Thanks to a good day from Luis Gil and the Yankees’ bullpen, the Bombers picked up a necessary win over the Blue Jays on Saturday. They could probably use another win today, just to get the series win and generate some momentum against the top teams, but they really couldn’t afford to get swept, and that’s at least been avoided. The AL East is back to a three-game lead for Toronto.
While we know the Yankees gained ground on at least one team on Saturday, let’s check out what happened around the league
in today’s Rivalry Roundup. (No, this won’t include the Dodgers no-hitting the Orioles for 8.2 innings in Baltimore, only to lose it on a Jackson Holliday homer and then see the ninth-inning lead go up in smoke. But that was cool.)
Detroit Tigers (82-61) 6, Chicago White Sox (54-89) 0
Defending AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal further asserted his status as the favorite to repeat, as he put in another dominant outing to help the Tigers beat the White Sox.
In this one, Skubal went seven innings, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out seven. After allowing a walk to the game’s very first batter, Skubal immediately retired the next 13 in a row, which shows about just how good his day went.
Jahmai Jones got the Tigers on the board with a first inning home run, but it wasn’t until the fourth that Detroit’s offense really got going. The Tigers rattled off five runs in the fourth, which included a three-run home run from Gleyber Torres. That ended up being plenty enough offense for the Tigers.
Houston Astros (78-65) 11, Texas Rangers (73-70) 0
They didn’t fully pull away until late on, but thanks to Hunter Brown, the Astros shut out and eventually blew out the Rangers. It was a blow to the interstate rivals, who are desperately trying to remain in the AL Wild Card periphery.
Brown went six innings for Houston, allowing four hits and three walks, while striking out eight. The Rangers had their chances, including loading the bases in the second inning, but they just couldn’t capitalize. For the day, Texas went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. They sit a game and a half behind Seattle for the last Wild Card spot (and one loss behind KC).
Thanks to homers from Christian Walker and Yordan Alvarez, the Astros took the lead in the third and held onto a slim lead for most of the game. However, their offense fully got going in the final couple innings. The Astros put up three runs in the eighth and five in the ninth, putting them up by double digits and removing any drama from the game. The Mariners’ win did mean that their AL West advantage remained 3.5 games, though.
Arizona Diamondbacks (72-71) 5, Boston Red Sox (78-65) 1
The Diamondbacks helped the Yankees out, as Brandon Pfaadt held Boston in check on route to a win over the Red Sox, who were rendered unable to gain on Toronto as New York did. So the Yanks are a game and a half ahead.
Arizona struck first, breaking out with a three-run second inning. Boston gave them an assist, as a possible double-play grounder with the bases loaded skipped off Trevor Story’s glove, turning what could’ve been a double play into two runs.
The Red Sox answered right back with a run in the third, but that ended up being their only run of the game, as they couldn’t capitalize on any of their opportunities. Pfaadt gave up just the one run on six hits, as he struck out seven. His offense tacked on a few more runs, but in total, the Red Sox had just three at-bats with runners in scoring position, as they just never got much going. Their lone real highlight was a defensive one, thanks to an impressive home run robbery from Ceddanne Rafaela — albeit one that was matched by their own Blaze Alexander.
Other Games
- Cleveland Guardians (71-70) 3, Tampa Bay Rays (71-71) 2: Steven Kwan’s go-ahead single in the ninth inning ended up the difference in a game between two teams battling to inch back into the playoff race. Cleveland held a 2-0 lead in the fourth, before the Rays tied things up in the sixth. Both bullpens performed admirably until Kwan proved the difference in the ninth.
- Kansas City Royals (73-69) 11, Minnesota Twins (62-80) 2: The Royals jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back as they blew out the Twins. Salvador Perez led the way for KC with two hits and three RBI, as six different Royals recorded at least one ribbie. They’re one game back of Seattle for the third Wild Card, the closest of any non-playoff team.
- Seattle Mariners (74-68) 10, Atlanta Braves (64-78) 2: Julio Rodríguez’s three-hit, four-RBI day led the way as the Mariners gained some ground in the race for the last Wild Card. J-Rod gave the M’s the lead with a two-run homer in the first inning, and hit another in the seventh inning to help them pull away after Atlanta had come back to tie it up.
