Southpaw Mark Buehrle set the tone, firing seven scoreless innings with five strikeouts while Adam Lind and Ryan Goins provided RBI hits for the Blue Jays in a 3-2 win over the Royals on Friday night.

Beat the Streak leader Clement Uduk stepped back into the spotlight on Friday, calling on D-backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, as the Oregon resident extended his streak to 42 straight picks and moved closer to the $5.6 million grand prize.

Before the Mets opened their series at Nationals Park on Friday, New York manager Terry Collins called starter Dillon Gee “a huge savior” for his steady performance in a rotation beset by injuries. Gee backed that statement up with 7 2/3 strong innings of two-run ball to record his 10th win in the Mets’ 3-2 victory over the Nationals.

With Garrett Jones’ lively left bat supporting Francisco Liriano’s even livelier left arm and a sellout crowd of 38,026 losing its collective head over all of it, the Pirates downed the Cardinals, 5-0, to tie them for the National League Central lead. Both teams are 78-56 with 28 games remaining, including two more in this series.

The Twins used a pair of seventh-inning homers from Chris Herrmann and Justin Morneau to go from being no-hit by Yu Darvish to a 3-2 victory over the Rangers on Friday night at Rangers Ballpark.

There were just a handful of Rays players hanging out in the clubhouse before Friday night’s game against the Athletics. Those were the smart ones.

Already assisting the Cardinals’ climb to the top of the division by winning four of six games on a road trip through Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, the Brewers sent experienced late-inning reliever John Axford to St. Louis on Friday in a trade the Cardinals hope will further aid their postseason push.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly benched Yasiel Puig on Wednesday, but the rookie was back in the lineup on Friday and both Mattingly and general manager Ned Colletti seemed ready to move past the whole ordeal.

The Orioles picked up a power bat for the stretch run, acquiring outfielder Michael Morse from the Mariners on Friday in exchange for Minor League outfielder Xavier Avery.

The record came in a bittersweet first inning on Friday night for Jose Fernandez, but the big picture puts the achievement in perspective. With an 81-mph curveball, Fernandez struck out Chris Johnson swinging to establish a Marlins rookie strikeout record.

Michael Young’s fourth hit was a go-ahead single in the ninth to give the Phillies a 6-5 comeback victory over the Cubs in the opener of a three-game series at Wrigley Field on Friday afternoon. Interim manager Ryne Sandberg, who played 15 seasons for the Cubs, returned to Chicago for the first time as a manager.

The Dodgers announced the signing of free-agent pitcher Edinson Volquez on Friday to a contract for the rest of the season, providing an additional candidate for the club’s plan to use a sixth starter in September.

Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz, currently serving a 50-game suspension that runs through the end of the regular season, gave a brief statement to the media at the Ballpark in Arlington on Friday, once again apologizing for violating the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program in relation and expressing hope that he will be on the postseason roster if the team advances that far.

The Phillies announced on Friday that they have signed 26-year-old Cuban right-hander Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez to a three-year, $12 million contract.

I had not heard of Ismael Dionicio when I entered the stadium to watch the Angels take on the host Cubs in an Arizona League game. Right off the bat, I was intrigued by what I was seeing.

We all thought that would be Ryne Sandberg over there in the Cubs’ dugout, enduring the long rebuilding process gallantly and graciously, connecting Cubs fans to all that was good and what could be again. A budding leader and P.R. persona doing what he loves in the city that loves him and in the ballpark where his name and number fly high on the right-field foul pole. The story got screwed up somewhere along the way, writes Anthony Castrovince.

The expansion to two Wild Cards in each league — and the uncertainty of playing in a winner-take-all Wild Card game — has helped restore the importance of being a division winner.