After taking some dumb losses last week, the Yankees came into this week with absolutely no breathing room left in the AL East race. The Rays magic number was down to two, meaning any Tampa Bay victory in the four-game series this week would see them clinch the division in the Bronx.
Looking to at least prevent that, the Yankees took the opener of Tuesday’s doubleheader thanks to a dominant outing from Carlos Rodón. Unfortunately, they did not put in the best of performances in the second game, and
a Rays victory ended the AL East race.
The win in the opener did clinch the top AL Wild Card spot at the very least, so there will be at least two games at Yankee Stadium in October. However, that means the Yankees are now locked into the #4 seed no matter what happens to them or other teams the rest of the season. While the Yankees’ don’t have much left to play for in the regular season, that’s not accurate around the rest of the AL. Let’s check in on what happened in those races in today’s Rivalry Roundup.
Cleveland Guardians (82-75) 3, Boston Red Sox (84-73) 2
Nathaniel Lowe’s go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth gave the Guardians another crucial victory in the AL Central race.
Cleveland jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in this one. In the second inning, David Fry hit an RBI single, while the Guardians scored another run on a double play with a runner at third. The Red Sox got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the frame as Andruw Monasterio hit into a run-scoring ground out.
That lead stood up for quite a while for Cleveland, as Parker Messick put in five solid innings, followed by a couple scoreless innings from their bullpen. However in the eighth, Mickey Gasper hit a pinch hit homer to tie things up with Boston down to their last couple outs.
Despite their newfound life, the Red Sox had the wheels come off in the ninth. Reliever Erik Miller hit Chase DeLauter with a pitch and then gave up a single to Jo Adell, putting runners at the corners. Lowe then hit his sac fly, but Cleveland left two runners on after that, missing a chance at a bigger lead. That didn’t end up costing them, though as Cade Smith worked around a walk to finish things off.
Other Games
- Chicago White Sox (81-76) 14, Kansas City Royals (69-90) 11: Cleveland’s win ended up allowing them to maintain a one-game lead in the Central, as the White Sox won a wild one in Kansas City. Chase Meidroth led the way for Chicago with a five-RBI, three-hit game that allowed the White Sox to open up a 14-4 lead. However, things got unexpectedly tight down the stretch, as the Royals scored three runs in the eighth and four in the ninth. Chicago got the final outs after that to prevent any more danger, keeping them a game back in the Central.
- New York Mets (72-85) 6, Texas Rangers (78-79) 3: Meanwhile over in the AL West, the entire division is back below .500 as the first place Rangers dropped one to the Mets. While Texas led 3-2 going into the sixth, the Mets put up three runs, taking the lead on a two-run Francisco Alvarez double. The Rangers had no answer after that as just one Texas batter reached base after the Mets took the lead.
- Houston Astros (78-79) 8, Seattle Mariners (73-84) 0: The Astros were able to take advantage of Texas’ loss, crushing the Mariners to draw even atop the West. Houston took the lead before an out had even been recorded, thanks to Yordan Alvarez, and they only kept adding on from there. Christian Walker hit a three-run homer in the third, while Alvarez added one of his own later.
- A Toronto Blue Jays- Baltimore Orioles game scheduled for yesterday was rained out and will be made up as part of a doubleheader today.
