a 7-6 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the second time in his career he homered to send his team from a deficit into a lead in the eighth inning or later.

Lost in the drama was Justin Verlander’s streak of 10 straight quality starts to begin a season came to an end. Elias reports it’s the longest streak by a Tigers pitcher since earned runs became an official statistic in the AL in 1913.

In Baltimore, the Orioles came away with a 5-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Adam Jones’ first career walk-off home run. It’s the third walk-off win for the Orioles, who last year led the American League with 12 such victories.

The New York Yankees escaped with a 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays with two runs in the bottom of the ninth, capped by Mark Teixeira’s walk-off single. It was his first career regular-season walk-off hit with the Yankees. He homered to end Game 2 of the 2009 ALDS against the Twins.

The victory gave CC Sabathia a nine-inning complete game. Sabathia ended a streak of 341 straight games without a Yankee starter throwing a complete game of at least nine innings. According to Elias, that was the longest such streak in American League history.

Jay Bruce hit a bases-loaded double with two outs in the top of the ninth as the Cincinnati Reds snapped an eight-game losing streak (including playoff games) to the Philadelphia Phillies. Bruce is hitting .522 during a six-game hit streak with four HR and nine RBI.

Bruce’s hit was the first by the Reds on the road in the ninth inning with the bases loaded to put them into the lead since September 8, 2008. On that date, Jeff Keppinger had a two-run double at Miller Park against the Milwaukee Brewers, giving the Reds a 5-4 victory.

Speaking of the Brewers, they too won in their final at-bat, posting a 7-6 victory over the Washington Nationals as they rallied from a four-run deficit. Jonathan Lucroy had a two-out, two-RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, which capped the five-run rally.

Entering Tuesday, Lucroy had five career go-ahead hits but none were as late in the game. His previous latest go-ahead hit came on July 24, 2010 when he had a double which broke a 2-2 tie at home against the same Nationals team.

The Cincinnati Reds and rightfielder Jay Bruce have agreed to a guaranteed six-year, $51 million contract which includes a club option for a seventh year that could bring the overall value to $63 million, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. On top of that, Bruce can earn additional money through award bonuses. Bruce would have been eligible for arbitration this offseason without the new deal.

Bruce played in 147 games this season and posted a 5.3 WAR according to FanGraphs, the 10th-highest mark among major-league outfielders. That includes Aubrey Huff, who played only 34 games in the outfield and puts Bruce one spot ahead of Washington Nationals rightfielder Jayson Werth, who would earn more than twice as much money over the next seven years if the Reds pick up his option.

In fact, Bruce, the 12th overall pick in the 2005 draft, outplayed the No. 1 pick from the same draft last year -- Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Justin Upton. Upton signed a similar six-year deal worth $51.25 million back in March and regressed from his All-Star campaign of 2009 when he finished 25th in the NL MVP voting.

Bruce set career highs in games and plate appearances on the way to career highs in every offensive category, but he really stood out on defense. He led all major-league rightfielders with 17 Defensive Runs Saved and was second in all of baseball among outfielders behind Detroit Tigers centerfielder Austin Jackson.

Bruce also performed last season when the heat was on to help guide the Reds to their first division title and playoff appearance since 1995. On August 1, Cincinnati was a half-game behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central and ended up winning the division by five games.

Bruce hit 15 home runs in the final two months of the season after finishing July with just 10. After hitting just .200 in July -- his worst month of the season -- he had his best month in August and then topped that in September and October, which included a post-July .699 slugging percentage that was the best in the majors (minimum 100 AB).

Once August rolled around, it was against fastballs where Bruce really did his damage. He saw roughly the same percentage of fastballs and offspeed pitches the last two months as he did during the first four months but was a different hitter after his wrist injury healed. It appeared that Bruce’s big turnaround coincided with the healing of a broken wrist. Our Inside Edge video-review data shows that Bruce slugged just .395 against fastballs while hitting three HR before August. But from August 1 until the end of the season, he slugged .750 with eight home runs against fastballs.

In the span of two days, the Florida Marlins parted ways with the two primary pieces they received in the 2007 trade for Miguel Cabrera.

Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin were considered elite prospects at the time of the trade, but neither developed into legitimate contributors.

Miller has failed to blossom since being selected with the sixth pick in the 2006 MLB Draft -- ahead of pitchers Clayton Kershaw (seventh) and Tim Lincecum (10th). On Friday, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox for minor league reliever Dustin Richardson.

On Saturday, Maybin was dealt to the San Diego Padres, for pitchers Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica. Both will help with the Marlins stated desire to improve the bullpen, but this is a disappointing end to Maybin’s tenure in South Florida. The Detroit Tigers drafted Maybin in 2005, ahead of notable outfielders Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce, Jacoby Ellsbury and Colby Rasmus.

With Miller and Maybin gone, two questions remain: How did the Cabrera trade end up working for the Marlins, and, what can the Red Sox and Padres expect out of their acquisitions?

According to Fangraphs.com’s Wins Above Replacement, the Marlins experienced a “loss” of 8.5 WAR on this trade. Cabrera has accounted for all of the positive contributions among the players the Marlins traded, but he’s been an MVP-caliber player during his tenure with the Tigers.

So what can be expected from Miller and Maybin? Neither player has produced at the Major League level, with Miller’s erratic command and Maybin’s strikeout issues and contact ability. Miller has faltered, even after return trips to the minors. Maybin has shown the ability to dominate at the minor-league level, but has seen his holes exploited in the big leagues.

Maybin did not accumulate enough plate appearances to qualify, but if he had his swing-and-miss percentage at balls inside the strike zone (82.1 pct) would have ranked 11th worst in the majors last season. A majority of the players with worse marks in that category are power hitters like Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn and Mark Reynolds.

Maybin’s issues with making contact is what holds him back from developing into the star many people projected him to be. He has a career .306/.393/.478 line in 1,793 career minor-league plate appearances, including a .340/.415/.525 mark in 2010. He struck out in just 18.5 percent of his minor-league plate appearances last season.

Maybin will be just 24 years old next April, giving him plenty of time to carve out a productive career. But the difference between him being a Quadruple-A specimen and a legitimate Major Leaguer will likely come down to his ability to reduce his strikeouts and improve his contact rate with his new club.