Thursday night's Major League Baseball action featured only six games but no shortage of action - headlined by a remarkable performance from Bryce Howard as the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 15-1.

The National League leader in batting average, Harper's reputation went before him as he was allowed to walk on all four of his plate appearances.

And as one of those came with the bases loaded, scoring Jordan Zimmerman, and Harper himself reached home on all four occasions, he finished with the curious stat line of four runs and an RBI without a hit or an official at-bat.

The match also did not feature a home run until Danny Espinosa's solo shot rounded off the scoring in the eighth inning. Ryan Zimmerman and Clint Robinson each had four RBIs while rookie Braves pitcher Matt Wisler lasted only into the second inning. The win leaves Washington six games back from NL East leaders the New York Mets.

NL West leaders the Los Angeles Dodgers lost 10-7 to the San Diego Padres, while the second-placed San Francisco Giants suffered a surprise 11-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies featuring two home runs from Carlos Gonzalez and one by Nolan Arenado.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, second in the Central Division and leading the NL wild card race, lost 5-3 to the Milwaukee Brewers as Taylor Jungmann gave up only one run and earned the win for the third time in succession against his favourite opponents.

There were runs galore in the American League too as AL Central leaders the Kansas City Royals won 15-7 against the Detroit Tigers in a game featuring home runs from Lorenzo Cain, Paulo Orlando and the Tigers' Anthony Gose.

Eddie Rosario's grand slam was in vain as the Minnesota Twins lost 6-4 to the Chicago White Sox.