Thanks to a two home run day from Ben Rice and a breakout performance from all over the lineup, the Yankees salvaged a split against the Rays at Tropicana Field on Thursday afternoon. Things could’ve been — and were looking they were going to be — worse for a while there, but the Yankees will end the four-game set exactly where they began it: four games back of the Rays in the AL East.
As the Yankees were clawing back one game on the Rays yesterday, there was more action going on around the league.
Let’s check in on some of the action relevant to the Bronx Bombers in today’s Rivalry Roundup.
Cleveland Guardians (48-46) 5, Minnesota Twins (46-48) 2
The Guardians scored four runs from the sixth inning on, allowing them to pull away and maintain their slight edge over the Twins in the standings.
Cleveland struck first when Gabriel Arias homered in the top of the second inning, and they maintained that edge for a little while thanks to starter Gavin Williams, who put in a very solid day, striking out 11 in seven innings. However, the Guardians’ offense couldn’t add to that advantage, which eventually allowed Minnesota to knot the game up in the fifth on a Tristian Gray RBI single.
After losing that lead, the Guardians did then answer right back. Chase DeLauter homered in the top of the sixth to take the lead again, and Brayan Rocchio drove home two runs with a double in the seventh. Williams gave up one more run in the seventh inning, but Cleveland’s bullpen closed the door after that.
Boston Red Sox (43-48) 2, Chicago White Sox (47-45) 1
The Red Sox used five different pitchers to collectively hold their laundry brethren White Sox to just one run and hang on for a victory.
Boston’s Patrick Sandoval and Chicago’s Anthony Kay exchanged a couple zeroes early before the Red Sox opened the scoring. In the fourth inning, Caleb Durbin hit a two-run homer to get Boston on the board and score what would be their only runs of the game. In general, White Sox pitching performed quite well, holding the Red Sox to just four hits. It’s just that Chicago’s offense wasn’t doing much in reply.
An RBI single from Andrew Benintendi scored a run in the fifth inning to cut into Boston’s lead. However, that ended up being their only run. Sandoval only went 4.1 innings in the Red Sox, allowing that one run, but his bullpen did enough for those two runs to hold up. Over the final 4.2 innings, Boston’s bullpen combined to allow just two hits, and finished the game by retiring the final 12 batters in a row.
Miami Marlins (52-42) 8, Seattle Mariners (47-47) 4
Mariners’ starter Bryce Miller has been excellent this season, but he got touched up on Thursday night, as the Marlins’ offense used 12 hits to down Seattle.
The teams traded runs in the second inning, with Seattle taking a lead after Josh Naylor scored via a throwing error that came as he was stealing third. However, Miami answered right back with two runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a Griffin Conine homer and a Liam Hicks RBI single.
The Marlins then began to pull away in a four-run fourth inning. Only four of the six runs Miller allowed went down as earned, mainly coming from one play in the fourth. M’s shortstop Colt Emerson was tagged with two errors on one play as he bounced a throw to first on a potential double play ball. Then on review, the out at second was also overturned as Emerson pulled his foot off the bag as he tried to complete the catch and throw. A run scored on that play and it allowed Miami to pick up another couple runs, including two on a Otto Lopez triple.
The Mariners got a couple runs back, including one on a Randy Arozarena homer, but they didn’t score enough to truly challenge Miami, who picked up some insurance themselves.
