What John Sterling always said was true. You can’t predict baseball, Suzyn. Except sometimes you can have a pretty fair guess. The expected outcomes for the American League’s top two teams came to pass last night because both the Yankees and Rays are better than the A’s and Angels. If you’ll forgive getting blue from the jump with a Sandor Clegane quote, sometimes it’s as simple as your opponent not having armor or a big fucking sword (to admittedly stretch a metaphor). The Yankees won 8-2, and the Rays won 8-5.
Yup.
Here’s what what went on among some top AL foes.
Tampa Bay Rays (35-19) 8, Los Angeles Angels (22-36) 5
I suppose I’m being a tad uncharitable to the Angels, who did lead the Rays for the middle part of this ballgame at the Trop. But if the Halos have proven anything over their past decade of misery, it’s that they’re never to be trusted. Walbert Ureña did a nice job of matching Nick Martinez, allowing a leadoff homer to Yandy Díaz and really not much else across six innings of one-run ball. And the Angels had a 2-1 advantage by the time Ureña left at the end of the sixth, thanks to a pair of RBI knocks from Vaughn Grissom and Zach Neto. It could’ve been more, as they went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position on the night. Oh well.
Ryan Zeferjahn took over for Ureña in the seventh and saw it fitting to then give up seven. Okay fine, the last three runs were charged to Brent Suter, but this was some bad relief pitching. Zeferjahn didn’t record his only out until after walking Cedric Mullins, allowing back-to-back homers to Díaz and Jonathan Aranda (Yandy putting the Rays ahead), and yielding a single to Junior Caminero.
Grissom didn’t help matters for Suter upon his entrance, bobbling a Chandler Simpson grounder for an error. Oliver Dunn then reached on a squeeze single, Richie Palacios cleared the bases with a two-run triple, and he scored on a Nick Fortes sacrifice fly. A 2-1 lead had become an 8-2 deficit in an inning. That’s Angels baseball, baby.
Two walks, a Grissom double, and a pair of productive outs helped the Halos trim the score to 8-5 in the eighth. For as lousy as the pitching is, the Orange County offense did manage to get the go-ahead run to the plate down to their last gasp against closer Bryan Baker. With one down, he walked Logan O’Hoppe, allowed a single to erstwhile Rays pest Jose Siri, and despite fanning Neto, he walked Trout to load the bases for Grissom — who actually had a go-ahead slam earlier this week in Detroit. No dice this time around, as Baker got Grissom to pop up to end it. The Rays retain their 1.5-game lead in the AL East.
Other Games
Toronto Blue Jays (29-29) 6, Baltimore Orioles (26-32) 5: It looked like the O’s had a handle on this one, as they seized a 5-0 lead at Camden Yards on the strength of homers from Jackson Holliday, Pete Alonso, and Samuel Basallo. Trevor Rogers threw six scoreless innings on under 75 pitches, and it wasn’t controversial to see him return for the seventh. Four batters later, he was gone and it was quickly a 5-4 ballgame on a pair of two-run dingers from Kazuma Okamoto and the debuting Charles McAdoo. Whoops. As the Toronto bullpen after Austin Voth threw no-hit relief, the Jays finished the comeback in the eighth, blitzing Yennier Cano as well with back-to-back singles and a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. double to plate both runners before an out was recorded. Adley Rutschman had a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth as the winning run at the plate following an error by Ernie Clement, but Braydon Fisher got him to ground out, Clement succeeding in his mulligan. Toronto is back to .500 for the first time since April 4th.
Seattle Mariners (29-29) 7, Arizona Diamondbacks (31-25) 6 – 10 innings: The Jays’ 2025 ALCS foes are back even at .500 as well, and while it hadn’t been quite as long for the M’s, it had still been almost exactly a month. Seattle outhomered Arizona 4-1 on Friday, with J.P. Crawford slugging a pair off Zac Gallen himself. However, three singles, two doubles, and a walk helped the D-backs come back from down 5-1 in the sixth against George Kirby and Matt Brash. Luke Raley countered with a solo shot to make it 6-5, M’s, but Andrés Muñoz’s tough 2026 continued when he blew the save in the ninth. He was honestly fortunate to escape the bases-loaded, no-out jam he put himself in on two singles and a plunking of Nolan Arenado with just one run scoring on a slow grounder that turned into an RBI fielder’s choice. The game went extras, and after Cooper Criswell stranded the zombie runner with two grounders to short and one to second, Randy Arozarena responded to the challenge of Josh Naylor being intentionally walked in front of him, doubling to center to walk it off. The M’s lead the A’s in the AL West by a game and a half.
Cleveland Guardians (34-25) 4, Boston Red Sox (23-33) 3: No one outside of the Buckeye State has really been looking all that much, but the Guardians are putting the finishing touches on an outstanding month of May. They began it dead even at .500; since then they’ve gone 18-9, and that’s even including the recent, weird home series loss to the Nationals. Cleveland got back on track last night with the last-place Red Sox in town, burning Boston’s “opener + Brayan Bello” strategy by crushing said opener, Tyler Samaniego.
Angel Martínez’s two-RBI single paced a four-run first, and though Bello kept it close with seven shutout innings while his offense tallied three in the fifth off Slade Cecconi, the Red Sox never mustered that game-tying score. Reliever Colin Holderman stranded Cecconi’s remaining runner in scoring position, and Boston could only scatter a few singles against the Cleveland bullpen. Cade Smith allowed a leadoff hit in the ninth before striking out the side for his MLB-leading 20th save.
