Thanks to some ninth-inning Aaron Judge heroics, the Yankees handed their most important rival of 2026 a loss on Sunday. The Yanks’ 2-0 win over Tampa Bay narrowed the latter’s lead atop the American League East to 4.5 games and handed the Rays only their second loss in their last dozen games. More Tampa losses would be just keen.
Elsewhere, the big story is in Toronto. The Blue Jays entered Sunday on a season-high, four-game winning streak and were looking to sweep Pittsburgh. The Jays, however,
were done in by the long ball and also lost two of their best players to injury, though there is no indication yet that either will miss considerable time.
Toronto Blue Jays (25-28) 1, Pittsburgh Pirates (27-26) 4
Until he faced the Yankees last week, Jays starter Dylan Cease was almost impossible to take yard. Through his first eight outings, he allowed a lone long ball. Then the Yanks hit two. On Sunday, the Pirates hit two more their first time through the order. After one home run through eight games, Cease allowed four home runs in his next 6+ innings. You can’t predict baseball, Suzyn. The only saving grace for Cease Sunday was that both were solo shots.
Other than that, however, Cease looked great, with his strikeout pitches in fine form. In the top of the fifth though, he had to leave the game with discomfort in his left hamstring (they’re hoping it’s mild, but he will have an MRI), forcing the Jays to go to the bullpen early while holding their breath regarding their ace’s health. Making matters worse, in the bottom of the fifth, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took a Mitch Keller pitch off the elbow and also left the game — though X-rays on his elbow later came back negative.
Now into the Jays ‘pen, the Pirates broke through in the sixth with the game’s big blow. Esmerlyn Valdez hit a two-run home run off Chase Lee, his first major-league hit, that gave Pittsburgh some breathing room with a 4-1 lead. Toronto brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but Gregory Soto got the final two outs to win the game and the series.
Other Games
Boston Red Sox (22-30) 5, Minnesota Twins (26-27) 6: This was a back-and-forth affair with the clubs trading runs early. The game went to the middle innings with Boston up 4-3 but a three-run sixth inning highlighted by a two-run, tie-breaking single by Brooks Lee looked to have Minnesota in great shape to take another game from the BoSox. Not so fast, my friend. Former Yankee Yoendrys Gómez tried to lock the game down in the ninth after entering the previous inning but allowed a fifth Boston run. If not for a great relay to the plate on that play, he would have blown the save. Boston still managed to put the tying and winning runs on base with two outs but the Twins escaped with the W.
Editor’s note: The Red Sox might very well creep back into this race at some point, but they are currently better than just three other AL teams (Royals, Tigers, and Angels). As such, this will be the last time you see them covered here in 2026 unless they have a rally to relevance or if they’re playing a more notable AL team.
Cleveland Guardians (32-23) 3, Philadelphia Phillies (26-27) 1: Once again, pitching was the story in Philadelphia. Sunday, in the rubber match of this three-game set, Parker Messick took the ball for Cleveland. He spun 5.2 scoreless innings and, thanks to RBI base hits from Steven Kwan and Rhys Hoskins, departed with a 2-0 lead. The Phils managed their lone run on a Bryce Harper RBI in the bottom of the seventh but Cleveland immediately got that run back in the eighth and held on for the 3-1 win. The victory sends Cleveland out of The City of Brotherly Love with the series win over the Phils, who’ve been much improved with Donnie Baseball at the helm (18-7).
Seattle Mariners (25-29) 6, Kansas City Royals (22-31) 8: Seattle got off to a quick start thanks to a Julio Rodríguez first-inning solo home run. They failed to follow up, however, and five runs in the fifth and sixth gave Kansas City a lead they managed to protect, though things got squirrely in the ninth with close Lucas Erceg surrendering three runs, making a comfortable 8-3 Royals lead much less comfortable at 8-6, with the tying run at the plate and two outs. Erceg, however, retired Luke Raley to end it. A little bit of good news for Seattle as Colt Emerson, the highly-touted prospect they recently called up, had a breakout game. At 2-for-17 entering Sunday, Emerson went 4-for-4 with three doubles, a run scored, and a run batted in. Not bad at all.
Texas Rangers (24-28) 1, Los Angeles Angels (20-34) 2: The Rangers and Angels closed out Sunday’s slate of games. Each club scored a lone run in the opening innings. Then the pitching took over. Especially for the Angels. Reid Detmers, who entered Sunday with a 5.07 ERA (notably his FIP was a much shinier 3.07), absolutely went off on the Rangers. throwing eight innings, allowing only the one run, and striking out a career-high 14, with everyone in the Texas lineup striking out at least once against him. The game stayed tied until the ninth when Yankee legend Oswald Peraza made his presence known. With runners on first and second and with the help of a Rangers’ throwing error, Peraza’s groundball to second that could have been an inning-ending twin killing ended up scoring the winning run.
