Games of the Year

Madison Bumgarner became the first pitcher to homer twice on Opening Day with solo shots in the fifth and seventh innings, but Arizona walked it off against new Giants closer Mark Melancon on Chris Owings' RBI single to right. Bumgarner didn't just do damage at the plate, dazzling on the mound with 11 strikeouts. But the D-backs broke up his perfect game with a three-run sixth, punctuated by A.J. Pollock's homer to let ace Zack Greinke off the hook.

Randal Grichuk's homer in the eighth had the Cardinals up, 3-0, but Willson Contreras brought the Cubs to life with a game-tying shot off Seung Hwan Oh in the ninth. After the St. Louis closer stopped the rally, Grichuk delivered a two-out walk-off single in the bottom of the inning.

After rain delayed a joyous banner-raising ceremony for nearly two hours, the cubs weathered a late rally with clutch pitching before Anthony Rizzo hit a walk-off single for his first RBI of the season in the home opener. Kris Bryant hit an RBI double and Jon Lester had an RBI while pitching six strong innings. Corey Seager had an RBI double for the Dodgers, who tied it in the eighth on a reviewed force out.

Bartolo Colon surrendered one hit over seven dominant innings and the Braves erased Trevor Cahill's no-hit bid with a middle-inning offensive flurry that propelled them to Sunday afternoon's win over the Padres at SunTrust Park. On the way to winning their fourth straight game and remaining undefeated in their new stadium, the Braves saw Colon surrender Ryan Schimpf's solo homer in the second inning and then retire 16 of the final 17 batters he faced. Brandon Phillips had three hits and three RBIs to pace the Braves offensively.

With the bases loaded and one out in the ninth, Logan Morrison hit into a fielder's choice that saw shortstop Jose Iglesias throw wild to first. Two runs scored, and the Rays had a walk-off win. Evan Longoria (Rays) and Nicholas Castellanos (Tigers) had three-RBI games.

In a game that included eight home runs, Matt Holliday's three-run shot in the 10th delivered the Yankees a walk-off slugfest win. The Yanks were down eight runs after the O's bats broke out -- highlighted by Manny Machado's 470-foot homer and Mark Trumbo's grand slam -- but they stormed back. Aaron Judge homered twice -- including a shot with a 119.4-mph exit velocity -- and Jacoby Ellsbury hit a slam of his own before Starlin Castro went deep off Brad Brach to force extras.

Yasiel Puig, Cody Bellinger and Justin Turner hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the ninth inning before Adrian Gonzalez notched the game-winning knock as the Dodgers pulled off an incredible comeback to walk off vs. the Phillies. Bellinger's homer was his second of the night, as the top prospect slugged his first career blast in the seventh to spark the rally.

Brett Gardner launched a three-run homer to right field and then Aroldis Chapman, who received his World Series ring in a pregame ceremony, picked up the save in his return to Wrigley Field. Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber went deep for Chicago, but Hector Rondon, who was trying to notch his first save, couldn't slam the door shut in the ninth.

Austin Barnes' RBI double in the 10th inning gave the Dodgers their ninth win in 10 games, but the Pirates didn't make it easy. L.A. starter Julio Urias took a no-hitter into the seventh, but Andrew McCutchen's leadoff double started a game-tying rally. An inning later, John Jaso's homer gave the Bucs a lead, but Cody Bellinger's RBI single in the ninth set up Barnes' heroics in extras.

Chris Sale struck out 10-plus for a record-tying eighth straight appearance and Jackie Bradley Jr. robbed Ryon Healy's would-be walk-off homer with a catch over the center-field wall in the ninth, but that wasn't enough to keep the A's from beating the Red Sox, as Mark Canha led off the 10th inning with a homer to finish a single shy of hitting for the cycle.

Jake Marisnick's homer in the eighth inning was one of four long balls the Astros hit in their win over the Tigers in the series finale on Thursday. The Astros also got home runs from Carlos Correa, Marwin Gonzalez and Juan Centeno, all in the fourth inning, off Justin Verlander, who allowed six earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. J.D. Martinez and Justin Upton hit homers for the Tigers.

Edinson Volquez said he thought he broke his ankle on the first play of the game, a collision at first base, but the righty, who pitched with a heavy heart on what would've been his late friend Yordano Ventura's 26th birthday, stayed in and faced the minimum in the sixth no-hitter in Marlins history. Volquez walked two and needed just 98 pitches, all while hobbling between innings. Justin Bour plated two, including one in a two-run eighth. Volquez struck out the side after that.

