The Yankees had a tense affair to open their homestand against the Blue Jays, as Cam Schlittler wasn’t on his A-game and the offense got a couple across early before shutting down. Despite this, their Cy Young candidate managed to fight through and give them six innings of one-run ball and the crooked number they put up in the second would be enough to survive as they won their fifth straight game and continued to put pressure on their AL rivals to match them.
Tampa Bay Rays (76-52) 3, Baltimore Orioles (62-67) 5After getting swept by the Yankees, the Orioles turned around and scrapped with the top team in the AL. Though the O’s were up 1-0 in the second inning, it looked like the Rays were going to keep them at bay with a three-run frame started by a Junior Caminero double and capped off by a Kenny piper two-run shot. However, that was all the offense the Rays would muster, and the Orioles were far from out of it.
Baltimore’s comeback started right away in the bottom of the second with a Dylan Beavers solo shot, but a couple of one-two-three innings afterwards kept the score in Tampa’s favor. Freddy Peralta started off the fifth by plunking Coby Mayo though, and from there the wheels fell off. Colton Cowser singled and a throwing error brought the runners both into scoring position. After a strikeout brought in the first out, Jackson Holliday lifted a sacrifice fly to tie the game at three. Now an out away from escaping, Peralta faced Pete Alonso and gave him a 2-2 fastball low but down the middle. The Polar Bear punished it, driving the ball 443 feet to left.
View LinkTrevor Rogers held things down once his team got him the lead back, lasting seven innings without any more incidents, and Andrew Kittredge and Rico Garcia pitched through the eighth and ninth without incident. Tampa’s loss coupled with the Yankees’ win cuts the deficit in the AL East to just three games after the little hot streak that New York has built, and getting help from the team you just beat has got to feel great.
Other GamesBoston Red Sox (69-59) 6, San Francisco Giants (52-76) 4: Rafael Devers was traded away in an early midseason move last year, and though he played against his former team quite quickly afterwards that was out in San Fran. This was his trip back to Fenway since the deal, and there was a decent mix of cheering and boos for the former star of the team. Unfortunately for him, the Giants lost his potential revenge homecoming as Logan Webb fell apart in the third inning. Willson Contreras launched a three-run homer with two outs to give Boston the lead, Webb gave up a couple of singles to continue the rally, and then he completely lost the zone sandwiching a walk to Andruw Monasterio around a pair of hit by pitches to push across two more runs. The five spot was enough to survive the Giants’ comeback attempt, though Devers managed to get something for himself as he ripped a solo homer in the fourth inning.
View LinkChicago White Sox (67-61) 6, New York Mets (58-71) 4: The Mets were cruising in this game, up 4-0 after five thanks to a Brett Baty two-run shot and a Bo Bichette solo homer, but the White Sox woke up in the sixth facing Sean Manaea. A trio of homers from Miguel Vargas, Randal Grichuk, and Colson Montgomery tied the game up at four, and that score held until the ninth when Jefry Yan entered to try and bring it to extras. Yan walked Montgomery on six pitches, though he thought he’d gotten him to strikeout twice and did his signature hop off the mound each time. Montgomery got bunted over to second and advanced to third on a groundout bringing Jake Rogers up down to their last out. Rogers got a hold of an 0-1 fastball and drove it just over the reach of center fielder A.J. Ewing for the walk-off two-run blast.
View LinkAL Wild Card Rock FightThose of you who have been around the site for a number of years may remember when our own Jake Devin coined the AL Central Rock Fight title for when we had to cover the division’s many inept but still contending teams. With the way that the third Wild Card has developed this year with multiple teams under .500 competing for it, perhaps its time for a reprisal. We’ll give each of these teams a short summary while they try to scramble out of the muck, and if anyone out West wants to pull away with their division a bit they would be welcomed out of the fracas as well.
Houston Astros (65-64) 4, Athletics (49-80) 0: Let’s start with the Astros, who have been flirting with .500 for a while but have pulled their head above water with this win. Hayden Wesneski gave the ‘Stros five one-hit innings and the bullpen carried his work over, four relievers combining to allow two base hits the rest of the way. A pair of RBI doubles from Yordan Alvarez as well as an Isaac Paredes RBI double and a Christian Walker sac fly were more than enough to give Houston the lead, handing the A’s their league-worst 80th loss.
Texas Rangers (64-65) 2, Los Angeles Angels (51-78) 1 (10 innings): A scoreless game through nine was finally broken up by the Manfred runner, Denzer Guzman leading off the top of the 10th with an RBI double (just the third hit all game for the Angels). The Rangers’ similarly inept offense responded in the bottom half with an RBI double from Wyatt Langford, and then after an intentional walk Ezequiel Duran singled through the left side to walk it off for Texas.
Minnesota Twins (63-66) 2, San Diego Padres (69-60) 6: The Padres jumped ahead 2-0 after a Ty France two-run blast in the first, but coughed that up in the fourth when Kody Clemens tripled in a pair. The home run was the last hit Minnesota would get all game, as Randy Vasquez buckled down for seven strong innings and the Padres rallied for four runs in the fifth on a procession of four singles, a walk, and a sacrifice fly.
Cleveland Guardians (63-66) 9, Colorado Rockies (50-78) 1: The Rockies briefly held a 1-0 lead after Willi Castro knocked a run across in the first, but it was all Cleveland from there. Petey Halpin tied it up with a solo shot in the third, Travis Bazzana gave them the lead with a two-run single in the fourth, and Patrick Bailey put it out of reach with his three-run homer in the seventh inning.
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