The Yankees enjoyed what was surely a pleasant off-day yesterday, getting a moment to bask in the glow of a rare successful week. While they rested, most of the rest of their rivals were still in action. As you’ll see, the action mostly went in favor of the Yankees, and when the dust settled, we were left with an absolute mess in the AL Wild Card race. Let’s go through what went down.
Pittsburgh Pirates (53-73) 5, Toronto Blue Jays (73-53) 2
It’s been a bit of a meme this year, Paul Skenes dominating seemingly every time out and then coming up empty-handed
thanks to the futility of the rest of his team. Well, he shoved against Toronto and once again didn’t come away with the win, but his teammates rallied late to take game one from the Blue Jays.
Though wasn’t a completely clean outing from Skenes, he was really only troubled once in the game. With a 1-0 lead in the third, he found himself up against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with runners on second and third and one down. He got Guerrero to ground out, but a run scored, and Bo Bichette came through next with a two-out single, and the Jays lead 2-1.
The Pirates got the run back in the home half of the third, Bryan Reynolds driving in a run on a fielder’s choice against Kevin Gausman. From there, Skenes was in complete control, not allowing a hit the rest of the way. He finished with eight strikeouts against one walk in six innings, generating 16 whiffs on 96 pitches. The Jays went fishing against Skenes’ four-seamer, swinging and missing 10 times against the pitch:
Though it came too late to earn Skenes the win, the Pirates broke through against Toronto’s bullpen. Henry Davis led off the seventh with a double, advanced to third on a sac bunt, and scored on a wild pitch from Brendon Little:
Pittsburgh would tack on two more in the eighth as insurance, and their bullpen was solid down the stretch, former Yankee Dennis Santana pitching an uneventful ninth for his eighth save. The Yankees make up some ground on the AL East leaders without lifting a finger, now five games back.
Also of note, Guerrero left this game early with hamstring tightness, and is set to undergo imaging to determine the extent of the injury. Losing his bat for any prolonged amount of time would be a tough blow for Toronto.
Baltimore Orioles (58-67) 6, Boston Red Sox (68-58) 3
After a midsummer surge thrust the Red Sox past the Yankees, things are starting to bog down in Boston. Baltimore’s bats kept up a steady drumbeat against Red Sox pitching, while Trevor Rogers twirled another gem to take the series opener and lend the Yankees a hand.
Rogers, who flopped in after a midseason trade to Baltimore last summer, has been a revelation in 2025. The 27-year-old lefty twirled seven innings of one-run ball, allowing just four hits and striking out seven against one walk. His only blemish came in his final inning, Jarren Duran driving in a run on a sac fly. He’s now got a sparkling 1.41 ERA in 12 starts this year.
By then, the Orioles had put together a lead. Gunnar Henderson started things off with a solo homer off Dustin May in the third, his 15th:
Dylan Beavers singled home a run off May in the fourth, and the O’s tacked on two more in the seventh against Jovani Morán, highlighted by Henderson’s RBI triple:
Though Henderson has not repeated his sensational 2024 campaign, he’s been mostly excellent after a slow start to 2025, and remains a very fun player to watch.
The freshly called up Samuel Basallo drove in two more in the ninth against Jordan Hicks to give the O’s a 6-3 lead. Though the Red Sox managed a pair in the bottom of the ninth, their rally ultimately fell short and Baltimore prevailed 6-3. The Yankees are now level with Boston in the AL East, and with one fewer loss, technically putting them ahead on winning percentage.
Detroit Tigers (74-53) 10, Houston Astros (69-56) 0
A matchup between two of the AL’s best didn’t go as expected, the Tigers easily dispatching the Astros in Detroit. It was Spencer Arrighetti who took the brunt of it first, cruising through the first three innings before running into trouble. Wenceel Pérez opened the scoring with a solo shot in the fourth, before the Tigers broke things open in the fifth.
First it was Kerry Carpenter, who made it 3-0 with a two-run triple:
And on the very next pitch, Riley Greene skied a majestic home run out to right, and in the blink of an eye it was 5-0:
Tayler Scott relieved Arrighetti and the Tigers started to work him too. They scraped together one more in the sixth on Colt Keith’s sac fly, then turned it into a blowout in the seventh on Trey Sweeney’s three-run dinger:
Keith capped an outstanding 3-for-4 day with a solo shot later in the inning, giving the Tigers their second-four spot in three innings. On the other side, Jack Flaherty earned the win with his best start of the year, seven innings of shutout, three-hit ball with nine strikeouts. Though they’ve been uneven in the second half, this is the kind of comprehensive performance we saw more regularly from Detroit earlier in the year.
Other Games
Philadelphia Phillies (72-53) 12 , Seattle Mariners (68-58) 7
The Mariners got back-to-back clunkers from their aces, George Kirby getting hit hard by the Mets on Sunday night and Logan Gilbert imploding on Monday in Philly. It was a disastrous second inning that did in Gilbert, with the first five batters of the inning notching hits, a three-run blast from Trea Turner making it 5-0 in the blink of an eye. J.T. Realmuto would add a solo shot later in the inning, and Gilbert would depart after just two innings, nine hits, and six runs. Seattle’s offense fought gamely; Ranger Suarez departed after 6.2 excellent innings, striking out 10 and allowing two runs, but a four-spot in the seventh allowed the Mariners to get within 7-4. Alas, Philadelphia responded with a four-spot in the home half, highlighted by Bryce Harper’s 21st homer of the year and his second of the night. Harper finished 3-for-6 with three driven in, while Turner went 4-for-6 with five RBI. With the loss, the Mariners, Red Sox, and Yankees are all tied in Wild Card position in the AL.
Cleveland Guardians (64-60) 3, Arizona Diamondbacks (60-66) 1
There was little to separate these two teams, with neither side able to muster many rallies, but Cleveland prevailed thanks to two long balls. Rookie first baseman C.J. Kayfus hit a solo shot, the second of his career, in the second off Zac Gallen, while Brayan Rocchio also took Gallen deep with a two-run dinger in the fifth. That was just about all Gallen would give up in an otherwise solid start, but he was outdone by Gavin Williams, who turned in 5.1 shutout, striking out five and walking one. The Guardians’ bullpen was mostly spotless, three relievers carrying the 3-0 lead into the ninth, where Emmanuel Clase was shaky, allowing an RBI triple to Geraldo Perdomo that brough the tying run to the plate, but Clase struck out the dangerous Ketel Marte to end the game.