Orioles back on Red Sox heels after Kevin Gausman gem

Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.

The stars aligned for a rare pitcher’s duel between the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox on Wednesday. In this case, the stars were Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman and Boston’s 20-game winner Rick Porcello.

Despite Porcello pitching arguably his finest game of the season, Gausman was one step ahead all night and helped his Orioles secure a 1-0 victory. In doing so, Baltimore won the series and moved to within a single game of Boston for first place in the AL East.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now]

Needless to say, the race is on with Toronto also just two games back. The focus on this night belonged on Gausman after he fired eight scoreless innings against Boston’s explosive offense. Gausman limited Boston to four hits and one walk while striking out six. Manager Buck Showalter then turned to All-Star closer Zach Britton in the ninth and watched him throw a perfect inning for his 43rd save.

Considering the powerful force that is Baltimore’s offense, Porcello’s Cy Young bid definitely improved in defeat. He made one mistake, allowing Mark Trumbo’s 42nd home run in the second inning. Otherwise, his numbers were exactly the same as Gausman’s minus one walk.

A hat tip to both starters for their effort, but the bottomline is this was a huge boost to Baltimore’s push for a division championship.

TOP PERFORMERS

Anthony Rizzo and Jon Lester: Chicago’s magic number to clinch the NL Central is down to one after defeating the Cardinals 7-0 at Busch Stadium. The Cubs were led offensively by Anthony Rizzo, who delivered his 30th and 31st homers of the season. His two-run shot in the ninth put him over 100 RBIs for the second straight season. On the hill, Lester pitched eight scoreless innings, holding St. Louis to three singles. Chicago will now have a chance to clinch the division at home on Thursday night against the Brewers.

Alex Cobb: Sometimes it takes a pitcher several big-league appearances to get comfortable coming off Tommy John surgery. Not Cobb. He continued looking very impressive, limiting the powerful Blue Jays to one run on two hits while striking out four in a Rays 8-1 victory. In three starts overall, which include two against Toronto and one against the New York Yankees, Cobb has posted a 3.09 ERA over 17 2/3 innings. The Rays won both games against Toronto, so he might have a big role in the AL East being decided.

Ian Kinsler: Only a home run stood between Ian Kinsler and a cycle. He doubled leading off the game for Detroit. In the second inning, he knocked home one with a single. In the fourth, he tripled home another run. He then grounded out in the sixth and singled again in the eighth to fall short, but his three RBIs were a big part of Detroit’s 9-6 win against the Twins.

Jean Segura: How’s this for a two-game outburst? Segura has eight hits in 11 at-bats over the span with four home runs, five RBIs and six runs scored. That included a five-hit, two-homer game in Arizona’s 11-6 sweep-clinching win against the Rockies.

MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT

Before tensions nearly boiled over at Turner Field, Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna turned up the heat on Braves pitcher Julio Teheran with this rocket throw. That goes down as the rare 9-3 put out in the scorebook. Ozuna also crushed a three-run homer against Teheran that helped pace the Marlins 7-5 victory.

REST OF SCOREBOARD

Mariners 2, Angels 1: Make that eight straight wins for the red-hot Mariners. Seattle received solo home runs from Kyle Seager and Nelson Cruz, to go along with 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball from Hisashi Iwakuma. The bullpen brought it home, with Edwin Diaz earning his 16th save. With the win, Seattle has climbed to 1 1/2 behind Toronto for the second wild card spot.

Padres 3, Giants 1: San Francisco’s woes continue after losing a home game to the fourth-place Padres with Madison Bumgarner on the hill. They are now 20-35 since the All-Star break.

Nationals 1, Mets 0: Washington won this important series thanks to a Wilson Ramos home run. Right-hander Tanner Roark contributed seven scoreless innings before giving way to Blake Treinen and Mark Melancon.

Dodgers 2, Yankees 0: The Dodgers scored two unearned runs in the ninth inning on errors by Starlin Castro and Dellin Betances. Justin Turner knocked home the winning run with a double.

Astros 8, Rangers 4: A good news, bad news game for Houston. They won the game to move within 3 1/2 games of the wild-card. But they also lost Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman to potentially complicated injuries.

Phillies 6, Pirates 2: At 65-81, Philadelphia is now only six games behind Pittsburgh in the standings. Few people saw that coming.

Brewers 7, Reds 0: Would you believe the Reds have now used a team-record 31 pitchers this season? It’s true!

A’s 8, Royals 0: The sixth shutout of the night belongs to Sean Manaea and four A’s relievers.

Indians 6, White Sox 1: Cleveland broke the game open on Coco Crisp’s three-run homer. It’s Crisp’s first homer since returning to Cleveland on Sept. 3.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @Townie813