The wait is over. Albert Pujols smacked his 600th career home run in the fourth inning and did it in style, launching a grand slam off of Twins starter Ervin Santana. It was the sixth of seven grand slams on the day across MLB and there was also a no-hitter. In the third inning Andrelton Simmons and Kole Calhoun hit back-to-back jacks for the Halos and Pujols came to the plate with a chance to make it three in a row for his 600th, but he struck out. Max Kepler hit a solo shot for the Twins.

Scooter Gennett became the 17th player in Major League history and the first Red to hit four home runs in a game. His first home run was a grand slam off Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, who gave up nine runs over 3 2/3 innings, and he finished with a franchise-record-tying 10 RBIs. Eugenio Suarez also delivered a three-run triple to back Tim Adleman's seven strong innings. Stephen Piscotty's homer accounted for the Cards' only run.

The inaugural Clayton Kershaw-Stephen Strasburg matchup lived up to the hype, with the Dodgers breaking through in Strasburg's final frame -- on Corey Seager's homer and Yasmani Grandal's double. Grandal drove in Adrian Gonzalez, who struck out, but reached on a passed ball, then moved to second on a wild pitch. Kershaw held the Nats to Ryan Zimmerman's homer in seven innings, while Pedro Baez escaped the eighth despite allowing Trea Turner's leadoff triple.

Nolan Arenado completed the third cycle at Coors Field this season in dramatic fashion, hitting a three-run homer off Giants closer Mark Melancon in the ninth inning as the Rockies finished a four-game sweep. Arenado's shot negated Hunter Pence's first career pinch-hit homer, which had given the Giants the lead in the top of the frame.

After Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka dueled into the late innings in their first matchup in the Majors, the Rangers broke through in the ninth when Elvis Andrus scored the game's first run on a passed ball. But the Yanks did not go quietly, as Brett Gardner hit a game-tying homer off Matt Bush before Ronald Torreyes laced a walk-off single in the 10th. Darvish fanned 10 over seven innings of two-hit ball, while Tanaka K'd nine and allowed three hits in eight innings.

It was Yuli Gurriel who got things started for the Astros with a two-run homer in the fifth, Yuli Gurriel who capped his team's go-ahead rally with a two-run double in the eighth, and Yuli Gurriel who put the exclamation point on the victory by tagging out Brett Gardner as he attempted to get back to first on a base hit in the ninth. Houston's come-from-behind win came on a night of some major milestones for two Yankees, as Didi Gregorius hit his first grand-slam, and Clint Frazier went deep in his first Major League game.

During the pregame ceremonies of the 88th All-Star Game, Robinson Cano caught a ceremonial first pitch from Juan Marichal as part of a tribute to eight Latin-born Hall of Famers. In the 10th inning on Tuesday, Cano built upon his own legacy with a home run off Wade Davis that lifted the American League to a 2-1 win over the National League.

The D-backs book-ended the game with drama. David Peralta, A.J. Pollock and Jake Lamb went back-to-back-to-back off reigning NL Cy Young Award-winner Max Scherzer to start the game. The Nats battled back from down five runs to tie the game in the eighth on Wilmer Difo's RBI groundout. But the D-backs wouldn't be denied, loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth on Pollock's triple off Enny Romero and two intentional walks. Brandon Drury's single delivered the win.

Steve Pearce's walk-off grand slam, his second in the past four days, capped one of the most dramatic comebacks in Toronto franchise history. The rally from a six-run deficit was the club's biggest when trailing entering the ninth inning. Kevin Pillar got the rally started with his 12th home run of the season to bring the Blue Jays within four. Albert Pujols was in vintage form for the Angels, snapping a 0-for-24 skid with his first multi-home run game of 2017. Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun left the game with a sore right hamstring.

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th career hit, a double in the fourth inning, came ahead of Rougned Odor's two-run single, but the Orioles made Beltre's milestone day a losing one with a nine-run outburst over the fourth and fifth innings. Welington Castillo led the charge with four RBIs, including a three-run homer after Jonathan Schoop's two-run shot, and Baltimore's bullpen hung on to the lead despite Odor adding two homers in a five-RBI game.

Indians center fielder Austin Jackson made a homer-robbing catch in the fifth, but there was no way he was going to snare Christian Vazquez's three-run walk-off homer over the Green Monster. The Tribe rallied for two runs off Boston closer Craig Kimbrel in the ninth, but Cody Allen couldn't slam the door shut in the bottom half of the frame. He struck out Mitch Moreland for what should have been the game's final out, but a wild pitch prolonged the inning and set the stage for Vazquez's heroics.

