One Yankee rival lost early on Saturday as the Yanks took down the Blue Jays 3-1, with Paul Goldschmidt providing a clutch game-winning, two-run bomb in the ninth. Goldy’s heroics meant that Cam Schlittler’s start, wherein he held the Jays down outside of a Kazuma Okamoto solo home run, didn’t go to waste.
All told, Saturday was a good day for New Yorkers. The Knickerbockers capped a magical run to win their first NBA championship in 53 years. And José Soriano and the Los Angeles Angels had the good sense
to hang an L on the Tampa Bay Rays, giving the Yanks a full game lead in the American League East.
Tampa Bay Rays (40-27) 0, Los Angeles Angels (29-42) 8
Griffin Jax was really good for Tampa Saturday. He gave up a run in the first, unearned thanks to a Taylor Walls error. Other than that, however, the Angels could not touch Jax. Alas, he couldn’t throw all nine frames for the Rays and they went to their bullpen in the sixth.
And once that happened, the Angels went to work. They scored three runs in the sixth, including putting one on Craig Kimbrel who, in his 17th season is pitching for this 11th club. In the seventh, more of the same. Four more runs, led by a Jose Siri two-run shot, doubled the Angels’ lead.
An eight-run lead is generally pretty insurmountable. It is even more so when you’re facing José Soriano. The Angels’ ace has scuffled of late, but on Saturday night he was nails, throwing five shutout innings before giving way to the bullpen. Unlike Tampa’s pen, LA’s relievers were up to the task, continuing the shutout and providing four innings with just two hits.
Other Games
Seattle Mariners (37-35) 3, Washington Nationals (36-35) 8: Luis Castillo has had a rough 2026 season. Saturday was more of the same, except his defense did him absolutely zero favors committing three errors in the first five innings. Of the five Nationals runs on Castillo’s ledger, only one was earned thanks to the shoddy glovework behind him.
Seattle fought back from an early 3-0 deficit to tie the game in the top of the fifth. Unfortunately for the M’s, Castillo couldn’t deliver a shutdown inning. A two-run Luis García Jr. home run broke the tie and gave Washington a lead they never surrendered. The Nats put the game out of reach in the home seventh when they plated three more runs. The win nudges them back above .500, something I doubt many fans thought they’d see from the Nationals this year, fresh off a 66-96 record last season.
Cleveland Guardians (39-33) 3, Detroit Tigers (29-42) 1: Tarik Skubal underwent surgery on his throwing elbow to remove loose bodies on May 6th. On June 13th, he took the mound for the Tigers — an absolutely wild recovery timeline. Understandably, he was not at his best in his return, but it’s still incredible how quickly he made it back to the big leagues. He threw 80 pitches Saturday, giving up three runs (two earned) in 4.2 innings. Skubal hit 99.9-mph on the radar run with the heater, so apparently the arm is fine.
It’s not all good news for Cleveland, however. Rookie Chase DeLauter crashed into outfield wall in the top of the first inning and departed the game in the bottom half after a single. Hopefully he’s okay. His replacement, Daniel Schneemann, provided the big blast off Skubal though, with a two-run home run in the third that broke a 1-1 tie.
