What a nice start to the week! (Even beyond the basketball absurdity.)
The Yankees finished off a sweep in Clevleand of the same Guardians team that came into the Bronx and took two out of three just last week. Pretty nice to be able to do that to a division leader* even without the likes of Aaron Judge, Max Fried, and Giancarlo Stanton. The matinée win yesterday combined with today’s offday gives the Yankees over 48 hours until their next game, which is a pretty rare long break in baseball. Hopefully
they enjoy it because it could get interesting on Friday, when the Yankees travel to a place that was a House of Horrors for them last year: Rogers Centre, where Trey Yesavage awaits.
*Well, the Guardians were the division leader prior to this series. They’re now just behind the White Sox. Yes, the Chicago White Sox, who lost 121 games in 2024 and 102 in 2025. They’ve won back-to-back games against the Braves, who have the best record in baseball. Wild.
Here’s what else was going on in American League action yesterday. I know it’s absolutely top of the mind for all you diehard Knicks fans out there. But we press on!
Tampa Bay Rays (40-25) 7, Boston Red Sox (27-39) 5
The top of the AL East remained unchanged on Wednesday, as Drew Rasmussen put the hapless Red Sox into the spin cycle at the Trop to complete the Rays’ sweep. The righty twirled seven scoreless innings, setting a new career high by striking out 13 Boston batters while holding ’em to just four baserunners. Rasmussen generated 20 swings and misses, getting whiffs from each of his heater, cutter, sinker, and changeup. Yankees fans have seen the 2025 All-Star chew up their own lineup in the past, so this was mostly nothing new (aside from the extra K’s).
The only real threat came in the fifth, when Willson Contreras got plunked and with one down, Masataka Yoshida singled to put runners on first and third in a 1-0 ballgame. Rasmussen remained in control, getting Caleb Durbin to pop up in foul territory for an unproductive out, and then inducing a groundball from Isiah Kiner-Falefa. No sweat.
The Red Sox had recalled rookie southpaw Jake Bennett to make his third career start. His second one also came against Tampa Bay, back on May 8th. That went well, right? Let’s check the tape:
J. Bennett: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 (4 ER), 2 BB, 1 K
Oh. Well how did yesterday go?
J. Bennett: 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 4 K
Ah! Well. Nevertheless.
Bennett’s biggest issue was that he couldn’t solve light-hitting Rays catcher Nick Fortes. Twice, he led off innings with doubles, and twice that led to run-scoring rallies. The second was more damaging, as it was a three-run frame keyed by a two-run hit off Bennett’s leg from brief 2025 Yankee Austin Slater (already on his third team of 2026 and just placed on the big-league roster earlier this week). Tampa Bay also added a fifth run against Ryan Watson in the sixth on yet another rally sparked by the backstop. Fortes singled, moved to third on a Taylor Walls hit, and scored on Yandy Díaz’s knock to left.
The Díaz single made it 5-0, but the insurance helped because Cole Sulser and Steven Matz did not have it in relief of Rasmussen. Durbin took the former deep to begin the eighth, and he caused further issues by walking IKF. Manager Kevin Cash pulled Sulser after an Andruw Monasterio K. Matz allowed a single to Jarren Duran and then a 395-foot tank by Ceddanne Rafaela. Woof.
Boston now had the potential tying run up … and did nothing with Wilyer Abreu grounding out against Matz and Casey Legumina entering to get Contreras to do the same.
Fortes batted in the eighth for Tampa Bay, which on this fateful afternoon meant that of course he helped the Rays pile on. His fourth hit of the day was a single to left, and Cedric Mullins made it hurt with a two-run blast. That was enough to withstand Durbin’s second dinger of the day with two outs in the ninth against Garrett Cleavinger to make it 7-5. IKF walked to give the Red Sox one last shot with the tying run, only for Monasterio to strike out swinging to end it.
Like the Yankees, the Rays are idle today, so there will be no changes to first place. They’re flying out to Los Angeles for six games against the Angels and Dodgers.
Other Games
Toronto Blue Jays (33-36) 4, Philadelphia Phillies (37-31) 7: Activated from the IL for his first start since April, Max Scherzer immediately reached a cool personal milestone by fanning Kyle Schwarber to become the 11th pitcher in MLB history with at least 3,500 strikeouts. That was the end of the highlight on Wednesday for the future Hall of Famer, who looks cooked with a 10.23 ERA a month shy of age-42. Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm both went yard off Scherzer, and Schwarber greeted Mason Fluharty with his MLB-leading 24th homer to make it 6-0, Phils. Jesús Luzardo held the Jays to one run on four hits in 5.1 innings with eight strikeouts, and while Toronto made the final score closer because whatever a Chase Shugart is had a bad night, this one was never really in doubt. Philly took the series at Rogers Centre, two out of three.
Seattle Mariners (36-33) 2, Baltimore Orioles (32-37) 7: I’m starting to believe in Brandon Young, which is quite the thing to say about a guy who I forgot existed until a month ago. Somehow, he is the Orioles’ best starter and it might be real. He fired seven scoreless frames at Camden Yards on Wednesday against the Mariners, whose AL West lead got trimmed to two games by the victorious Rangers. George Kirby matched Young’s zeroes through five and ended up with 10 K’s on the night, topping Young’s six. But it didn’t matter because he slipped where it actually matters, a Pete Alonso homer ending the stalemate (despite the high pitch). Baltimore tallied two more on Kirby and then broke it open against rookie Domingo Gonzalez with a Jackson Holliday grand slam.
