Last Week's Best: The Top-Five Games (July 7-July 13)

All the other sports have finally wound down, and it is now left to baseball, and baseball alone, to excite us sports fans.

The sport is doing a pretty good job.

Two high-profile pitchers performing in new cities highlight this all-baseball list of last week’s top-five games. As usual, the list features dramatic endings aplenty, and one comeback to top all the rest claims the No. 1 spot.

5. MLB: Brewers 3, Reds 2 (July 13)

CC Sabathia’s first week in Milwaukee ended with a bang, as the Brewers won on a Craig Counsell sacrifice fly to move to nine games over .500 on the season.

For a while, it looked as though Sabathia, who earned his second National league win by pitching a complete game, was going to be all of the Brewers’ offense, too. His third-inning home run provided Milwaukee’s lone run until the sixth inning.

The addition of Sabathia adds another piece to a Milwaukee team that is looking like a strong contender in the National League. After a rough start to the year, the Brewers are now only a half-game behind the division rival St. Louis Cardinals in the Wild Card race.

If Sabathia continues to pitch the way he has, look for the Brewers to be a real threat in October.

4. MLB: Royals 7, Rays 4 (July 7)

In last week’s edition of the top-five games, I noted how a dramatic Rays’ victory had propelled them to a seven-game winning streak.

They haven’t won since.

It was this game, a somewhat surprising extra-inning loss to the Royals, which started the seven-game losing streak the Rays are currently riding. An unlikely error by star third baseman Evan Longoria led to a four-run 10th inning for Kansas City.

When Carlos Pena homered in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at three, a Royals victory certainly didn’t seem like a probable outcome. Instead, it appeared as though the happy-go-lucky Rays would add another win to their gaudy total and complete a four-game sweep of their hapless foes.

But baseball is a funny game, and now it is suddenly the Rays who are reeling. They have fallen from first place in the A.L. East, albeit by half a game.

Luckily for Tampa, just as their momentum goes south, they get a bit of a respite in the form of the All-Star break. They can only hope four days heals all wounds, as the Twins and Yankees are not far behind in the Wild Card race.

3. MLB: Diamondbacks 7, Nationals 5 (July 10)

For pretty much the entire night, this game appeared to be another mundane, low-scoring Arizona victory. Starter Dan Haren had pitched eight shutout innings, and the D-Backs led 2-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth.

And perhaps it would have been, if only Mark Reynolds could field his position.

Instead, the Arizona third baseman made two errors in the bottom of the ninth, enabling the Nationals to tie the game at two and start a sudden offensive battle between the two squads.

Each team scored three times in the tenth—and off quality relievers in Arizona’s Tony Pena and Washington’s Jon Rauch—before the Diamondbacks finally closed out the victory in the 11th inning by adding two more runs.

If you’re counting, that’s two total runs in the first 8.5 innings and 10 total runs in the next 2.5.

The hero for Arizona ended up being Chad Qualls, who pitched 1.2 spectacular innings after relieving Pena, with the potential winning run on third in the bottom of the 10th. Qualls did what no other pitcher could: settle the game down a bit.

The Diamondbacks can only hope their next win won’t be quite as entertaining.

2. MLB: Cubs 8, Giants 7 (July 12)

Rich Harden’s first start in a Cubs uniform was going exactly as planned. He had notched 10 strikeouts in five-plus innings before being removed, without allowing a run. Better yet, the North Siders were leading the Giants 7-0.

But the Giants didn’t feel like making it so easy after all. San Francisco scored two runs in the eighth before putting up five in the ninth against Carlos Marmol, to tie the game at seven and snatch the victory away from the Cubs’ newest star.

The Cubs would eventually pull out the game on a Reed Johnson walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th. Sean Marshall got the win after pitching two perfect innings. It’s a good thing they did, as this loss would have been a tough one to take.

1. MLB: Pirates 12, Cardinals 11 (July 12)

The script looked pretty familiar for the Pirates.

Another mediocre performance by a starting pitcher, this time AA call-up Yoslan Herrera.

Suspect middle relief allowing the opposing team’s lead to grow as the game entered its later stages.

An offense that refused to give in.

Once again, in what has been an incredibly frequent occurrence this season, it was that determined offense that prevailed, as the Pirates rallied from a six-run deficit in the eighth inning to top the Cardinals.

The charge was led by Pittsburgh’s star-studded outfield. With two men out in the eighth, and the Bucs trailing 10-4, Jason Bay hit a two-run home run, his second of the day, to bring the Pirates within four and start the rally.

Then, in the ninth, All-Star center fielder Nate McLouth hit a three-run shot to cut the deficit to one. Bay would also drive in the tying run with a groundout to the shortstop.

When Troy Glaus crushed a ball into the left-field bleachers to give the Cards yet another lead, the Pirates were unaffected. Now, they only had to score one run to tie and only two to win—it seemed like it was nothing.

And indeed it was nothing, as it only took the Bucs three batters to send the crowd home happy. It was the unlikeliest of heroes, backup catcher Raul Chavez, who started the latest rally with a single to left.

Two batters later, Jason Michaels crushed a home run to dead center, and bedlam ensued in Pittsburgh. The announcing team was so excited that screams of the revered baseball line, “I don’t believe what I just saw” were barely audible.

At this point in the season, I’ll believe anything the Pirate offense does.