Suddenly, the Cardinals are a lot closer to the cat-bird seat in the top-heavy National League Central. In a wildly entertaining chain of events that featured a stray cat delay, the Redbirds continued their red-hot ways against cross-state rival Kansas City. Yadier Molina belted a grand slam in the sixth inning that catapulted St. Louis from a 5-4 deficit to an eventual 8-5 victory.

After the Blue Jays took a two-run lead in the top of the 10th, the cubs rallied with three runs in the bottom of the frame, winning on Alex Avila's two-run single to walk off with a sweep. Chicago's Albert Almora Jr. hit a bases-clearing double, but former Cub Miguel Montero eventually tied the game with a homer. Kevin Pillar, who made an incredible catch in the ivy, hit a go-ahead single in the top of the 10th, but the Cubs loaded the bases in the bottom of the frame to set up Avila's heroics.

Trevor Williams did his best to hang with Rich Hill, holding L.A. off the scoreboard. But Hill took a perfect game into the ninth, and no-hitter into the 10th before Josh Harrison ended everything with the Pirates' first hit, a walk-off HR to left.

Texas hit 3 homers and withstood a late Angels rally to win the opener of a huge series. Carlos Gomez scored the winning run on a steal, error and wild pitch in the 8th, and Alex Claudio went the final 1 2/3 innings for the win. Gomez, Joey Gallo and Shin-Soo Choo homered, and Elivis Andrus had 3 RBIs. Albert Pujols had 4 hits and 4 RBIs -- passing Willie Mays -- and L.A. came back from5 down to tie it on Kole Calhoun's sac fly in the 8th. But they couldn't get over the hump, falling to 1 1/2 games back in the Wild Card race with the loss.

The Indians got back-to-back homers from Roberto Perez and Francisco Lindor in the sixth inning and a strong start from Trevor Bauer to sweep the Orioles with their 18th straight win and pass the Astros for the best record in the American League at 87-56. With the win, Cleveland became only the fifth team in MLB history to win at least 18 in a row. Jonathan Schoop had three hits and Chris Davis homered for the Orioles, who remain three back of the Twins for the second AL Wild Card spot.

With their historic win streak in jeopardy, the Indians tied it in the ninth on Francisco Lindor's two-out, two-strike double, then walked off with their 22nd straight victory on Jay Bruce's knock. The Tribe had been held to Lonnie Chisenhall's RBI single until the ninth, but Kelvin Herrera and Brandon Maurer couldn't follow Royals starter Jakob Junis' lead. Cleveland's pen, meanwhile, went 4 1/3 scoreless.

Eric Thames laced a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning and Miller Park was pulsating in anticipation of a huge win, but with the Cubs down to their final strike, Javier Baez ripped an RBI single to force extras and then Kris Bryant belted a go-ahead two-run homer in the 10th to deal the Brewers a crushing defeat as Chicago extended its NL Central lead over Milwaukee to 4 1/2 games. The Crew remained one game behind Colorado for the 2nd NL Wild Card spot.

The Cubs twice had a one-run lead with Wade Davis on the mound, the first erased when Orlando Arcia took Davis deep for a solo homer in the ninth. The second lead disappeared once Travis Shaw lifted a two-run homer in the 10th for Milwaukee's walk-off win. The Cubs' magic number to clinch the NL Central held at 5, and the Brewers drew to within 4 1/2 games in the division and one game of the second NL Wild Card.

Ian Happ's solo HR started the Cubs' scoring, and after Dexter Fowler's RBI grounder tied the game in the sixth, the game remained deadlocked until the 11th, when Taylor Davis doubled home Kyle Schwarber. Leonys Martin's HR-robbing catch ended the game and put an end to the Cardinals' NL Wild Card aspirations.

For the first time since they won it all in 1988, the Dodgers are heading back to the Fall Classic, as Enrique Hernandez's historic three-homer, seven-RBI night and ace Clayton Kershaw's six sharp innings dashed the defending champion Cubs' dreams of repeating with an NLCS Game 5 blowout at Wrigley. Hernandez drilled a solo shot in the second, a game-breaking slam in the third and a two-run drive in the ninth, setting club records for homers and RBIs in a postseason game and tying a pair of MLB marks. Justin Turner and Chris Taylor shared NLCS MVP honors, while the bullpen extended its postseason scoreless streak to 23 consecutive innings. The NL champs -- who limited the Cubs to just eight runs in the series -- will host the winner of the Yankees-Astros ALCS on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

Houston is headed to the World Series for the second time in franchise history, and first as an American League team. The Astros again stifled the Yanks at home, where they stayed unbeaten this postseason. Charlie Morton threw five innings of two-hit ball, and Lance McCullers Jr. gave up just one hit through four frames to cap the shutout. Evan Gattis and Jose Altuve went deep, while Brian McCann plated a pair.