By the standards of Thursdays, we had a pretty hefty MLB slate of 15 games thanks to a doubleheader in Detroit. We also had games with playoff implications in Miami, Arizona, Colorado, San Diego, Philly, Minnesota, Texas, and Houston. That was plenty enough to keep us busy. Here's what you need to know about Thursday's MLB action.

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Baseball scores for Thursday, Sept. 12

Acuna inches closer to 40/40 season

Braves wunderkind Ronald Acuna Jr. is inching closer and closer to a historic 40/40 season. Thursday night he stole second and third bases in the first inning, giving him 36 steals on the year. Acuna stole both bags against Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto. Realmuto leads all regular catchers with a 48 percent caught stealing rate.

Acuna swatted a home run later in the game and is up to 36 stolen bases and 39 home runs on the season. At 21 years and 268 days, he is the youngest player in baseball history to have a 35/35 season, and the only Brave to do it regardless of age. As a refresher, there have been only four 40/40 seasons in MLB history:

  • 1988 Jose Canseco: 42 HR and 40 SB
  • 1996 Barry Bonds: 42 HR and 40 SB
  • 1998 Alex Rodriguez: 42 HR and 46 SB
  • 2006 Alfonso Soriano: 46 HR and 41 SB

Several players have come close to 40/40 seasons -- Matt Kemp had 39 homers and 40 steals in 2011, most notably -- but only four have actually done it. The Braves have 14 games remaining this season and Acuna is averaging a steal every 4.1 games and a homer every 3.8 games. Slumps happen, but he has a strong chance to post the fifth 40/40 season in history.

Yankees win two, lose three

Thursday was either a very good or very bad day for the Yankees, or maybe a little of both. The good news is the Yankees swept their doubleheader with the Tigers and lowered their AL East magic number to six. Edwin Encarnacion and Luke Voit went deep in the opener, and Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela went deep in the nightcap.

The Yankees are the first team to sweep six doubleheaders in a single season since the Pirates and Orioles in 1979. They're the first Yankees team to do it since 1973.

Now, the bad news: New York lost three -- three! -- players to injury in the doubleheader. Encarnacion tweaked his oblique, Gary Sanchez felt tightness in his groin, and J.A. Happ pitched with biceps tendinitis. All three players are returning to New York -- the Yankees start a series in Toronto on Friday -- for tests.

The Yankees were also given a bit of a scare when Judge ran into the right field wall making a catch in Thursday's night game. He escaped with no injury, however.

Two weeks ago the Yankees set a new MLB record by placing their 29th different player on the injured list. Two days ago they made it an even 30 when Mike Tauchman suffered a calf strain. According to Spotrac, the Yankees had lost 2,479 man games to injury this season, nearly 650 more than any other team.

The ALDS begins three weeks from Friday. That doesn't leave much time for Encarnacion and Sanchez, two important middle of the order hitters, to get ready for the postseason. The Yankees keep winning despite all these injuries. Surely they want to be fully healthy -- or close to it -- at some point before October though.

Brewers win seventh in a row

The Christian Yelich-less Brewers stayed hot, as they edged the Marlins in Miami on Thursday for their seventh straight win. Ryan Braun hit his 19th home run of the season, and four Milwaukee relievers combined for four perfect innings to lock down the win. 

The win temporarily nudged the Brewers one-half game past the Cubs and into second place all by themselves in the NL Central. More important, it also gave them sole possession of the second NL wild-card spot, but only until the Cubs beat the Padres a few hours later. Milwaukee and Chicago are tied for the second wild-card spot with two weeks and three days remaining in the season.

It's a crowded fray for that last playoff spot in the NL. Coming into Thursday, five teams -- the Cubs, Brewers, Mets, Phillies, and Diamondbacks -- were within 2 1/2 games of that coveted berth. As for the SportsLine Projection Model (@SportsLine on Twitter), it gives the Brewers the highest playoff odds of that quintet at 55.1 percent, and that was prior to Thursday's win.

Mets hit six homers against Diamondbacks

The Mets crushed the D-Backs by a score of 9-0 on Wednesday, and on Thursday the slaughter was even bloodier with a score of 11-1. Along the way, the Queenslanders crushed six home runs, including Michael Conforto's 30th and a pair by Juan Lagares, who entered this one with just three home runs in 119 games this season. Those six dingers are the most the Mets have hit in a game since April 11, 2017. It's also the first time in franchise history that the Mets have hit at least five home runs in back-to-back games.

