What was looking like a great weekend came to a skidding halt, the Yankees not really giving themselves a fair chance to sweep the Red Sox, allowing six runs in a disastrous first inning. It was a poor showcase on Sunday Night Baseball, but nevertheless, there was a whole lot more baseball played before New York and Boston took the stage. Let’s go through what happened across the American League.
Toronto Blue Jays (87-62) 11, Baltimore Orioles (69-80) 2
The Yankees were on a roll for a second there, but they just haven’t gained that much ground on Toronto
because the Jays are now refusing to lose. The Jays pounded Baltimore on Sunday to close out a three-game sweep.
Shane Bieber turned in one of his sharpest starts yet for Toronto, holding the Orioles to one run over six innings, striking out five. He’s got a 3.72 ERA since the Jays activated him last month, and his new team must be feeling hopeful that he’ll slot nicely into the middle of a playoff rotation.
The only run against Bieber came on a Coby Mayo solo shot, Mayo’s second in as many games, which had the Orioles up 1-0, but otherwise it was one-way traffic. The bulk of the damage came against Carson Ragsdale, a 27-year-old making his big league debut. He came into a 3-1 ballgame, but the Jays worked him for eight runs over three innings. George Springer got Ragsdale for a solo homer, his 29th, in the fifth, and Joey Loperfido added an RBI double in the sixth, before the Jays removed any remaining drama from the game with a six-run seventh. Addison Barger struck the big blow with a three-run, bases-clearing double:
Alejandro Kirk, Ernie Clement, and Joey Loperfido all also drove in runs before the inning was out to make it 11-1. With the win, the Jays have a four-game lead in the AL East.
Detroit Tigers (85-65) 2, Miami Marlins (70-80) 0
When you see the Tigers win a game by a 2-0 score, it’s easy to assume they did so with Tarik Skubal on the mound, but this time, Detroit was able to get by with some of their lower-profile pitchers, piecing things together to avoid a sweep and bounce back after a crushing Saturday night loss.
Keider Montero, a young righty who’s largely worked as a reliever, had one of his best outings of the season, shutting the Marlins out over five innings, striking out five and walking none. Jose Urquidy, making his first appearance in almost two years, managed four outs in relief, and Tommy Kahnle added 1.2 innings of scoreless ball.
They all nursed a two-run lead that was gifted to them by Miami. With Spencer Torkelson on first and two down, Colt Keith grounded one to former Yankee farmhand Eric Wagaman, who booted the ball. Second baseman Maximo Acosta, backing up, retrieved the ball and fired wildly to third, allowing Torkelson to trot home:
Dillon Dingler followed with an RBI single to score Detroit’s second unearned run of the inning. It was a tough break for Marlins starter Adam Mazur, who allowed just one hit over six innings but took the loss thanks to his defense’s largesse. Miami shut down Detroit from there, but couldn’t break through, and Will Vest came on for the ninth. Vest put two on but was able to hold on, striking out Javier Sanoja to end the game:
Atlanta Braves (66-83) 8, Houston Astros (81-69) 3
The Astros took care of business to open up this series, but the Braves fought back to salvage the final game, their offense showing a rare glimpse of what was expected of them during this brutally disappointing campaign.
It was another rough start for Framber Valdez, who has had a pretty poor second half of the season. He gave up a towering solo shot in the first inning to Matt Olson, his 25th:
Sandy León added a run on a fielder’s choice in the second, before the Braves broke things open a bit in the fifth. Valdez completely lost the plot in a 2-2 ballgame, walking the bases loaded to open the frame. He allowed a two-run single to Ozzie Albies, and an RBI single to Ha-Seong Kim before being pulled:
Enyel De Los Santos came on did very well to come on and keep the deficit at 5-2, but the Braves kept pushing. Ozzie Albies managed an RBI double in the seventh, and León shocked the world with his first home of the year, off Craig Kimbrel:
With the loss, the Astros fell out of first place in the AL West, something they’d been flirting with for some time but were able to stave off, until now.
Other Games
- New York Mets (77-73) 5, Texas Rangers (79-71) 2 (ten innings): Perhaps the Mets’ nightmare is over. Nolan McLean turned in another stellar start, shutting out the Rangers over six innings and departing with a 2-0 lead. His bullpen coughed up his win, Brooks Raley surrendering a game-tying, two-run single to Joc Pederson with two outs in the seventh. But the Mets found their happy ending for once, the game going to extras and Ryne Stanek pitching a scoreless tenth to give his offense a chance. Pete Alonso came through, his opposite-field, three-run homer walking things off in Queens.
- Cleveland Guardians (78-71) 3, Chicago White Sox (57-93) 2: The Guardians continued to inch their way back into the conversation, sweeping the White Sox to win their ninth in ten tries and move to 2.5 games back of a playoff spot. Slade Cecconi allowed two runs over 5.2 innings, though Yoendrys Gómez matched him with two runs over five. It became a battle of the bullpens, and Cleveland squeezed by, Bo Naylor’s solo shot in the seventh proving to be the difference. Cade Smith put two on with two out in the ninth inning but got Andrew Benintendi to ground out to secure his 15th save.
- Seattle Mariners (82-68) 11, Los Angeles Angels (69-81) 2: It was all Mariners all day, Seattle running over Kyle Hendricks in a laugher. Cal Raleigh launched his 54th homer of the year, a two-run shot in the first, matching Mickey Mantle for the most homers by a switch-hitter in a single season. The Mariners hung three more on Hendricks in the third, then put up a six-spot in the fourth to make it 11-0. Raleigh finished 2-for-4 with three runs scored, while Julio Rodríguez went 2-for-3 with three driven in. Jorge Polanco doubled three times for good measure. George Kirby was the beneficiary, and was sensational himself, striking out 14 Mariners over 6.1 innings. Seattle now leads the AL West by one game.
