When you're the reigning NL MVP, you're expected to find ways to lead your team to victory. With that in mind, Andrew McCutchen played his role perfectly on Wednesday night, sparking the Pirates offense with a wall-ball turned inside-the-park home run after Phillies center fielder Ben Revere made a leaping attempt. As the ball scooted away from Revere toward right field, McCutchen flew around the bases to score the game's tying run standing up.
"I put the pedal to the metal and got there," McCutchen said later.
"[The wall is] brick. Anything coming in that hard is going to come off of it," said McCutchen, familiar with the surroundings of center field. "You know it's going to go that way because of that angle. Pretty much as soon as it hit the wall, I knew it had a good chance."
Two batters later, Russell Martin gave Pittsburgh the lead for good with a more conventional home run to center field. Martin's ball traveled about the same distance, but drifted enough into left-center that it cleared the wall with ease. That was Martin's second important hit. He also opened the scoring with a two-run single in the first.
Vance Worley, who began his big league career in Philadelphia, was the winner on the hill. He pitched five innings, allowing three runs on four hits. Four Pirates relievers, including closer Mark Melancon, pitched hitless innings to secure Pittsburgh's 6-3 victory.
A'S DROP ANOTHER ONE-RUN GAME:*After a blowout win on Tuesday, the Oakland A's had a chance to stack some wins beginning with Wednesday's game against the Chicago White Sox. Despite seven shutout innings from starter Jeff Samardzija, they were unable to capitalize on their opportunity, falling 2-1 after a disastrous eighth inning.
Or as Josh Donaldson labeled it.*
"The circus came to town."
The White Sox rallied to score the tying and go-ahead runs in the frame. After Carlos Sanchez singled to begin the inning, their efforts were aided by Nate Freiman, whose throwing error allowed the speedy Adam Eaton to reach. Luke Gregorson bounced back to strikeout Alexei Ramirez and Jose Abreu. In between, however, a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. Conor Gillaspie was then walked intentionally to load the bases, which set the stage for Leury Garcia.
Since we've spoiled the ending, you already guessed that Garcia came through. His two-run single would provide the difference, as Oakland lost its sixth one-run game in nine days. That's simply excruciating, and only adding to their misery is the fact the Angels won yet again, pushing their AL West edge to nine games.
Speaking of excruciating, check out Samardzija's luck against the White Sox this season.
Jeff Samardzija 2014 vs #WhiteSox: 16.0 IP, 0 ER, team lost both games.
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) September 11, 2014
Unfortunately, not much has changed for him personally since he left the Cubs. He's still the unluckiest pitcher in the league, and if the A's aren't careful, they'll be joining both Chicago teams by watching the postseason from home.
ORIOLES MOVING IN ON DIVISION CROWN:*
The Baltimore Orioles are one step closer to clinching the American League East*after defeating the Boston Red sox 10-6 on Wednesday afternoon. Their magic number to clinch the division crown dropped to eight but no further with the Toronto Blue Jays also winning 11-1 over the Chicago Cubs.*
Starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen carried a perfect game into the sixth and the Orioles pounded out 15 hits, including three from Adam Jones and seven collectively from catcher Caleb Joseph and shortstop Ryan Flaherty, the seventh and eighth hitters respectively. Joseph drove in three runs with an RBI single in Baltimore's six-run third inning and a two-run homer in the fifth. Flaherty capped their scoring with an RBI double in the ninth.
That run actually looked important in the bottom of the inning. Despite starting the inning leading 10-1, the Red Sox would get the tying run to the on-deck circle before Darren O'Day got Mookie Betts to end the game and record a one-out save. Boston scored five times off reliever Joe Saunders, with Carlos Rivero's three-run homer making it 10-6.
ROYALS SLIDE BACK INTO FIRST: The Kansas City Royals killed two birds with one 3-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers. First, they avoided a three-game sweep in Detroit. Second, and by far most important, they regained a one-game lead in the division race before leaving town.*

"Big Game" James Shields certainly lived up to his nickname on the mound, tossing seven shutout innings while allowing only two hits. He walked one and struck out eight in a lights out performance through the raindrops at Comerica Park. With closer Greg Holland still unavailable, the untouchable Wade Davis handled the ninth flawlessly to earn his third save.
The Royals will head home now to host the last place Red Sox for four games this weekend. The Tigers, meanwhile, will host Cleveland for three.*
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813