The Yankees’ West Coast trip didn’t get off to the best start, opening up their series against the Angels with a 10-1 loss that felt over pretty early. Whether it was a hangover from the blowout win they got on Sunday, the cross-country travel after playing four games in three days, or just a genuine bad night, at the end of the day it counts as an L in the record books all the same. Looking around across the league, there was at least one major rival that didn’t take advantage of their blunder.
Tampa Bay Rays (82-55) 2, New York Mets (62-76) 3
The odds didn’t look great for the Mets upsetting the Rays when they didn’t start Juan Soto for the opener of this series, but as it turned out they still had enough to get the job done. Robert Stock took the ball for the Metropolitans and delivered 5.1 innings without allowing a run, scattering five hits throughout his outing. The only time he came under threat was in the fifth when the first three Rays all got aboard on singles, but Stock managed to induce a weak pop up and a strikeout before Jonathan Aranda lined out to end the frame.
New York had taken the lead an inning earlier, Mark Vientos still managing to bring a run in on a double-play ball, but they remained shut down by Ian Seymour otherwise until the seventh inning. There, Vientos made up for not making the most out of his earlier RBI chance by depositing a ball over the wall in left-center to lead off the inning. Seymour got his 10th strikeout after that, but got hooked after giving up a single to Christopher Morel and had to watch as the Mets stringed a couple more hits together to push the lead to 3-0. Tampa finally got themselves on the scoreboard in the eighth inning against Daniel Duarte, collecting three singles and a walk to generate a pair of runs, but against Kodai Senga in the ninth they wasted a leadoff walk going down in order right after.
Other Games
Boston Red Sox (75-63) 9, Seattle Mariners (64-74) 8 (10 innings): Oh Seattle, what a disappointing season you’ve had. The Mariners’ frustrating run continued with an extra-inning loss after they blew a three-run lead late on the road. They scored right away getting a Randy Arozarena leadoff double and a Julio Rodriguez double to follow up, but Mickey Gasper tied it right up with a solo shot in the bottom half of the first (continuing a small sample run that’s nevertheless one of the hottest months a hitter’s ever had). Boston then built their first lead of the night on a Jarren Duran two-run homer in the second, which Seattle immediately cut into with an Arozarena solo shot in the third and tied back up when Arozarena singled in a run in the fifth.
Boston was back at it in the bottom half of the fifth, Ceddanne Rafaela singling in a pair of runs to re-take the lead, but Seattle responded right away with a four-run sixth. Arozarena was again at the center of the offensive push, adding two more runs batted in to lead the way with four overall before Dominic Canzone followed with a two-run double to put the Mariners up 7-5. Cal Raleigh got into the mix in the seventh with a solo shot pushing the lead to three, but Boston was far from dead. Recently reinstated from the IL, Trevor Story doubled in a pair of runs in the eighth to cut the deficit to one before fellow reinforcement Roman Anthony led off the ninth with a triple that ate up Rodriguez out in center. Rafaela brought him home on a sac fly to tie the game and force extras, where the Mariners bunted their Manfred runner over to third before striking out to end their chances. Needing a clean inning, the M’s chose to intentionally walk two batters to get their matchup against Story with the force on everywhere, but Story laced a hit to the wall in center to walk it off.
Chicago White Sox (72-65) 3, Houston Astros (70-68) 6: In a battle of the other two divisions’ leaders, Houston came out on top. Anthony Kay was doing decently for Chicago through three innings, allowing only an unearned run through a couple of groundouts up until that point. In the fourth with a 2-1 lead though, Cam Smith tripled and Nelson Velázquez brought him in with a two-run shot to left to take the lead. Then the fifth inning fully undid him, a trio of singles loading the bases before he walked in a run and got pulled a batter later. Trevor Richards entered to face Smith, but he got his second extra-base hit of the night lining a double to drive in two more runs. Up 6-2, the Astros’ bullpen did a solid job covering 4.1 innings with four pitchers, only allowing a solo shot to Colson Montgomery in the seventh inning.
AL Wild Card Rock Fight
Texas Rangers (68-70) 8, Athletics (53-85) 1: The Rangers ran this one from the onset, scoring in the second inning and pouring it on over the next three. Elias Díaz and Cody Freeman gave Texas all the offense they’d need when the former grounded a run in and the latter slapped an RBI single in the second, supporting Jacob deGrom as he twirled seven shutout innings and allowed just a single hit all day, a leadoff single in the top of the second that got erased on a double play. The A’s lone run came in the ninth when Jonah Heim ripped a double to put runners on second and third and Darell Hernaiz lifted a sacrifice fly, but they couldn’t scratch any more across as the next two A’s went down without much of a fight.
Baltimore Orioles (69-69) 2, Colorado Rockies (52-86) 1: The Orioles got their lead in the seventh inning when Colton Cowser managed to beat out a double play ball to bring in a run on the force out. Cowser’s contributions didn’t stop there, however: he made the play of the game robbing Jake McCarthy of a potential walk-off home run with two outs in the ninth on a full-extension leap to steal victory out of the jaws of defeat.
