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A look at what's happening around the majors on Thursday:
DAY OF ESTABLISHMENT
With the two teams in pursuit of a title in the NL West series, the Diamondbacks and the Rockies finish their decisive series of four games. Colorado leads the division by 1½ games against the Dodgers, while Arizona is 3½ against. Clay Buchholz (7-2, 2.01 ERA) made his first career start at Coors Field against Rockies southpaw Kyle Freeland (14-7, 2.91), who is 8-2 at home this season. Colorado won Wednesday night 5-4 on the two-point circuit of DJ LeMahieu at the bottom of the ninth inning of Yoshihisa Hirano. This was LeMahieu's first career tour. "Just a good time," he said. "It was awesome."
NO HOLIDAY DAYS
Hooking a one-game lead in NL Central, the Cubs have a one-day stop in Washington to catch up with Sunday's rain. They are not happy to break their home and lose a day off because it means spending 30 days in a row without a day off. "Playing 30 consecutive days is the hard part," said manager Joe Maddon. Mike Montgomery (4-5, 3.85 ERA) faces Joe Ross, who makes his season debut for a national team that has won five straight matches approaching the Phillies collapsed for second place in East NL .
Not a fair fight
The athletic boom is going to make a tripling of the Orioles, the worst team of majors. Oakland embarrassed Baltimore 10-0 on Wednesday night to improve his 34-15 record since the all-star break and get closer in the New York Yankees match for AL's first Wild card. The A's have won six straight games and are 5-0 against the Orioles this season. Baltimore lost six straight games to drop to 41-104, the eighth time this season, the Orioles have lost at least six straight games.
PERMUTATIONS
The Dodgers are closer to NL West's head than they are on a wild card spot, but they could advance on both fronts this weekend against the Cardinals. Los Angeles is playing in a four-game series in St. Louis after the Cardinals' last two games for the second wild card of the NL, and the Dodgers get a goal with Clayton Kershaw. Rookie leftist Austin Gomber (5-0, 2.93 ERA) goes for the Cardinals. "This is a big series for us," said Dodgers receiver Yasmani Grandal. "There is a chance to make moves in this series."
RUN AWAY
The NL East race between the Braves and the Phillies was tight for most of the season, but no more. Five straight wins from Atlanta and five straight defeats from Philadelphia gave the Braves a 7½-game lead with 16 losses. Both teams are contested Thursday before Atlanta hosts Washington this weekend and Philadelphia hosts the Marlins' last place in town. A glimmer of hope for the Phillies: they have seven games to play against Atlanta, including three to end the season.
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