It was a light schedule last night, but the runs flowed freely. Philadelphia outlasted Colorado 12-11 thanks to a nine-run 7th inning. Chase Utley had the big night with six RBIs and a grand slam, but let's not overlook Placido Polanco's three hits in front of him, or Jayson Werth's three hits behind him, or the fact that Ryan Howard seems to be slowly working his way back into form, hitting a home run. It was enough to push the Rockies out of the wild-card race at 6 ½ back, just as quickly as the Rocks had fought their way in. Things change in this game in a hurry. Philly also pulled closer to Atlanta, who dropped a 4-2 decision to the Mets. Johan Santana pitched five strong innings in getting a lead over Tim Hudson, but continuing another year of discontent in Queens, Santana had a muscle strain that required his removal after only 65 pitches. Fortunately for New York, the bullpen held up this time.

The American League slugfest came between Minnesota-Detroit, who played a more high-octane version of their back-and-forth one-game playoff from last October. In the end, the Tigers won it 10-9 in the 13th when Gerald Laird homered. It was a wasted opportunity for the Twins, who knocked around Tiger ace Justin Verlander, when Michael Cuddyer, Danny Valencia and Jose Morales doing most of the damage, but couldn't close the deal.

Dan Flaherty is the editor of the Notebook Sports Family, published through the Real Clear Sports blog network, offering daily commentary on baseball ,game analysis in college football and previews in the NFL.