Rather than inundate you with highlights of all those Mets homers, we'll instead show you a glimpse of the "rode hard and put away wet" apple in the outfield, which clearly had enough on Thursday: 

Yep, that apple is done for the day. Let it also be noted that Mets righty Marcus Stroman twirled 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball in this one. It was his best start since joining New York at the trade deadline.

As for those ever-vacillating Mets, they've now won four in a row (i.e., they swept the four-game set from the Diamondbacks), and as noted above they're very much in the thick of the NL wild-card race. Up next is a mettle-testing three-game weekend home series against the Dodgers. 

Lewis hits third homer in three games

You can't have a better start to an MLB career than Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis. On Tuesday, Lewis broke up Trevor Bauer's no-hit bid with a fifth inning home run. It was his first MLB hit. On Wednesday, he broke up Sonny Gray's no-hit bid with a seventh inning homer. Two games, two hits, two no-hitter-busting homers.

Lewis stretched his home run streak to three games Thursday night. He took Reds righty Lucas Sims deep for a solo shot. Alas, there was no no-hitter to break up this time. It was a standard middle innings dinger.

Lewis is only the second player in baseball history to hit a home run in each of his first three MLB games. Trevor Story went deep in his first four games with the Rockies in 2016. Prior to Thursday, Lewis was one of 26 players to homer in his first two games. Now he's in a much more exclusive club.

The Mariners selected Lewis with the 11th overall pick in the 2016 draft. Injuries have slowed his progress, but he hit .263 with 11 home runs in 122 Double-A games this year. MLB.com ranks Lewis as the 10th best prospect in Seattle's system. 

Hill goes down with knee injury

Thursday night, Dodgers southpaw Rich Hill returned from the 60-day injured list and made his first start in three months. He'd been sidelined since June 19 with a flexor strain. Hill's return didn't last long. He faced six batters and recorded two outs before leaving his start in Baltimore with another injury.

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Rich Hill
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Sept. 12 vs. Orioles
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MLB Network's Jon Morosi reports Hill left the game with a left knee issue. He will go for tests. Hill missed the first four weeks of the regular season with a left knee strain, so this is the second time this year this particular knee has given his trouble.

The Dodgers were not necessarily counting on Hill to return as a starter. He was scheduled to throw two innings Thursday and was viewed more as a possible bullpen option for the postseason. Depending on the severity of his latest knee injury, the 39-year-old Hill might not be available at all come October. Los Angeles will hope the upcoming tests bring back good news.

Stat of the day: Giolito sets White Sox record for consecutive strikeouts

Is White Sox ace Lucas Giolito a Comeback Player of the Year candidate? Or is he just a young player breaking out? That award sometimes has a little too much ambiguity.

Anyway, Thursday afternoon Giolito, who is undoubtedly having a Cy Young caliber season, set a new White Sox record by striking out eight consecutive batters. That's especially impressive because the ChiSox have been around basically since the dawn of time (actually 1901, but close enough).

Giolito broke the franchise record held by Carlos Rodon (2017) and Joe Cowley (1986). Rodon and Cowley both struck out seven straight batters. 

Giolito struck out 12 batters in six innings Thursday and now has 228 strikeouts in 2018. Only Chris Sale (274 in 2015; 233 in 2016) and Hall of Famer Ed Walsh (269 in 1908; 258 in 1910; 255 in 1911; 254 in 1912) have struck out more batters in a season in franchise history.

Highlight of the day: Ravelo hits longest Cardinals homer of Statcast era

Check out this 487-footer off the bat of Cardinals first baseman Rangel Ravelo on a sunny day at Coors Field: 

That came the very pitch after Ravelo was brushed back up and in, so he no doubt enjoyed laying into that one. Ravelo's missile is the longest Cardinals home run of the Statcast era (i.e., since 2015), and it's the second-longest homer of 2019. Only Nomar Mazara's 505-foot blast on June 21 covered more ground. Ravelo's left the bat at 111.5 mph. 

In very limited action this season at the MLB level, Ravelo is now slugging .536.

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