Sunday was the end of an awful weekend for the Yankees, who left their first series in Tropicana Field since 2024 winless. It might have been their worst series in St. Pete since the memorable sweep just before the 2016 Trade Deadline that finally convinced Hal Steinbrenner to give up on that year and approve the trades of Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltrán in addition to the already-dealt Aroldis Chapman. Woof.
These were bad times for the Yankees, and the results around the league were decidedly mixed.
Here’s what else was going on in notable American League action.
Boston Red Sox (6-9) 9, St. Louis Cardinals (8-7) 3
The Red Sox prevailed in the 2026 edition of this four-time World Series matchup, winning the finale to take the series after losing to St. Louis in the Friday night opener, 3-2. They responded to that one-run loss by outscoring the rebuilding Cards by a combined total of 16-4 across the final two games, smacking around St. Louis starter Andre Pallante yesterday.
Boston registered 10 hits against the right-hander in his five innings, with Willson Contreras starting the party with a two-run shot in the first. It was the beginning of a four-hit day for the erstwhile Cardinals catcher in his first series back at Busch Stadium:
Post-hype prospect Jordan Walker continued his hellacious start for the Cardinals with his seventh homer of the season already in the third, but Brayan Bello worked past the solo shot. He can be very inconsistent, but when he’s on, he has good stuff. And the Cards couldn’t do much, only mustering two runs on six hits in 6.2 innings.
Jarren Duran cleared the bases on a double in the fourth shortly after Walker’s long ball, and Contreras knocked him in to make it 7-1, Boston. The badly slumping Trevor Story had a terrific afternoon of his own, matching Contreras with four hits and driving the last two runs in with a double down the right-field line in the ninth.
The Red Sox might get to continue beating up on Central division opponents as they eye a return to respectability from their dreadful 2-8 start. They’ll fly up to Minneapolis and play the Twins for three, and even though Minnesota is surprisingly tied for the AL Central lead at 9-7, you’d be hard-pressed to find serious believers in them.
Toronto Blue Jays (6-9) 2, Minnesota Twins (9-7) 8
Give credit where it’s due, however, as Minny kept the heat on the Jays over the weekend. Given Toronto’s severe pitching woes, they should probably grateful that they didn’t get swept. But the Twins’ victory yesterday ensured a series win, as they utterly obliterated the 41-year-old Max Scherzer in his second start of 2026. He was gone from the ballgame before the end of the third, having put a snowman on the scoreboard for Minnesota.
The quick 1-0 lead that Toronto got on an RBI single by Daulton Varsho went by the wayside in a hurry. A leadoff walk to Josh Bell and a plunking of Matt Wallner put two men on for Tristan Gray, who clobbered a three-run shot off Scherzer to put the Twins in front.
That was all just a warm-up for the third. Kody Clemens began it with a 417-foot shot to center, and the next four batters reached base as well, on three singles and a walk. Victor Caratini’s sacrifice fly made it 6-1, Twins, and Scherzer was sent to the showers. There were still two men on though, and they soon crossed home plate to finish the damage on the future Hall of Famer’s pitching line, both scoring on a double by Brooks Lee.
Toronto actually outhit Minnesota in this one, 12-8. However, the resurgent Taj Bradley did a nice job of bending but not breaking in his five innings, scattering five knocks and four walks but allowing just one run to lower his ERA to 1.25. Likewise, the debuting Andrew Morris allowed one run despite six hits in his three innings.
The AL East is a bit of a mess, with three teams (Yankees, Rays, Orioles) all at 8-7 and the other two (Red Sox, Blue Jays) at 6-9. The Jays will have to stop the bleeding against the Brewers; they’ll fly to Milwaukee for three games beginning Tuesday.
Seattle Mariners (7-9) 6, Houston Astros (6-10) 1
Remember when the Astros clobbered Garrett Crochet and swept the Red Sox in their second series of the year to move to a solid 5-2 start? Yeah, they’ve won precisely one (1) game since then. Whoops. Sunday marked their seventh consecutive loss, and it probably feels even worse with ace Hunter Brown on the IL, an ineffective Cristian Javier joining him, and newcomer Tatsuya Imai already dealing with arm fatigue.
The Mariners have a chance for a four-game sweep today after beating up Houston opener Cody Bolton and his bullpenmates on Sunday. Bolton and the first man to follow him, Jayden Murray, combined for a ghastly seven walks in three innings, two with the bases loaded. Seattle didn’t even have to really try to build a 4-0 lead early on, save for Randy Arozarena’s RBI knock to start the scoring. Christian Roa at least got the walks under control, but he fared no better than Bolton and Murray in terms of runs allowed, with Luke Raley driving home two on a double to right in the sixth.
That was more than enough for Logan Gilbert, who was mostly pristine aside from a solo homer from Yainer Diaz. The most Houston seemed to threaten was in the first, when Jose Altuve hit a leadoff single and then seemingly stole second, advancing to third on a bad throw by Cal Raleigh. But home-plate umpire Clint Vondrak ruled that the throw was due to his own accidental interference, so Altuve went back to first and then got fooled by Josh Naylor, leading to a rare Gilbert pickoff. That’s how it’s going for the Astros in a nutshell.
It was smooth sailing from there for Gilbert: four hits and seven K’s in seven innings for the 2024 All-Star. Seattle will send George Kirby out today to go for the mop against Houston’s Mike Burrows, late of the Pirates.
Other Games
- Detroit Tigers (7-9) 8, Miami Marlins (8-8) 2: The matchup was Cy Young-worthy, but the results weren’t there for one former recipient. After a subpar first season back from Tommy John surgery, Sandy Alcantara has looked much more like his old form early on for the Marlins, but Sunday offered a heat check in Detroit. Although their offense hasn’t done much thus far, they still homered three times off him, with Dillon Dingler, Kerry Carpenter, and acclaimed rookie Kevin McGonigle doing the damage (it was the first of McGonigle’s career). Meanwhile, Tarik Skubal did his job, no-hitting the Marlins for 5.2 innings and departing after recording two outs in the seventh, allowing just one run and striking out seven. The Tigers are off today before welcoming the division rival Royals to the Motor City for three.
- Cleveland Guardians (9-7) 1, Atlanta Braves (10-6) 13: The Braves took over Sunday Night Baseball and made it a pretty boring program for a neutral with how much they shellacked the Guardians. They won the series by driving Tanner Bibee from the game in the fifth and ultimately peppered 19 hits against Cleveland pitching. Six different Braves registered multi-hit games, Dominic Smith went yard, and No. 9 hitter Jorge Mateo of all players went 4-for-4. Staked to a big lead, the Guardos were no match for Chris Sale, who gave up a homer to Atlanta’s former division rival Rhys Hoskins and little else. Next up for Cleveland is another interleague rumble, this time with the Cardinals beginning tonight.
