SweetSpot

          Five things we learned Sunday: Dustin Pedroia can still play

          Andrew Miller is a member of the Cleveland Indians; Jonathan Lucroy is not. The Baltimore Orioles picked up Wade Miley, but Jay Bruce is still with the Cincinnati Reds. But there still were games that were played!

          Below is Sunday's top five, on-field edition. (Note: The Chicago Cubs' crazy, 12-inning win over the Seattle Mariners that ended with Jon Lester squeezing in Jason Heyward with two strikes finished after this had been written; really, we could have done a top five just off that game alone.)

          1. Dustin Pedroia is still doing Dustin Pedroia things. You could see it coming. The Red Sox got a couple of runners on base against struggling Angels closer Huston Street. Then Mookie Betts lined a two-out, two-strike single to right-center field to make it a 3-1 score. Then Dustin Pedroia launched one to center field. Mike Trout tried to scale the wall, to no avail. Pedroia's three-run home run gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead, and Xander Bogaerts delivered the exclamation point with another home run.

          Pedroia's fine season has been lost in the glitter of David Ortiz's final campaign and the All-Star first halves of Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr., but he's hitting .303/.373/.453, with 12 home runs, 70 runs and 46 RBIs, and he extends his usual excellent defense.

          Somebody asked me recently about Pedroia's Hall of Fame chances. He's closing in on 50 career WAR, and usually 60 or so is needed to get you into that gray area. Pedroia will have other positives to go with that: an MVP Award, a Rookie of the Year Award and two World Series rings (so far). The analytics have always loved his defense, and while he has won four Gold Gloves, I'm not sure his reputation is in the same area as a Roberto Alomar or Ryne Sandberg, so it's hard to know how much credit voters will give him there. He's in his age-32 season and is signed through his age-37 season in 2021, so the Red Sox hope he ages well. If he has three more solid seasons after this one, he should clear 60 WAR, start compiling some impressive career-counting stats in hits and runs and have a pretty strong case.

          2. Troy Tulowitzki might go on the DL. The Orioles and Blue Jays played a tense, 12-inning game that the Orioles finally won with four runs in the 12th off Franklin Morales and Jesse Chavez, with Adam Jones' three-run homer off Chavez the clinching blow. Having lost five in a row, Buck Showalter wanted this one, even extending closer Zach Britton for two innings while not first waiting for the O's to take the lead. That's what managers should do, but don't do often enough. By not waiting for a save situation, Showalter was able to prolong the game to Toronto's fifth and sixth relievers.

          But the big news out of the game was Chris Tillman hitting Tulo on the thumb, giving him a small chip fracture. Tulowitzki originally stayed in the game, but he eventually departed when he couldn't grip the bat. He'll be evaluated again on Monday. After a slow April, Tulo's been pretty effective since May 1, hitting .272/.319/.516. In a tight AL East race where the Orioles, Jays and Red Sox are separated by 1.5 games, the Jays obviously hope a DL stint can be avoided.

          3. Let's just hope Bartolo Colon never does this. Derek Dietrich snapped an 0 for 23 skid with a walk-off triple -- although some bad defense by the Cardinals' outfield helped out -- as the Marlins won 5-4. As you can see, he was pretty pumped up about the victory:

          4. Tigers burning bright. The Tigers completed an impressive sweep of the Astros, scoring six in the first inning off Dallas Keuchel on the way to an 11-0 victory. James McCann hit a grand slam off his old Arkansas teammate, and Miguel Cabrera homered twice. The news all weekend was about trades the Indians made and didn't make, but with six straight wins, the Tigers are hanging in there, just 4.5 games back. Imagine where they'd be if they weren't 1-11 against the Indians. Their next 19 games are all against decent teams -- White Sox, Mets, Mariners, Rangers, Royals and Red Sox -- so it might be difficult to make up ground on the Indians over this stretch. There's also this: Are they really as good as the Indians? Cleveland has a +97 run differential, while the Tigers are just +18. It will be interesting to see if they do anything on Monday.

          5. Everyone can play great defense! OK, vote for best catch of the day: The Dodgers' ball girl or Cubs pitcher Travis Wood, who was playing left field in a crazy bit of managing by Joe Maddon and made a fine running catch in front of the ivy: