The Yankees thoroughly handled the Red Sox for a second night in a row, making it 17 consecutive shutout innings to start The Rivalry off in 2026 before Brent Headrick allowed a single baserunner home in the ninth inning. Max Fried kept them in check all night, tossing eight innings to keep the rest of the ‘pen fresh, and Amed Rosario continued to showcase how good of a decision it was to re-sign him by launching a three-run homer in the first inning to set the tone.
New York’s tenuous position atop
the division remains intact, but there was a chance to pick up ground with a full slate of games going on around them. The results ended up being more of a mixed bag.
Toronto Blue Jays (10-14) 3, Los Angeles Angels (12-14) 7
The Angels built themselves a steady lead over the course of six innings, stringing a run together in each of the third through fifth innings on a Jo Adell sac fly and homers from Nolan Schanuel and Mike Trout. Toronto, meanwhile, couldn’t solve José Soriano and his 0.24 ERA on the season, though they had some good shots at it. The Blue Jays collected seven hits in five innings against the Angels ace, getting a man on in every inning Soriano pitched. They couldn’t string together anything more than singles though, and ran themselves into trouble with a caught stealing as well as a double-play ball to limit the scoring threats.
Things changed in the seventh, as Kazuma Okamoto worked a one-out walk and Andrés Giménez doubled to put runners on. Tyler Heineman grounded out to second to score the first run, but that brought them to two outs. Needing to get those hits, they finally fell as Nathan Lukes doubled and Ernie Clement singled to tie the game at three.
Just as they tied things up, though, the Jays’ pitching staff unraveled and gave it all right back. Trout was the one to work a one-out walk, and after stealing second Adell singled to put runners on the corners. Brayden Fisher was brought in to escape the jam and got the second out via strikeout, but then he served up a walk to Yoán Moncada and Schanuel doubled to unload the bases. Vaughn Grishom popped a ball into no-man’s-land in right field to score one more for good measure and like that the Angels walked out of the inning up another run despite blowing their three-run lead in the top frame. The Jays couldn’t muster anything in the eighth, and the ninth saw them strand two as Lukes struck out and Clement grounded to third to end it.
Other Games
Tampa Bay Rays (13-11) 6, Cincinnati Reds (16-9) 1: The Reds have been playing excellent ball to start the year, but Tampa got to them early in this one. They scored three runs off of Brandon Williamson in the second inning thanks to back-to-back walks to start the frame, added another on a Junior Caminero solo shot in the third, and drove him from the game in the fifth when they got an RBI single from Ryan Vilade. Cincinnati managed to avoid the shutout by lifting a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth, but they otherwise had no answers to Nick Martinez as the 35-year-old pitched eight innings and scattered five hits with a singular walk.
Baltimore Orioles (12-13) 8, Kansas City Royals (8-17) 6: Pete Alonso got his new team off to a strong start with a two-run shot in the first inning, but Kansas City cut into that lead immediately with a Vinnie Pasquantino solo homer. The Royals flipped the lead in their favor in the fourth inning when Pasquantino led off with a double and scored on a Carter Jensen single, who later scored himself on a single from Lane Thomas. Baltimore answered back in a big way in the sixth inning, with six straight batters reaching safely capped off by Coby Mayo’s three-run blast to go ahead 8-3. KC clawed back three of those runs on homers from Jensen and Kyle Isbel in the bottom half of the sixth, but the only baserunner they’d get the rest of the way would be Nick Loftin reaching via error in the ninth.
Houston Astros (10-16) 2, Cleveland Guardians (14-12) 0: The Astros covered all the offense this game would see in the first inning, and who else would be responsible but Yordan Alvarez. Houston’s MVP candidate launched his league-leading 11th home run of the year, a two-run shot that would be all that Peter Lambert and company needed to secure the win.
Detroit Tigers (13-12) 5, Milwaukee Brewers (13-10) 2: Casey Mize was on his A-game, dealing six innings of one-run ball while striking out seven batters to earn the win. His lone mistake came in the third, when a two-out walk to Brice Turang set him up to steal second base and score on a William Contreras single and briefly put Milwaukee ahead. Detroit went up for good with runs in the fourth and fifth innings, Spencer Torkelson launching a two-run shot in the former while Kevin McGonigle and Colt Keith knocked in runs in the latter. The two sides traded a run apiece in the eighth inning, and a wild Kenley Jansen allowed the tying run to get on base in the ninth but managed to slam the door shut on Turang to pick up the save.
Seattle Mariners (11-15) 5, Athletics (13-12) 4: Logan Gilbert wasn’t at his sharpest on Wednesday, working just four innings and allowing three runs on six hits and two walks. Fortunately for him, he exited with just a one-run deficit, and the Mariners erased it in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly before taking the lead in the next frame thanks to J.P. Crawford and Cal Raleigh getting aboard ahead of Julio Rodríguez who grounded a run in. Nick Kurtz wasn’t ready to call it quits, hitting a game-tying home run in the top of the ninth, but Seattle was ready to rally. A leadoff single was erased on a double-play, but Raleigh and Rodríguez singled to put the winning run in scoring position. Josh Naylor obliged, lining a single to left to walk it off.
Texas Rangers (12-12) 4, Pittsburgh Pirates (14-10) 8: A seven-inning gem from Braxton Ashcraft was neutralized by his bullpen entering for the eighth and promptly blowing the two-run lead Pittsburgh had built. They got it right back in the ninth though, as back-to-back singles followed by a fielder’s choice play at the plate went the Pirates’ way. Oneil Cruz made the tension drop shortly afterwards, as he greeted Jalen Beeks out of the ‘pen with a three-run homer to make it a more comfortable four-run game — the Rangers went down in order in the bottom half to make it a moot point.
