After getting Monday off on their way back from the west coast, the Yankees returned to action Tuesday night, opening a series against the Guardians. And, well…it could have gone better.
For one, Aaron Judge was out of the lineup, as he apparently is dealing with a bone bruise, which flared up over the weekend in Sacramento. On the field, Cam Schlittler had arguably the worst start of his young career, as he gave up five runs in just 4.1 innings. Mainly thanks to Paul Goldschmidt, the Yankees’ offense
kept going back and forth with Cleveland for a while. However eventually, more Guardians’ hits started to find some grass, and they pulled away and broke the game open.
While the Yankees will licking their wounds after that one, did the loss come back to haunt them in the standings? Let’s check in on Tuesday’s action in this morning’s Rivalry Roundup.
Detroit Tigers (24-38) 8, Tampa Bay Rays (36-22) 0
The Tigers have really been struggling following their playoff berths in the last two seasons, but you might not have known that in this one. They got to the Rays early an often, doing the Yankees a solid in the process.
Facing Rays’ starter Steven Matz, Detroit opened up a big lead early. In his return from the IL, Gleyber Torres took Matz deep on the fifth pitch of the game to open the scoring, and Wenceel Pérez added a two-run shot in the second. By the time the top of the second was over, the Tigers had opened up a 5-0 lead, and never really had any concerns after that.
Detroit also never really had any worries as their pitching had a big game themselves. Jack Flaherty opened the game with five scoreless innings, scattering five hits and two walks. After him, reliever Enmanuel De Jesus came in and stream-rolled the rest of the way. De Jesus inherited a runner from Flaherty when he came in for the sixth and immediately induced a double play. He then retired every batter he faced after that, meaning that he managed to throw four innings despite facing just 11 batter.
The Tigers’ offense tacked on another couple runs from there, recording 10 hits on the day, and coming away with the victory.
Other Games
- Atlanta Braves (41-20) 4, Toronto Blue Jays (29-32) 3: Despite outhitting the Braves 9-6, the Blue Jays couldn’t cash in more on their opportunities, dooming them to a one-run loss. Toronto managed to quickly come back after Atlanta had taken a 2-0 lead in the first, but eventually they couldn’t continue answering after falling behing. Matt Olson’s towering sixth-inning homer just cleared the right field fence, and ended up breaking the tie for good and giving the Braves the win.
- Seattle Mariners (33-29) 8, New York Mets (26-35) 3: The Mariners racked up 8 runs on 11 hits, including a trio of home runs, to dash the Mets’ Bullpen Game plans. While the Mets were initially able to answer an early 2-0 Seattle lead, the M’s started to add on and pull away after that. Right after the Mets tied the game at two in the top of the third, the Mariners responded with a run courtesy of two Mets’ errors in the bottom of the inning. Seattle then tacked on five more runs over the next couple innings, including three on a Jhonny Pereda homer.
