Say what you will about the 2025 Yankees, but beating bad teams is definitely not the problem. Thanks to a big game from the big man that is Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees picked up another pretty easy win over the Nationals on Tuesday, confirming a series win over Washington.
While these wins have done nothing to help the Yankees’ woes against the teams they’re directly competing with for playoff spots, they’re at least banking them ahead of later crucial matchups. As the Yankees did their job, did they get
any help elsewhere? Let’s look back at Tuesday with today’s Rivalry Roundup.
Boston Red Sox (73-60) 5, Baltimore Orioles (60-72) 0
Eight scoreless innings from Lucas Giolito and Trevor Story’s 200th career home run allowed the Red Sox to cruise past the O’s in Baltimore.
The Red Sox offense struck with solo homers from Story in the second and David Hamilton in the third, but Orioles’ starter Kyle Bradish — making his 2025 debut, having recovered from Tommy John surgery — was pretty decent himself, allowing just those two runs and striking out 10 in six innings. The difference? Giolito was just better.
Giolito retired the first eight O’s he faced and 15 out of the first 17. The most dangerous situation for him probably came in the sixth when both Alex Jackson and Jeremiah Jackson singled, but Giolito came back to strike out Gunnar Henderson and get Colton Cowser to ground out to end that jam.
In total, Giolito allowed just four hits and a walk in eight innings, as he kept Baltimore off the board. His offense then got him some run support in the last couple innings to prevent any chance at an Orioles’ comeback.
Minnesota Twins (60-72) 7, Toronto Blue Jays (77-56) 5
The Blue Jays held a 4-0 lead going into the top of the sixth, but gave it all back, including allowing four runs in the ninth to doom them against the Twins.
Toronto jumped on Twins’ starter Bailey Ober, scoring two runs in the first, and one in the second. They were led by George Springer, who hit solo homers in both the second and fifth innings. As that was happening, Chris Bassitt had gotten through the first five innings without a real blemish, and the Jays seemed in control.
A Luke Keaschall homer got Minnesota on the board in the sixth, and another run in the seventh got the Twins within a run, but they still trailed going into the ninth. With Blue Jays’ closer Jeff Hoffman on the mound, former Yankee prospect Mickey Gasper led off the frame with his first career MLB homer to tie the game. While Hoffman got two outs, he also allowed two runners to reach before Matt Wallner went deep to suddenly give the Twins a decent-sized lead.
The Jays got one run back in the bottom of the ninth, but that wasn’t enough after their mess that was the top of the inning. Toronto fell to four up on the second-place Red Sox in the AL East, and 4.5 ahead of the Yankees.
Colorado Rockies (38-94) 6, Houston Astros (72-60) 1
Six good innings from whatever a Tanner Gordon is helped the Rockies to a surprising win over the Astros.
Houston seemingly got off to an ideal start when Jesús Sánchez homered in the second, which was followed by te rest of the Astros’ offense loading up the bases. However, Gordon got out of that jam, and neither he nor the Rockies’ bullpen would allow another run on the day.
As that was happening, the Rockies’ offense then struck themselves. A Hunter Goodman two-run homer put the cap on a four-run frame for Colorado in the third, and Mickey Moniak, who had a three-RBI day, plated another pair in the fifth. That allowed the Rockies to build up a cushion that held up.
While he couldn’t help them to a win in this game, the Astros will undoubtedly receive a boost from Yordan Alvarez’s return from injury. The DH drew two walks in his first appearance since May.
Athletics (62-72) 7, Detroit Tigers (78-56) 6 (1o innings)
Darell Hernaiz’s walk-off walk gave the Athletics a win in the 10th inning, having fallen behind to the Tigers in the top half of the frame.
The game was a back-and-forth one early, as both teams did most of their offensive work in the first couple innings. The A’s scored three runs on a Jacob Wilson homer in the first, only for the Tigers to answer with four in the third on a 471-foot Riley Greene grand slam over the batter’s eye in center. While a Wilson RBI grounder re-gave the A’s the lead in the bottom of the third, Colt Keith even things home with a fifth inning home run.
After all that action in the early innings, things settled down once the game moved into the bullpens. Both teams had chances (with Lawrence Butler hitting into a particularly egregious double play on a missed popup), but neither could plate any runners between the sixth and ninth, sending the game to extras.
In the 10th, Elvis Alvarado got within a strike out ending the inning and stranding the automatic runner, but he couldn’t put away and then walked Wenceel Pérez. Zach McKinstry took advantage, and singled to give Detroit the lead.
The A’s could’ve let that get to them, but Tyler Soderstrom singled on just the second pitch he saw in the bottom of the inning, tying things up. Then, it was Will Vest’s turn to lose the zone, as he walked Wilson, Lawrence Butler, and Hernaiz to give the A’s the win.
Other Games
- Kansas City Royals (68-65) 5, Chicago White Sox (48-84) 4: The Royals struck with five runs over the course of the eighth and ninth innings to rally past the White Sox. Martín Pérez had been very good for Chicago over his seven innings, but Kansas City fought back after he left. A Kyle Isbel RBI single in the ninth gave the Royals their first lead of the day, and that ended up being all they needed
- San Diego Padres (75-58) 7, Seattle Mariners (71-62) 6: Having opened the game with a five-run first inning, the Padres gave it all away and fell behind after the Mariners put up six runs in the fifth on booming homers from Randy Arozarena and Eugenio Suárez. However, San Diego answered right back with two runs in the sixth, and that managed to hold up, as their bullpen quieted Cal Raleigh and the M’s. Seattle is now just three games ahead of Kansas City for the last Wild Card spot (and 1.5 back of the fifth-seeded Yankees).
