The Yankees wrapped up their second series of the year with another win, besting the Mariners 5-3 on the backs of another dominant Cam Schlittler start and some bombs from Paul Goldschmidt and Ben Rice. The rotation continues to put up zeroes, and Schlittler is making history with how few baserunners he’s allowed while striking out batter after batter — we’re just two starts in, but it really feels like the Yankees have something special with the young flamethrower.
With the win, the Yankees sit at
a pretty 5-1 after their first road trip, and a West Coaster to boot. On top of the good vibes that they’ve built for themselves early on, their main rivals all dropped games on Wednesday.
Colorado Rockies (2-4) 2, Toronto Blue Jays (4-2) 1 (10 innings)
After a blowout win on Monday and nearly getting shutout on Tuesday, the Rockies managed to find a win despite not plating a run until the eighth inning. Kevin Gausman was on the mound for Toronto and he was dealing, striking out 10 Rockies as he pitched six shutout innings and allowed just two hits all night. The first was a leadoff single in the fifth inning that got stranded after a pair of strikeouts and a groundout, and the second was a one-out double that also was followed by a pair of K’s.
Toronto, meanwhile, worked a 1-0 lead in the third thanks to a leadoff single from Miles Straw and a walk from George Springer to put runners on with one out. Davis Schneider flipped a 2-2 pitch the other way on a liner to score the lead runner, and that was all of the relevant offense until the eighth rolled around. Gausman had ceded the ball over to Tyler Rogers who pitched a clean seventh, but Tommy Nance took over for him and got into immediate trouble by walking Kyle Karros. Jake McCarthy pinch-ran for him and stole second, setting up Troy Johnston to hit a game-tying RBI single into left field.
The ninth inning was uneventful for both sides, meaning we got into Manfred Ball with the top of the tenth having a ghost runner aboard. Tyler Freeman was picked to pinch-hit for McCarthy and delivered, knocking a bouncing single off the mound and into center field to score the go-ahead run. The Jays went down in order in the bottom half, securing a surprise series win for the Rockies.
Arizona Diamondbacks (3-3) 1, Detroit Tigers (2-4) 0
Tarik Skubal is a monster on the mound, but he can’t secure a win if his offense never shows up for him. The reigning back-to-back AL Cy Young winner didn’t have a flashy game, striking out only three batters, but he still managed to deliver seven innings of one-run ball. The only blemish came right away in the first inning when Corbin Carroll took him deep on an 0-2 fastball up in the zone.
Unfortunately for him, Zac Gallen managed to keep Detroit off the scoreboard entirely. The 30-year-old righty bounced back from a rocky performance against the Dodgers by scattering four hits over six innings, striking out two in the process. Detroit did nearly manage to tie the game in the sixth inning, when Kevin McGonigle hit a one-out triple. The next batter was Gleyber Torres, and he hit a hotshot right to the first baseman who fired a throw over to third and barely beat a diving McGonigle back to the bag for an unlucky double-play that eliminated the threat. Torres hit into another double play later in the ninth inning to erase a leadoff McGonigle single, and Riley Greene’s two-out double was wasted as Jonathan Loáisiga got Dillon Dingler to ground out to earn the save.
Houston Astros (5-2) 6, Boston Red Sox (1-5) 4
It has not been a kind opening slate for the Sox, who have now dropped five in a row after winning their Opening Day matchup. Houston got to Garrett Crochet in two big innings, first slapping a pair of doubles and a Christian Walker single to score two in the first inning before Carlos Correa took Crochet deep for a three-run shot in the fifth.
The Sox ace did start out with a lead, as Willson Contreras singled home a run in the top of the first, and they tied the game back up in the second after Jarren Duran hit a grounder in the right spot with a man on third. That was all Mike Burrows allowed them though, as he lasted five innings with just those two runs allowed, and the first two men out of the ‘pen posted scoreless innings to keep things moving along. Houston tacked on a run in the bottom of the seventh on a Christian Vázquez solo shot, and that ended up mattering as the Sox chipped away at the lead thanks to solo homers from Wilyer Abreu and Roman Anthony in the eighth and ninth innings. However, with the deficit cut to two runs the Sox struck out three straight times in the ninth to wrap it up.
