The Yankees handled Tampa Bay for the second time in as many days, blowing them out 9-2 behind a pair of Ben Rice home runs as well as a Ryan McMahon grand slam. Of course, there was another game played in between that didn’t go New York’s way, but overall they’ve had a solid series against the Rays as they’ll look to win it outright later tonight as a potential precursor to an ALDS matchup. While the last few games don’t really matter to New York as they’re locked into the top Wild Card seed, they do matter around
the rest of the league with both the Central and West still up for grabs and the final Wild Card slots undecided. With that in mind, let’s see what went down on Wednesday to impact the race.
Boston Red Sox (85-73) 1, Cleveland Guardians (82-76) 0
Boston has a spot in the playoffs, but they have to do a little more work to secure the fifth seed and finalize a meeting with the Yankees in the Bronx a few days from now. They moved closer to that goal with a win over Cleveland, though it was a nailbiter when it had no real business being one.
Sonny Gray and Foster Griffin had a close-fought pitchers’ duel in this one, though Griffin was walking a tightrope the entire time. The Sox collected 10 hits against him in six innings but managed to scrape across only a single run in his final frame of work, Andruw Monasterio delivering the RBI single that scored Jarren Duran. Otherwise, Griffin managed to strand two in the first inning, induced a double play to get around an error in the second, left the bases loaded in the third, worked his only clean inning in the fourth, and then stranded two more in the fifth.
Gray, as mentioned, held serve for six innings of his own scattering four hits with no damage done. Tyron Guerrero, Garrett Whitlock, and Aroldis Chapman combined to take the final three innings and continued holding Cleveland’s offense down to secure the 1-0 win with Chapman getting his 35th save of the season.
American League Rock Fight
Chicago White Sox (81-77) 4, Kansas City Royals (68-90) 5: So with the Guardians losing to Boston, could Chicago take advantage and bring the AL Central back to a tie? Unfortunately for them, they gave up a four-spot to Kansas City to open this game, Bryan Hudson getting chased after recording just one out of the inning with three runs already in. A throwing error on top of a single brought home the fourth to cap it off, but the White Sox actually tied the game back up in the third with a four-spot of their own. A pair of hits and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for Kyle Teel who singled in a pair before Miguel Vargas and Munetaka Murakami each drove in another run. All was quiet again until the seventh, when Maikel Garcia doubled home Bobby Witt Jr. to score the game-winning run, holding Chicago a game behind Cleveland for first place for one more day.
Houston Astros (78-80) 5, Seattle Mariners (74-80) 6 (10 innings): Well how about out West, where fans have been begging for literally any one of these teams to pull themselves out of the pile and take the division. Houston’s held the biggest lead most recently, but they’ve squandered that advantage and failed to hold onto this one after jumping ahead 4-0 midway through the third by giving three of those runs back immediately in the bottom half. Seattle then tied it in the fifth inning on a Dominic Canzone single, and though there were a few chances no one else scored until extras. There, Houston opened with a Yainer Diaz RBI triple but couldn’t bring home Diaz for the insurance run that proved essential. In the bottom half, a trio of walks forced in the tying run and brought Josh Naylor to the plate, who singled up the middle to walk this one off.
I’m not saying it’s in any way likely, but for context of how absurd this division has been — Seattle has been eliminated from Wild Card contention, but this win keeps them mathematically alive in the AL West race. This division is seriously flirting with having the first winner with a losing record in MLB history, so really who knows how this one finishes out.
Texas Rangers (78-80) 2, New York Mets (73-85) 7: Naturally, the Rangers were unfit to take command as well and blew it late to the Mets. This game was tied at two entering the eighth inning when Marcus Semien hit a go-ahead solo shot, and then the Mets piled on with a Brett Baty grand slam in the top of the ninth for insurance.
Baltimore Orioles (77-81) 4, Toronto Blue Jays (77-81) 2: These two got rained out yesterday requiring a doubleheader, and Baltimore got the better of them in the opening tilt. The O’s got on the board first with two runs in the second on a Jeremiah Jackson RBI single before a double steal attempt brought in another run. Then they extended their lead in the fifth with some pop, Pete Alonso launching his 41st home run of the year to make it 4-0. The Jays clawed back two in the sixth after chasing Chris Bassett from the game, but could get no further.
Baltimore Orioles (78-81) 4, Toronto Blue Jays (77-82) 2: No, that’s not a mistake – The O’s went out and swept the doubleheader with the same score. This time Baltimore opened the game with three runs on a two-run Christian Encarnacion-Strand single and RBI double from Colton Cowser. Encarnacion-Strand hit a solo homer in the fourth to give the Orioles their offense, and Toronto was dormant until a ninth inning rally where Davis Schneider hit a two-run shot to cut the deficit in half. The next two Jays went down to end it though, and with the pair of losses Toronto not only swaps places with Baltimore in the standings but the reigning AL champs have officially been eliminated from postseason contention. It’s been a far fall for the Blue Jays this year, and now they’ll have to watch on the couch as the rest of the East battles it out this year.
