The Yankees flirted with leaving the weekend against the Red Sox winless, as they were tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the eighth and hadn’t taken advantage of an excellent day from Cam Schlittler. Thankfully the Bombers’ bats came alive at last, Cody Bellinger breaking the ice with a solo shot before a Trent Grisham RBI single and a three-run blast by Jazz Chisholm Jr. gave the Yanks some breathing room. Final score: 6-1 Yanks and an offense hopefully back on track.
Here’s what else was going on
in American League action on Sunday, which included a key game that brought the Yanks back to the forefront of the AL East.
Tampa Bay Rays (37-25) 1, Miami Marlins (31-35) 4
The Fish really did the Yankees a solid over the weekend, as despite entering with a 29-34 record, they took two out of three from the first-place Rays. In fairness to Tampa Bay, Sunday was a tougher matchup with former Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara in control. He went seven strong innings, allowing one run on five hits and a walk, the lone score coming in the third when Yandy Díaz singled in Taylor Walls after the latter swiped second.
Griffin Jax isn’t a schmuck though, and for his part, the recently-converted reliever shut the Marlins down in five scoreless frames. With Garrett Cleavinger, however, the Fish fared better. Liam Hicks worked a one-out walk in the sixth and Otto Lopez tied the game with a triple that Cedric Mullins failed to cut off in center.
Kyle Stowers lifted a sacrifice fly to plate Lopez and the Marlins were in front.
Miami added insurance runs after a strike-’em-out/throw-’em-out double play that was part of a three-batter seventh for Sandy. Steven Matz entered for Tampa Bay, fresh off his return to the bullpen with the Rays abandoning their effort to make him a starter again. His first relief appearance didn’t go so hot either. The lefty walked Esteury Ruiz, allowed a stolen base, and then issued a free pass to Jakob Marsee. The duo executed a double steal, and the Rays brought the infield in. Joe Mack grounded to shortstop, but catcher Hunter Fedducia couldn’t handle the throw home. Both Ruiz and Marsee scored to make it 4-1, Miami.
Michael Petersen and Anthony Bender combined to allow a mere Jonathan Aranda single across the final two innings as the Marlins took the series. The Rays are now back in a virtual tie with the Yankees for first place in the AL East, technically percentage points ahead of them at 37-25 (.597) vs. 38-26 (.594), but they have played two fewer games than the Yanks. On the MLB.com standings page, they’re even in terms of games ahead/behind. Regardless, the Rays host the Red Sox for three at the Trop next while the Yanks go to Cleveland.
Other Games
Toronto Blue Jays (32-34) 6, Baltimore Orioles (31-35) 4: The Jays enjoyed beating Baltimore 6-4 so much on Saturday that they did the exact same thing yesterday. There was more drama to this one, as the O’s jumped out to a 4-0 lead with an ambush on Kevin Gausman, Colton Cowser and Taylor Ward both homering in the four-run fifth. An inning later, the Jays stormed back. Yohendrick Piñango led off with a homer against Shane Baz, and after a Jesús Sánchez double and an error by Gunnar Henderson, the floodgates opened. An RBI groundout, single, and double followed, the last an Andrés Giménez hit to tie the game at 4-4. Nathan Lukes then reached on an infield single that caromed off the mound, and the play was just so slow enough for Giménez to come all the way around to score. Brandon Valenzuela later homered off Rico Garcia for an insurance run and Louie Varland retired three batters in a row as the potential tying run to nail down the Jays win.
Seattle Mariners (34-32) 4, Detroit Tigers (27-39) 5: The brutal season for Andrés Muñoz continues. The two-time All-Star closer has been dreadful in 2026, and he blew another game on Sunday, dooming Seattle to a series loss at the hands of the Tigers. They’ve been playing better this past week, but Seattle had this one in hand. Run-scoring hits from Josh Naylor, Cole Young, and Randy Arozarena gave the M’s a 4-1 lead. It was trimmed to 4-3 due to an ineffective Cooper Criswell, and then Muñoz entered for the ninth. He issued consecutive walks with one out to Zach McKinstry and the man whose triple had already cut into Seattle’s lead, Wenceel Pérez. A soft grounder moved the runners over, and down to Detroit’s last out, rookie Kevin McGonigle came through with a two-run single to win it.
Cleveland Guardians (37-30) 0, Texas Rangers (32-33) 10: The Mariners’ loss was the Rangers’ gain, as the obliterated the Guardians to move to within a game and a half of Seattle in the underwhelming AL West race. (The A’s also won to move to within 2.5.) It was a nice atonement for Texas after a 6-0 loss on Saturday. Cleveland’s Joey Cantillo was obliterated to the tune of seven runs on nine hits, three of which came on homers to Josh Jung, Wyatt Langford, and Justin Foscue. Jacob deGrom threw six scoreless for the Rangers, yielding just three hits. The Guardians retained a two-game AL Central lead over the White Sox, who would be leading the AL West. Unfortunately for them, it is not 1983 or 1993.
