MLB Notebook: Mets get Nieu life with walk-off

When the 1963 season came to a close, the eighth, ninth and 10th spots on the all-time home run list were occupied, respectively, by Willie (Mays, with 406), Mickey (Mantle, 419) and the Duke (Snider, 403). And although each hit walk-off homers that season, Snider was the only one to do it when his team was down.

On June 7, with Snider's Mets hosting the Cardinals at the Polo Grounds, the future Hall of Famer stepped to the plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth with his club trailing, 2-0, runners on first and second, and Diomedes Olivo on the mound. A passed ball got the tying run into scoring position, then Snider capped the rally with a three-run shot -- the 399th homer of his career -- to turn a two-run deficit into a one-run victory.

Down, 3-0, heading into the bottom of the ninth on Sunday, the Mets got a solo homer from Marlon Byrd and then a game-ending three-run homer from Kirk Nieuwenhuis.

With Byrd and Nieuwenhuis homering with the Mets down to their final at-bat, this game marked the first since July 4, 1975, that the Mets hit two home runs in the ninth inning, both coming with the team losing, with the second giving the team the lead (or win). In that Independence Day contest in '75, New York entered the top of the ninth down, 3-1, to Philadelphia. Dave Kingman led off the inning with a homer off Tug McGraw, and then, with two outs and a runner on second, Jerry Grote homered off McGraw to give the Mets a one-run lead. Rick Baldwin pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save, and Tom Seaver recorded his 12th win of the year.

Cleveland hangs doughnut on DC
Corey Kluber (eight innings, seven hits) and Vinnie Pestano combined on a seven-hit shutout in the Indians' 2-0 win over the Nationals. The victory gave Cleveland nine team shutouts -- the club's most through 68 games since the 1968 team had 14. That '68 club finished with 23 shutouts, the second most for the franchise in the live-ball era behind the 26 in 1948.

Cole stays hot
Gerrit Cole was charged with three runs in 5 2/3 innings and picked up the win after the Pirates defeated the Dodgers, 6-3. Cole is one of four Bucs pitchers since 1916 to start and win his first two Major League appearances. The others are Myrl Brown (1922), Jose DeLeon ('83) and Tim Wakefield ('92). Of those three, only Brown also picked up a win in a start in his third appearance.

Puig bunching up the hits
Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig went 3-for-4, giving him 23 hits and eight multihit games through his first 13 contests. Of the eight multihit games, four have included three hits.

Puig is the 13th player since 1916 -- and only Dodger -- to have at least eight multihit games through his first 13 contests.

In addition, Puig is the 13th player since 1916 to have at least four games with three or more hits through his first 13 games. He is one of three Dodgers on this list; Roy Campanella and Lonny Frey each have four as well.

Orioles soaring
Chris Davis doubled and homered, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis each had two doubles, Manny Machado collected his Major League-leading 32nd double and the Orioles doubled up on the Red Sox, 6-3.

Davis leads the Majors in home runs (23) and extra-base hits (45). Those 45 extra-base hits through 70 team games are the most for the franchise. The previous high was 44, by Ken Williams in 1925 and Miguel Tejada in 2005. Davis' 23 home runs through 70 games are the second most in franchise history, behind Brady Anderson's 25 in 1996.

Davis leads the Majors in games with at least two extra-base hits, with 10. The last player to have at least 10 through 70 team games was Jayson Werth, for the Phillies in 2010.

Machado also singled in the game, giving him a Major League-leading 99 hits. Machado's 32 doubles tie him (with 11 others) for the 17th most in a first half of a season since 1933. In addition, with the 99 hits, Machado is the fifth player since 1933 to be in his age-20 or younger season and have that many before the All-Star break.

Royals on a roll
Kansas City climbed to within one game of .500 (33-34) with a 5-3 win over Tampa Bay. The Royals are 11-4 in June, and for the month, the team ERA is 1.80 (the best in the Majors).

June bring kind to Jays
Toronto climbed to within four games of .500 (32-36) with a 7-2 win over Texas. The Blue Jays are 9-4 in June, and for the month, the team ERA is 2.21 (the second best in the Majors).

Hats off to Hunter
Detroit's Torii Hunter hit his 300th career home run, becoming the 136th player in history to reach the milestone. Of the 136, Hunter and 50 others played at least 75 percent of their games in the outfield.

Hunter is also one of eight players to have won at least nine Gold Gloves and collected at least 300 home runs. The others are Ivan Rodriguez (311), Johnny Bench (389), Mike Schmidt (548), Willie Mays (660), Ken Griffey Jr. (630), Andruw Jones (434) and Al Kaline (399).

A's rake behind Colon
Backed by a season-high nine extra-base hits from the Athletics' offense, Bartolo Colon allowed two runs in seven innings in Oakland's 10-2 win over Seattle. Colon has picked up a win in six straight starts, the longest streak for an A's pitcher since Dan Haren won six straight in 2006. During these six starts, Colon has a 1.05 ERA in 43 innings.

The Petco effect?
Kyle Blanks hit his fifth home run of the month -- a three-run shot in the eighth -- and the Padres defeated the D-backs for their sixth straight win. Blanks has a 1.040 OPS in June. Since moving into Petco Park for the 2004 season, two Padres have produced a June OPS of at least 1.000 (in a minimum of 100 plate appearances): Adrian Gonzalez (1.097 in 2010) and Mike Cameron (1.038 in 2006). Since 2004, Cameron has the most homers for a Padres player in June, eight in 2006.