After a couple decent outings from the offense in the first two games against the Astros (even if one game still ended in a defeat), the Yankees’ lineup was back up to their old tricks in the finale on Thursday night. The Yankees mustered just one run on five hits, as they failed to do much against former Bombers’ prospect Hayden Wesneski. You would’ve expected them to get the better of that matchup considering Gerrit Cole was on the mound, but that did not come to pass.
Elsewhere around baseball,
it was a bit of a quiet night, as many teams had an off day. However, there was still a couple games that impacted the bottom end of the AL playoff picture. Let’s take a look back at what happened on Thursday in today’s edition of the Rivalry Roundup.
St. Louis Cardinals (67-68) 7, Baltimore Orioles (65-69) 5
While the Orioles made a run late, the deficit they fell into in the early going proved to be too much, as the Cardinals dealt Baltimore a blow in the AL Wild Card race.
St. Louis struck early, getting on the board in the second inning. The appropriately named Blaze Jordan blazed a three-run homer out to almost dead center field. Two innings later, former Orioles Ramón Urías added a two-run dinger of his own to add to St. Louis’ cushion.
While Baltimore did get on the board in the fifth, the Cardinals struck back to reinstate a five-run lead, which they held for a good chunk of the game. However, the O’s then got somewhat close on a rally attempt. Colby Mayo hit a three-run shot in the top of the seventh to take a big chunk out of their deficit. A Gunnar Henderson RBI double in the eighth then got them within a run and had the tying one in scoring position. However, Henderson was then thrown out at third on a close fielder’s choice play, and St. Louis got out of the jam after that.
The Cardinals then picked up an insurance run and closed things out in the ninth.
Kansas City Royals (60-75) 13, Toronto Blue Jays (65-70) 2
The other AL East team tangentially in the Wild Card race because the AL is bad, the Blue Jays, also took a hit as they got absolutely obliterated by the Royals.
Kansas City got off to a decent enough start. Carter Jensen led off the game for the Royals with a home run, and they picked up another run thanks to an error by Jays’ starter Spencer Arrighetti. KC then added two more in the second on a Jac Caglianone RBI single in the second.
While Toronto managed to keep things somewhat close for a little while, the Royals then fully put the game away in the sixth. Jays’ pitcher Simeon Woods-Richardson started the sixth by getting a ground out. After that, the next six Royals’ batters all reached base, with Vinnie Pasquantino capping things off with a home run. In total, Kansas City put up six runs in the frame, also cracking double digits for the game.
The Blue Jays did get on the board themselves after that on a George Springer home run, but it was far too little, and much too late. The Royals tacked on another couple runs for the road, completing a blowout win in Toronto.
