The Yankees fell in lackluster fashion on Wednesday, scoring just a single run en route to a 3-1 loss. Will Warren wasn’t as sharp as his previous outing, but when your offense is as hard-pressed as the Yankees’ lineup is to score multiple runs in a rally you’d have to be in phenomenal form to not walk away with an L. Unfortunately, that meant that they were at the mercy of the red-hot Rays and Red Sox on whether they lost ground for their transgressions, and both saw fit to punish them for slipping
up.
Tampa Bay Rays (68-46) 4, Colorado Rockies (45-70) 0
Remember when the Rays lost four straight coming out of the All-Star break and it looked like the division was anyone’s to grab? That feels like a decade ago already, as Tampa’s turned on the jets ever since and won 12 of their last 16 to open up a 4.5 game lead for first place. The Rockies were looking to avoid a sweep on Wednesday, but despite outhitting the Rays they couldn’t cobble together a single run.
The Rays had no trouble converting on their chances, scoring right away in the first inning. Victor Mesa Jr. led the game off with a triple out to right field, and Jonathan Aranda knocked him in right away with an RBI single. After a Junior Caminero walk and Liam Hicks flyout, Chandler Simpson lined a single out to left to score Aranda and make it 2-0 Tampa. Mesa tripled again in the second, but this time with two outs and Tomoyuki Sugano was able to punch out Aranda instead of repeating history. Unfortunately for Sugano, Caminero greeted him with a homer to lead off the third, his 33rd blast of the year making it 3-0 Rays.
The Rockies had a couple chances early against Nick Martinez but couldn’t convert, stranding a two-out double in the second and a leadoff single in the third that made it to second on a stolen base. The fourth saw Mickey Moniak and Kyle Karros hit back-to-back singles to threaten a rally, but after former Yankee farmhand TJ Rumfield flew out to center Martinez induced a double play ball out of Jordan Beck to escape the jam. Martinez pitched a clean fifth before the Rockies threatened again in the sixth, getting two aboard with two out via singles and chasing Martinez from the game. New pitcher Tyler Wells came in and got Rumfield to chase on a high cutter to strand them both.
Tampa added an insurance run in the seventh, Taylor Walls working a walk before stealing second base and getting bunted over to third and home in consecutive at-bats. Colorado still had no punch with enough weight to challenge Tampa’s pitching, stranding a runner in the seventh and eighth before going down in order to close out the ninth.
Other Games
Boston Red Sox (62-51) 4, Chicago White Sox (59-54) 0: The White Sox fared much the same against Boston, though they came up with even less chances to break through the shutout. The Red Sox got on the board in the first inning of their game as well, Wilyer Abreu hitting a two-out single and advancing to second on a wild pitch before Willson Contreras singled him home. Boston stranded a runner at third in the second but came back for another run in the third when Abreu hit a solo home run and then the game entered a still period through the middle innings where neither side had much going (getting Déjà vu here).
Sonny Gray pitched six strong innings, striking out eight while walking just two, and the only real threat he faced came in the top of the third when he hit Sam Antonacci, walked a batter, and then Miguel Vargas slapped a single to third base. Antonacci attempted to run home after advancing to third as the throw was sent to first, only to get easily thrown out and get a tag stuffed into his face as he slid hard for home plate.
Boston doubled their lead late, a sacrifice fly in the seventh and a Caleb Durbin RBI single in the eighth pushing it to 4-0 for the home team. The Pale Hose didn’t have much bite left in their bats by that point, managing only a single in the eighth and a walk in the ninth before getting put away.
Cleveland Guardians (57-58) 5, New York Mets (49-66) 6 (10 innings): With the ChiSox falling Cleveland had a chance to capitalize, but the lowly Mets managed to get in their way. Brett Baty and Jorge Polanco both homered in the third inning and Jared Young added on an RBI single in the fourth to give the Mets a 3-0 lead, but it got erased by the fifth as Travis Bazzana knocked a run across in the bottom of the fourth and Nathaniel Lowe brought in two more in the fifth via baseknocks. Carson Benge briefly brought the Mets back into the lead with a solo shot, only for Patrick Bailey to give Cleveland their first lead of the night with a two-run single in the seventh.
Cade Smith’s attempt to convert the save in the ninth turned into a disaster as he walked a pair around a Polanco double to load the bases with two outs. Smith got a chopper hit to shortstop Brayan Rocchio for the potential final out, but it hit off his glove allowing the tying run to cross, and then in extras Bo Bichette immediately scored the Manfred runner while Steven Kwan bunted a pop out to lead off the home half of the 10th. The newly-acquired Jo Adell also popped out and Lowe hit a soft grounder to first to end it.
Houston Astros (59-57) 4, Toronto Blue Jays (54-61) 5 (10 innings): Houston also struggled to pick up a game against a last-place foe, falling in extras. They missed a golden opportunity in the first inning when a pair of walks and a Jose Altuve single loaded the bases with one out against Jameson Taillon, but Taillon was able to escape getting a pop up out of Taylor Trammell before striking out Christian Walker. He wasn’t as fortunate in the third, Altuve jumping on a middle-middle cutter for a solo shot before Walker doubled in another run and LaMonte Wade Jr. singled him home to make it 3-0 Houston.
Toronto made it a game in the sixth inning, however. Myles Straw hit a one-out double to start the rally, and after Nathan Lukes grounded out Kazuma Okamoto singled up the middle to put Toronto on the board. Jesús Sánchez was up next and worked a 3-0 count before getting a high fastball that he gave himself the green light for. It was a good decision as he crushed it, launching a two-run homer to tie the game at three. The Astros threatened to take the lead right back, getting runners on second and third with no out in the bottom half, but a pair of weak pop ups surrounded a strikeout to strand both of them. They wouldn’t get any more chances in the seventh, eighth, or ninth innings, and when extras rolled around Ernie Clement punished the first pitch he saw for a two-run blast.
Yordan Alvarez led off the bottom of the second with a hard-hit ball into the corner in right, easily scoring the Manfred runner, but he inexplicably jogged standing up into second base and got tagged out. The Astros challenged but the call was upheld, and despite Joe Espada’s protests (which resulted in him being ejected) the call stood and the next two Astros could only lift fly ball outs to end it.
