The Yankees broke their losing streak on Tuesday, narrowly defeating the Tigers 4-3 thanks to a timely two-run shot from Jazz Chisholm Jr. to go ahead for good in the sixth inning. Carlos Rodón did enough to keep them in the game, pitching into the sixth inning and allowing all three of Detroit’s runs, and the bullpen was lights out as David Bednar secured his 15th save of the season. With the win, they put the pressure on the rest of the American League to keep up, so let’s see who managed it.
Tampa Bay Rays (43-33) 5, Kansas City Royals (34-46) 12
Kansas
City started off strong early, and then they ran up the score late. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to home runs from Nick Loftin and Jac Caglianone, but Junior Caminero got one of them back in the bottom half on an RBI single to cut the deficit in half. The game stayed in a stand-still from there until the fifth inning, when Shane McClanahan finally buckled. Michael Massey led off with a double and got advanced to third on a bunt, but McClanahan threw the ball away allowing the batter to reach and Massey to score. McClanahan got two more batters to make outs to get on the verge of escaping without a crooked number on the board, but Loftin ripped an RBI single and Caglianone hit his second homer of the game to make it 6-1. All of the runs were unearned due to the error, but given it was McClanahan himself who committed it they might as well have been earned.
We entered pour-it-on territory in the eighth inning, now facing the Rays’ bullpen. A pair of run-scoring doubles, a sacrifice fly, and a wild pitch brought five more runs home and made it an 11-1 blowout. Caminero continued to be the offense for Tampa, this time lifting a solo shot, but Josh Rojas got it right back in the top of the ninth with an RBI double. The Rays finally got their offense cooking in the bottom half, scoring three runs on four hits and a walk, but the rally came nowhere close to closing the gap.
Other Games
Toronto Blue Jays (39-40) 7, Houston Astros (38-43) 9 (11 innings): Houston jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning thanks to homers from Yainer Diaz, Cam Smith, and Taylor Trammell, but Toronto tied it by the seventh thanks to homers of their own from Luis Urías and Daulton Varsho. The Jays then took the lead in the eighth on a two-run single from Kazuma Okamoto, only for the Astros to tie things back up in the ninth thanks to a bases-loaded catchers’ interference and a sacrifice fly.
That brought us to extras, where nothing of note happened in the 10th with both sides going down in order. In the 11th though, Houston finally cashed in with a three-run Joey Loperfido blast.
Toronto got their ghost runner across in the bottom half, but only after a flyout to begin the inning. Two more groundouts closed this one out as Houston continues to crawl closer to the rest of the AL West while Toronto dips back under .500.
Cleveland Guardians (41-39) 1, Chicago White Sox (41-37) 2: The middle innings decided this one, as all the scoring occurred within the fourth through sixth. Colson Montgomery got Chicago on the scoreboard first, flipping a two-out RBI single out to right field. Cleveland countered in the fifth inning with a Kahlil Watson solo shot, but the White Sox recovered their lead in the sixth with a solo blast of their own, this one off the bat of Miguel Vargas. That was all the damage done against Parker Messick as he pitched 7.2 phenomenal innings striking out 10 batters, but it saddled him with a hard-luck loss as the White Sox remain in first place in the AL Central.
Seattle Mariners (41-39) 3, Pittsburgh Pirates (39-40) 2: George Kirby didn’t have his sharpest stuff, scattering eight hits with two walks over six innings, but he managed to limit the damage to just two runs (and only one of them earned). The Pirates built a 2-0 lead by the third inning, but Seattle chipped away with a Cal Raleigh homer in the fourth before Cole Young put them ahead with a two-run shot.
