It’s heart attack hotel with this Yankees relief corps, but the bullpen managed to survive another ninth inning comeback attempt to secure consecutive one-run victories over the Blue Jays. It’s made all the more important that they managed to win on a day when Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease was starting, Ryan McMahon and Ben Rice supplying a pair of clutch home runs.
Tampa Bay Rays (32-15) 4, Baltimore Orioles (21-28) 1
It might have gone dormant for the last two seasons, but it looks like the Tampa Bay devil magic is back in the air at the Trop. For years
lauded as one of the premier pitching factories in the league the Rays are back at it again producing impact starters out of nowhere. First, they transformed 35-year-old swingman Nick Martinez into a run suppressing beast. Now, they’ve gone and metamorphosed multi-inning relief ace Griffin Jax into their latest dominant starter. He held the Orioles to a run on three hits and a walk with six strikeouts in five innings, Jax now the owner of a shiny 1.42 ERA in his last five games — all starts after performing below replacement level in a relief role in his first 11 appearances. The lone damage came on the second pitch of the game, Taylor Ward leading off the contest with a home run before Jax went on to pitch five scoreless innings.
Jax’s offense answered right back in the bottom half of the frame. Jonathan Aranda drew a two out walk and scored all the way from first on a Yandy Díaz bullet double to the wall just left of center to make it 1-1. It was all Rays from that point forward, though Orioles starter Kyle Bradish would hold them to just one further run over the next 4.1 innings. That run came in the sixth, Díaz striking again this time with a mammoth 439-foot solo shot to dead center on a center-cut hanging 1-0 slider (though Díaz would have to exit the game after getting hit on the hand by a 94 mph fastball in the eighth).
Tampa Bay wrapped up the scoring by plating a pair in the eighth. Carson Williams replaced Díaz after the hit-by-pitch and raced around to score on a Richie Palacios double. Palacios was then driven home on a bloop single from Jonny DeLuca. With the win, the Rays maintain their three game lead over the Yankees for first and go for the sweep of the Orioles tomorrow afternoon.
Other Games
Cleveland Guardians (28-22) 4, Detroit Tigers (20-29) 3
Parker Messick and Keider Montero had almost identical lines, both allowing three runs in five innings. Cleveland opened the scoring in the second, Kyle Manzardo singling to lead off, Travis Bazzana drawing a walk, Angel Martínez moving the pair into scoring position with a sac bunt and Steven Kwan plating Manzardo with a sac fly. Detroit responded in the bottom-half, Riley Greene drawing a one out walk to set up a two-run blast from Spencer Torkelson. Bazzana restored the Guardians’ lead with a two-run homer in the fourth after Manzardo drew a leadoff walk, the second home run in the MLB career of the first overall pick from 2024. Once again, the Tigers responded immediately, Greene and Hao-Yu Lee reaching on a pair of singles before an errant pickoff attempt at second from catcher Austin Hedges sailed into center allowing Greene to score the tying run. Kwan scored the go-ahead run in the seventh, leading off with a double before advancing to third on a sac bunt and scoring on a soft grounder. Detroit loaded the bases in the eighth and put a pair on in the ninth, but failed to score any either time.
Boston Red Sox (21-27) 7, Kansas City Royals (20-29) 1
This was actually a close game until the ninth when Royals reliever Eli Morgan imploded for four runs, seven of the Red Sox’s 15 hits coming in that frame alone. Ranger Suarez gave the Red Sox 4.1 innings of one-run ball whereas the Royals went with a bullpen game. Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, Willson Contreras, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa all had multi-hit days for the Red Sox. Duran slugged a home run and drove in three, Contreras also drove in three, and IKF went 3-for-3.
Texas Rangers (23-25) 10, Colorado Rockies (19-30) 0
Kumar Rocker authored easily the best outing of his big league career, though it is curious to note that it came as the bulk man after opener Tyler Alexander pitched a scoreless first. Rocker twirled 7.2 shutout innings allowing three hits and three walks against seven strikeouts, racking up 19 swings and misses including a gaudy 57-percent whiff rate on the slider. The Rockies also went with a bullpen game to the polar opposite outcome, opener Sammy Peralta and bulk guy Tanner Gordon combining to give up nine runs on 14 hits and three walks in seven innings. Joc Pederson pinch-hit for Andrew McCutchen in the second and went on to go 4-for-5. Brandon Nimmo went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Ezequiel Duran slugged a pair of doubles and drove in four.
Chicago White Sox (25-23) 2, Seattle Mariners (23-27) 1
Dan Wilson’s decision to demote Luis Castillo from the rotation and have him piggyback off of Bryce Miller’s abbreviated starts as the latter works his way back from an oblique strain backfired spectacularly. In his first ever game pitching out of the bullpen in the majors, Castillo spoiled Miller’s dominant start — 5.2 scoreless innings allowing a hit and a walk against seven strikeouts — by walking Munetaka Murakami followed by a Miguel Vargas HBP. This forced Wilson to call on closer Andrés Muñoz, who promptly yielded consecutive singles to the first two hitters he faced to turn Seattle’s 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit, the Mariners scoring their only run in the first on a Patrick Wisdom RBI ground out with the bases loaded.
