stepping up

From Mike Minor’s save in Cleveland to Blaine Boyer’s last pitch at Tampa Bay, it was quite an eventful night for former Mississippi Braves in the major leagues. Minor notched the first save of his pro career on Friday as Kansas City stopped Cleveland’s record win streak at 22 games with a 4-3 victory. Minor, who has 17 holds and a 2.71 ERA, allowed a leadoff hit but then struck out the side to nail down the win for a Royals team clinging to postseason hopes. Ryan Buchter, another M-Braves alum, also threw a scoreless inning for KC. … Charlie Morton worked six innings for his 12th win and Evan Gattis went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs to help Houston knock off Seattle, another American League wild card hopeful. … Alex Wood tossed six shutout innings and fanned eight in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ rout of Washington in a battle of the National League’s two best teams. Wood is now 15-3. … Andrelton Simmons went 2-for-4 with two RBIs to help the Los Angeles Angels, who sit in the No. 3 spot in the AL wild card standings, beat fading Texas 7-6. … In a game of much less significance, Sean Newcomb started and Arodys Vizcaino closed as Atlanta beat the New York Mets. Newcomb picked up his third win, Vizcaino his 11th save. … And in the game of the night, Boston scored seven runs in the 15th inning to finally put away Tampa Bay 13-6, with Boyer, a member of the 2005 M-Braves, working the last inning for the Red Sox as the 21st pitcher to appear in the game. Boston remained 3 games up on the New York Yankees in the AL East, while the Rays suffered a crippling defeat. P.S. Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland homered for Boston and needs one more to become the fifth Mississippian (native or college alum) with 20 bombs this season. Ex-Southern Miss star Brian Dozier hit his 31st for Minnesota on Friday, and Ole Miss alum Zack Cozart hit Nos. 21 and 22 for Cincinnati. Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson has 26 homers and former State standout Hunter Renfroe 20.