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Mike Minor out-pitched National League wins-leader Adam Wainwright, and the Braves defeated the St Louis Cardinals 4-1 in a match-up of division leaders before a sellout crowd of 50,124 at Turner Field.
Minor (10-5) handcuffed the Cardinals except for a second-inning homer by Yadier Molina as he lowered his ERA to 2.89. He gave up four hits, walked none and struck out five, throwing 70 of his 103 pitches for strikes.
Rays 10, Yankees 6
Jeremy Hellickson confounded hitters with off-speed pitches for six innings, and the Tampa Bay Rays continued their surge with a 10-6 victory over the New York Yankees, lifting them into sole possession of first-place in the American League East. James Loney drove in four runs, getting a run-scoring single and a three-run home run after Tampa Bay scored six runs in the second inning off CC Sabathia (9-9). Those runs proved vital after Tampa Bay gave up three in the ninth, forcing them to bring in closer Fernando Rodney with two outs.
When Rodney retired Chris Stewart for his 25th save, the Rays gained sole possession of the division lead for the first time since June 10, 2012.
Mets 11, Nationals 0 (first game)
Daniel Murphy hit home runs in his first two at bats, drove in five and pitcher Jenrry Mejia pitched seven shutout innings as the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 11-0 in the first of a day-night doubleheader.
Nationals 2, Mets 1 (second game)
Ryan Zimmerman hit a solo homer to right-centre with one out in the last of the ninth against reliever LaTroy Hawkins as the Washington Nationals beat the New York Mets 2-1 in the second game of a double-header.
It was the ninth career walk-off homer by Zimmerman.
The Mets fell to 46-54 as the Nationals (50-54) won for just the second time in nine games on their current homestand, both on walk-off fashion on homers.
Tigers 2, Phillies 1
Alex Avila, still hitting less than .200 for Detroit, stroked a two-run double with one out in the fifth inning to give the Tigers a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Avila, hitting .185 at game time, was down 0-2 in the count when he torched a hanging off-speed pitch by Cole Hamels (4-13) for his double to deep left center to erase a 1-0 deficit.