By Ron Kaplan, contributor

Mazel of the day goes to Ian Kinsler, who led off a game with a home run for the 51st time in his 12-year career. It was downhill from there for the Detroit Tigers (8-7), who lost to the host Tampa Bay Rays, 8-1. It was Kinsler’s only hit in three official trips to the plate. He also walked for the 12th time, tops in the American League.

And we have a co-Mazel for the first time: Scott Feldman pitched seven strong innings for the Cincinnati Reds (9-7). Unfortunately, they had to play 10 and wound up losing to the visiting Baltimore Orioles, 2-1. The only blemish against Feldman — who allowed four hits and no walks while striking out four batters —  was a two-out, solo home run in the second by Jonathan Schoop.

Kevin Pillar was 1-for-4 for the Toronto Blue Jays (3-12), who gave up three runs in the top of the tenth to lose to the visiting Boston Red Sox, 4-3. The Jays’ “spark plug” also made his daily bread…

Craig Breslow came on for the Minnesota Twins with one on and one out in the eighth against the visiting Cleveland Indians. He struck out the first batter he faced and gave up a single but escaped without any damage. Breslow started the ninth and retired the lead-off hitter before being relieved. That turned out to be a bad move as his replacement, Ryan Pressly, gave up a walk and back-to-back doubles for another two runs as the Twins (7-8) lost, 6-2.

Alex Bregman hit his fourth double as the Houston Astros (11-5) held off the visiting LA Angels, 2-1. It was their Major League-best 11th win.

Danny Valencia was 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout in the Seattle Mariners’ (7-10) 9-6 loss to the host Oakland A’s.

Anti-Mazel? Ryan Braun didn’t even put the ball in play for the Milwaukee Brewers last night, striking out three times and walking once. The Brew Crew (9-8) still managed to beat the visiting St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5.

Joc Pederson and the LA Dodgers had Thursday off.

Ron Kaplan (@RonKaplanNJ) hosts Kaplan’s Korner, a blog about Jews and sports. He is the author of three books, including The Jewish Olympics: The History of the Maccabiah Games and the forthcoming Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War.

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