The Yankees piled up 16 runs against the Red Sox yesterday. Catcher Austin Wells homered twice in a nine-run eighth inning. He’s the first player to come off the bench and go deep twice in one inning (h/t Sarah Langs of MLB.com and Elias Sports).

1. PCA has a weekend

It seems like Pete Crow-Armstrong is in this space at least once a week. He keeps doing cool stuff, so he keeps getting regular shoutouts. The Cubs outfielder hit two more home runs on Sunday, giving him five in the last two games. The huge performance came on the Sunday Night Baseball stage, which is a nice bump for PCA’s MVP case. Crow-Armstrong went 8-for-16 with 8 RBI in the weekend series against the Reds. Chicago put up 30 runs, but dropped two of three at home to Cincinnati. The Cubs are now tied with the Phillies for the top NL Wild Card spot.

2. Scherzer passes Perry

Max Scherzer put together a vintage performance on Sunday against the Mariners. The Blue Jays righty struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings. The outing moved him ahead of Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry on the all-time strikeout leaderboard. Scherzer now ranks ninth, right behind Justin Verlander. This has been the most productive stretch of the season for the three-time Cy Young winner. Scherzer delivered a 3.62 ERA across six starts in August as the Blue Jays battle to stay in the AL Wild Card race. The veteran has allowed two earned runs or fewer in all but one outing since coming off the IL.

3. Rays win fourth straight with some help

Padres outfielder Samad Taylor had the final out in his glove yesterday against the Rays. But he hit the wall as he made the catch, which jarred the ball loose and deposited it over the fence for a game-tying home run (video link via MLB on X). The unfortunate play resulted in a brutal blown save for Mason Miller. After going more than a calendar year without allowing a home run, Miller has now given one up in back-to-back appearances. The Rays have won four straight and six of seven games. They’ve pushed their lead in the AL East back up to four and a half games.

Photo courtesy of David Banks, Imagn Images