Some American League teams who could make it to October play were off yesterday, as each of the Blue Jays, Tigers, Mariners, and Royals rested. But in addition to the Yankees’ 10-4 win over the White Sox, their biggest rivals of this century were in action, with the Red Sox and Astros finishing up mid-week series against a couple cellar-dwellers. They mostly took care of business, though Houston had a bit more of an issue with the Rockies than initially expected.
Houston Astros (74-50) 4, Colorado Rockies (38-96) 3
The Rockies actually had a chance
to steal this series in Houston on multiple occasions, as they surprisingly won the opener on Tuesday night, 6-1, behind a great start from the mysterious Tanner Gordon. But they got blanked on Wednesday, 4-0, by Framber Valdez and company, and then quickly fell behind yesterday with Colorado mainstay Kyle Freeland on the bump.
Freeland retired the first two Astros he faced before Jose Altuve and Christian Walker went back-to-back on him.
In the home half of the second, the Astros scraped another run together, this time with small ball. Mauricio Dubón and Chas McCormick were both on with singles when catcher César Salazar—who I legitimately had never heard of before writing this up—dropped down a squeeze bunt to bring Dubón home. Salazar in fact reached on a bad throw from Freeland, but the veteran settled down from there. He stranded the runners in scoring position on a shallow fly ball from Jeremy Peña and a Carlos Correa popup. Freeland then kept the Astros off the board for the remainder of his outing, which ended after six.
Meanwhile, the Rockies began to chip away against Jason “Somehow I Dominated The Yankees Despite Being on Seinfeld” Alexander. Two singles and a fielder’s choice made it a 3-1 game in the third. An inning later, Ezequiel Tovar went yard for a solo shot; 3-2. DH Yanquiel Fernández completed the mini-picket fence as the second batter in the fifth, going deep to right-center field for just the second homer of his career.
The Rockies had shocked the fans in Houston, but they might’ve missed their chance to really make a difference in the ballgame. Tyler Freeman followed the blast with a single to left and then stole second as Mickey Moniak struck out. Rookie Kyle Karros then knocked a hit to right field, and Freeman was sent home … only to be barely thrown out by Cam Smith for the final out of the fifth. They also squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the next frame when Yankees legend Enyel De Los Santos relieved Alexander and got Braxton Fulford to line out. Yet another bases-loaded opportunity went by the wayside in the seventh, as Kaleb Ort fanned Brenton Doyle to escape the mess.
That’s too many blown chances against a team like the Astros, and one of the worst teams in modern history paid the price. The resurgent Walker homered for his second dinger of the day to put Houston ahead in the eighth, 4-3.
Moniak singled with one out in the ninth to at least cause Bryan Abreu to sweat a little. It didn’t amount to anything, Abreu inducing a fly out from Karros and then striking out left fielder Jordan Beck to end it. Oh well. Houston is now two games up on idle Seattle, and the ‘Stros get to welcome another bad team to H-town this weekend as the Angels visit.
Boston Red Sox (75-60) 3, Baltimore Orioles (60-74) 2
The 2025 Yankees have had an unfortunate habit of getting the Red Sox going. When they first faced each other back in June, Boston was 30-34 and a middling mess. They took two out of three in the Bronx and then swept ’em at Fenway a week later, beginning a scorching-hot 34-17 stretch. Just when it seemed like the Red Sox might be cooling off with 8 losses in 12 games, they got to face the Yanks again and have now won seven of eight on the road after taking three of four from New York and sweeping the Orioles in a four-game set in Baltimore. Maybe that’s partially more a symptom of Baltimore being lousy this year, but still. Womp.
I suppose that I’m being a tad uncharitable to the O’s, who only lost by one in three of the four games against Boston. But if cream rises to the top, then you know what falls to the bottom.
If I’m being frank, this was a very uninteresting game, so it’ll be a bare-bones recap. The Red Sox grabbed an early lead against Cade Povich when Trevor Story launched his 22nd homer of the season. That set off a short solo-for-solo relay with Alex Jackson then going yard for the O’s and Rob Refsnyder punching back with his own dinger.
What a shame that the O’s couldn’t capitalize on Literally Alex Jackson taking Garrett Crochet deep! They even scored a second run off the Cy Young contender when he plunked Jackson in the fifth, saw Jackson Holliday reach on an infield single, and allowed a Jeremiah Jackson RBI double grounded down the left-field line.
The 2-2 tie only lasted a couple innings. Yankees legend Rico Garcia walked Roman Anthony to begin the eighth, and after an Alex Bregman lineout, a slow roller from Story moved the rookie into scoring position. Romy González cashed him in with a hard single to left and Boston had its 3-2 lead. Garrett Whitlock put two on with two out in the Baltimore half of the eighth, but he struck out rookie Dylan Beavers to work out of it.
A leadoff double in the ninth by Dylan Carlson was wasted as well, as fill-in closer Steven Matz retired the next three batters in a row to finish the sweep. The Red Sox are now 3.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the AL East, with the Yanks just a hair behind in third at four back.
