It wasn’t to the same degree as Friday night, but for the second straight day, the Yankees beat the Braves with some dramatics. Ben Rice’s eighth-inning home run ended up proving the difference, despite an Atlanta rally attempt in the ninth inning. George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones also had nice days, as the Yankees eked out another needed one-run win, this time on Old-Timers’ Day.
As that was happening, there was plenty of other baseball action on Saturday. Let’s check in on some of it in today’s
edition of the Rivalry Roundup.
Tampa Bay Rays (70-46) 3, Seattle Mariners (56-62) 2
The Rays used a bullpen game to pick up a win over the Mariners, as seven Tampa Bay pitcher combined to hold Seattle to just two runs. That makes five wins in a row and 15 victories in the last 19 games for the Rays, who maintained a 4.5-game AL East lead over the Yankees.
It was an unfortunate ending to the day for a Seattle fan, as they had their own Old-Timers’ Day of sorts at T-Mobile Park, celebrating its 50th years as a franchise by honoring its voted 50 best Mariners. The festivities included a ceremonial first pitch from aging former skipper/Yankees icon Lou Piniella, and Alex Rodriguez’s first time back in Seattle as an honored guest (he got a nicer hand than when he returned as a player, for sure). But the modern players continued to disappoint, falling four games behind 60-58 Houston in an ugly AL West race.
The Mariners took an initial lead thanks to a Josh Naylor solo homer in the second, but Victor Mesa Jr. hit one of his own to tie things back up in the fourth. That was the extent of the offense for a little while, as George Kirby was decent for the M’s, while a collection of Rays’ pitchers held things down as well.
The Rays eventually broke that deadlock in the sixth inning after Kirby had left. A Brendan Donovan error, a single, and a walk loaded the bases up for the Rays for Richie Palacios. Tampa Bay’s second baseman came through, lining a single to right that scored two runners.
Seattle got one run back in the seventh thanks to a second Naylor homer. In total, they finished with more hits than the Rays and they had their chances, but they couldn’t add any more. They got one last life line in the ninth inning via a lead-off Julio Rodríguez single, but Naylor couldn’t make it a hat trick, and Donovan later grounded into a game-ending double play.
Other Games
- The Athletics (46-71) 7, Boston Red Sox (64-52) 3: Hallelujah, the Red Sox have lost a game — just their fifth L since July 4th. It seemed like this would be an addition to their ridiculous streak, as they scored two runs in the first inning, but the A’s then scored the next seven. Jonah Heim — whose two-run single give the Athletics their first lead — and Donovan Walton each had two RBI days, while pitcher Gage Jump overcame the bad first inning to strike out 11 in a very nice six innings. Boston did bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but this time for once, an opponent was able to snuff them out. They’re now a game and a half behind the Yankees for the top Wild Card spot, though well in front of Texas (who beat Baltimore 5-1) for the the lowest of the three spots.
- San Diego Padres (61-57) 3, Houston Astros (60-58) 2: The Astros scored one run and had the go-ahead one at the plate in the ninth inning, but their comeback was too little, too late. The two teams traded a run each early, but a Jackson Merrill homer gave the Padres a lead in the third, and they added another in the fourth, and that lead held up for most of the game. Michael King had a plenty good day on the mound for San Diego, allowing just one run in six innings. Houston went on to threaten in the ninth, but didn’t have enough to completely rally. Their AL West lead was trimmed to half a game by the victorious Rangers.
- Chicago White Sox (60-56) 6, Cleveland Guardians (58-60) 3: After a scoreless first five innings, the final couple were action-packed as the first-place White Sox added cushion to their edge on Cleveland. Chicago won thanks mostly to a five-run sixth inning. The Guardians had just scored the game’s first two runs in the top of the sixth, but the ChiSox answered in a big way in the bottom half. Munetaka Murakami homered, while Tristian Peters and Chase Meidroth also had big RBI hits in the frame.
