When he was dealt to the Marlins from the Braves on Wednesday night, Jeff Francoeur knew he was joining a team in the postseason race. It wasn’t until Friday that the veteran outfielder realized he was also joining the party.

Talk about a power surge. Carlos Correa and Evan Gattis hit back-to-back homers in the ninth to give the Astros a 5-4 walk-off win over the Rays on Friday night in the series opener. It was Houston’s first win at Minute Maid Park in five games.

With two-fifths of their rotation in flux thanks to injuries to Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross, the Nationals will lean more heavily on the veterans in their rotation to give them strong outings similar to the one left-hander Gio Gonzalez turned in to help guide them to a 8-5 victory over the Rockies on Friday night at Nationals Park.

With the American League Wild Card race especially tight, the Astros can thank Carlos Correa and Evan Gattis for helping to pull off a 5-4 win over the Rays on Friday night.

Creating offense in the first inning has been a particularly difficult task for the Giants this year. That changed Friday, as Brandon Belt and Joe Panik tallied a pair of run-scoring base hits in the bottom of the first that set the stage for a 7-0 win over the Atlanta Braves at AT&T Park.

The Blue Jays’ offense finally came back to life on Friday, recording 15 hits in Toronto’s 15-8 rout of the Twins.

On a day when the Mets announced that they will skip Jacob deGrom’s next start because of mechanical issues, Mets manager Terry Collins couldn’t provide enough praise for Friday’s starter Bartolo Colon, the lone pitcher in New York’s rotation who hasn’t dealt with any sort of lingering issue this season.

Felix Hernandez is starting to look more like, well, Felix Hernandez these days. And it couldn’t come at a better time for the Mariners as they rode their ace to a 3-1 victory over Chris Sale and the White Sox in a battle of two of the American League’s top hurlers on Friday at U.S. Cellular Field.

He’s barely 22 years old, after all, so it was perfectly appropriate for Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia to dedicate his first Major League home run to his mother and father.

Dioner Navarro is returning to the place he called home for the past two seasons.

Chris Sale was unhittable from the fifth inning through the final Seattle batter he faced on Friday night in his Major League-best fifth complete game this season.

Rookie Luke Weaver allowed one run over six innings Friday to pick up his first Major League victory. Jedd Gyorko slugged a two-run home run off A’s starter Ross Detwiler, who allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings. Yonder Alonso had two hits for Oakland, including a home run.

Before Friday’s game against the Brewers, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle directed a short lesson on two-strike hitting to reporters gathered in his office. Shortstop Jordy Mercer was not in attendance, but he must have gotten the lecture notes from somebody.

The Rangers and Indians have each put their Cy Young candidate on display this series. On Friday night, it was Corey Kluber’s turn to show why he belongs in the discussion, and he did just that in a 12-1 victory at Globe Life Park.

Gary Sanchez continued a sensational opening act to his big league career on Friday, homering among his three hits and driving in four runs to help the Yankees trounce the Orioles, 14-4, at Yankee Stadium.

Hampered by a hamstring injury during his first road trip as a Major Leaguer, Yulieski Gurriel returned to the Astros’ lineup on Friday for his home debut against the Rays.

Fans in attendance for Friday’s matchup between Class A Lake County and Lansing were treated to a pitchers’ duel between starters Triston McKenzie and Ryan Borucki, who combined for 11 scoreless innings and 18 strikeouts.