A 5-3 final score does not feel super lousy if you’re just hearing about it in passing. But if you watched any of the Yankees’ game last night in Detroit, it sure felt lousy.
A brief 1-0 lead was lost due to an ineffective Gerrit Cole, as he gave up an uncharacteristic nine hits and five runs, failing to get through five innings on 89 pitches. The Bombers bats didn’t do much against Framber Valdez, and only a two-run homer by Amed Rosario off Drew Anderson brought this back to a two-run game. Jasson
Domínguez struck out with two on and two outs in the eighth, and that was the end of the Yanks’ last real threat. Bummer. The Yanks must get out of the muck today, or they’ll face a potential sweep and five-game skid at the hands of Tarik Skubal tomorrow.
The AL West-leading Mariners were idle on Monday, but here’s some of what else was going on around the Junior Circuit.
Tampa Bay Rays (43-32) 1, Kansas City Royals (33-46) 2
The Yankees’ two-game lead in the AL East remained intact because the Rays had their own lifeless showing in their own ballpark against an underachieving Royals team that didn’t have their best player at their disposal. Not great, Bob(by).
Fortunately for Kansas City, if they have any All-Star this year outside of Bobby Witt Jr., it’s starter Michael Wacha. He got to pitch Monday and handled the Rays pretty easily with seven innings of six-hit, one-run ball, pushing his innings total up to an AL-leading 101 through 16 starts. He only fanned five, but he made the right pitches in the counts he needed them, and this game was over in 2 hours and 13 minutes.
Tampa Bay ace Drew Rasmussen drew the short straw of this pitchers’ duel and lost despite a fair outing of six innings with four hits and two runs allowed. He actually leads the AL in WHIP and BB/9 with a sterling 0.884 and 1.6 respectively. He did walk two yesterday though and the first quickly burned him at the beginning of the second. Lane Thomas doubled in Michael Massey to score the game’s first run in the second, and he moved to third on the play.
Rasmussen buckled down to retire the next three batters in order with two K’s. In the fifth however, KC struck out again, this time with small ball. Nick Loftin got a hit and stole second, and following Rasmussen’s second free pass of the evening, capable catcher Carter Jensen drove Loftin in with a single to center. Rasmussen ended the inning on the next two pitches, but the insurance run was helpful for Wacha, as the Rays plated their only run in the home half of the frame, Yandy Díaz doubling in Richie Palacios with two outs.
Wacha stranded Díaz on a groundout by Jonny DeLuca and retired six of the next seven batters to end his outing with ease. The Rays ran themselves out of a threat in the eighth when a pinch-running Victor Mesa Jr. got thrown out on a stolen base attempt with two outs and masher Junior Caminero at the plate, who generally has runners in scoring position already when he steps up to bat. Oops. Alex Lange tossed a perfect ninth for KC, nailing down the one-run win.
Other Games
Toronto Blue Jays (39-39) 4, Houston Astros (37-43) 2: The Jays got back to .500 for the first time since May 29th. Ace Hunter Brown made his second start off the IL for the Astros, and though he allowed just one run, he was worked through three innings, tossing 85 pitches — one of which left the yard on a Kazuma Okamoto homer. Somewhat amusingly, the rest of the Toronto runs against the Houston bullpen all came on sacrifice flies, the most important coming off the bat of Myles Straw in the seventh to break a 2-2 tie. Those count! Dylan Cease struck out eight in 5.2 innings of two-run ball, though Braydon Fisher got the win with four key outs in middle relief.
Cleveland Guardians (41-38) 5, Chicago White Sox (40-37) 6: This was a spirited back-and-forth on the South Side! It was all Chicago for the first half and change, as Anthony Kay spun six shutout innings and a Randal Grichuk homer helped build a 3-0 lead. But Cleveland came alive with three in the seventh on three singles and two walks off reliever Grant Taylor. Sam Antonacci put the Pale Hose ahead with an RBI knock after the seventh-inning stretch, and manager Will Venable handed the lead to free-agent closer addition Seranthony Domínguez.
It’s been a bumpy road for Seranthony thus far in 2026 unfortunately, and he fell apart in the ninth. He walked Travis Bazzana and uncorked a wild pitch while Bazzana was already stealing, allowing the tying run to move up 90 feet. Patrick Bailey singled him in and Brayan Rocchio followed with an laser double to right. Bailey froze at third and Domínguez did fan Rhys Hoskins for the second out. But Chris Murphy entered and let Kyle Manzardo tie it up on a sacrifice fly that just barely scored Bailey upon replay review.
The more reliable Cade Smith had already thrown a scoreless eighth for Cleveland, and skipper Steven Vogt had no qualms about letting him go for the save in a second inning. Alas, the South Siders had one last rally in ’em. Braden Montgomery worked a one-out walk and Tristan Peters hit a check-swing/excuse-me double down the left field line to put two in scoring position. Pinch-hitter Jacob Gonzalez struck out swinging in his attempt to be the hero, but for the second time in three innings, Antonacci came through. Down to their last strike and in an 0-2 count, Antonacci took ball one, fouled two off, and then singled cleanly to center, scoring both Montgomery and Peters to walk off the Guardians. The two teams are in a virtual tie atop the AL Central.
Watch the full four-ish minute highlight package for this one! It’s a hoot.
