Juan Soto of the Nationals continued his hot hitting Thursday night to widen his lead atop the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Soto goes three for three with two home runs for a game score of 84, the highest of the day. He also drew a walk as Washington beats the Reds 3-2, pushing Cincinnati 5 1/2 games back in the wild card race. Bryce Harper of the Phillies holds second place as he draws three walks in a 12-6 win over the Pirates. Pittsburgh was up 6-0 after the top of the third, but allowed five runs in the bottom of the inning, and the Phillies kept pouring it on. With the Braves losing, the Phillies are now two games out of first place in the NL East.

Soto, Trea Turner, and Harper stand 1-2-3 in the NL batting average race. Imagine if they were still on the same team!

Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals hit a single and two home runs to lead the Cardinals to their twelfth straight win. He remains in third place. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.of the Blue Jays goes one for five in a 7-2 loss to the Twins for fourth place. Matt Olson of the Athletics homered and drew two walks in a 6-5 Mariners win for fifth place. The Mariners sweep the series and sit two games back of the Yankees for the second wild card.