The Yankees and Red Sox faced off in an ol’ fashioned New York and Boston marathon on Thursday. It was a grind of a game which the Yankees ultimately lost. On the bright side (if you can call it that) the Blue Jays took a day off, so the damage done in one day could at least be minimized. It was a short schedule on Thursday, let’s take a look at the action that did go down around the American League.
Houston Astros (70-58) 7, Baltimore Orioles (59-68) 2
The Astros turned on the jets early and often against the O’s in Baltimore. With the Mariners taking
a day off, Thursday’s game presented an opportunity for Houston to grow their lead in the West uncontested, a chance the ‘Stros would not miss out on.
Christian Walker started things in the first inning with a line drive homer into left field, a two-run shot that gave his squad the early advantage, one the O’s would have a hard time overcoming.
They doubled up in the top half of the second, when Carlos Correa plated a pair with his single through the middle that put his guys up 4-0. In the third inning, they piled on with three more runs. Walker started the inning with a double, before Jesús Sánchez quickly plated him with a single into right field — one of his five hits on the evening. In the very next at-bat, Yainer Diaz broke the door open when he swatted a two-run home run. His 18th of 2025 had the Astros up a commanding 7-1.
The Orioles were only able to tally in the run column twice on Thursday. Their first run come in the bottom half of the second, when Dylan Beavers crushed the first home run of his Major League career.
It was Beavers again in Baltimore’s half of the sixth, when he pushed a run across with an RBI groundout. Those two runs were all the Orioles had to show for on offense, aside from the visually appealing box score they produced, with all nine of their started totaling a single hit each.
On the pitching side, Jason Alexander made a grind of his ultimately solid 5.1 innings of work, as he allowed eight hits and only struck out three. Despite that, he kept the run total to just two for the Orioles. Three Houston relievers kept the Orioles from scoring any more, while allowing just one hit over the final 3.2 innings of the game.
The Astros now hold a two-game lead in the American League West, winning their 70th game of the 2025 season. They have three more games coming up against Baltimore, with the Mariners set to take on the Athletics this weekend.
Other Games
- Kansas City Royals (66-62) 6, Texas Rangers (63-66) 4: The Royals never took their foot off the pedal on Thursday. They took the lead in the second inning on a solo homer from Nick Loftin, which kicked off four straight innings of run scoring for Kansas City. The Rangers had things tied up at four, before Vinnie Pasquantino broke it with a solo shot in the fifth. Five Royals relievers kept the Rangers off the board after Michael Lorenzen’s 4.1 innings of work. The Royals are making a move, as they now sit two games out of the last Wild Card Spot, and the Rangers a much more daunting 5.5.
