The Yankees were Mike Trout-ed once again on Thursday. The future Hall-of-Famer walked twice and homered for the fifth (!!) time of the series. Against a not-great Angels team, the Bombers could only manage a split in the four-game series at home. But, life goes on, as does other action around the American League. Let’s take a look at what happened on Thursday.
Toronto Blue Jays (7-11) 1, Milwaukee Brewers (10-8) 2
For a second consecutive game, the Blue Jays lost to the Brewers by a score of 2-1.
Toronto actually put a tally in the run column first in this one, when Taylor Heineman laid down a perfect safety squeeze to kick off scoring in the third inning. The Brewers manufactured a run of their own an inning later, thanks to a Luis Rengifo sacrifice fly, but outside of that, the bats were quiet on both sides.
That was thanks, in large part, to excellent starting efforts on the mound. Patrick Corbin tossed 5.2 innings of one-run ball, striking out six for the Blue Jays. Out of the other dugout, Milwaukee’s Darren Sproat produced a remarkably similar line over 6.2 frames. Both starters allowed one run on four hits while striking out six.
In the spirit of how this game shaped up, the decisive run came via some small ball once again. This time, a retaliatory squeeze bunt from Joey Ortiz scored the go-ahead run for the Brew Crew in the seventh inning. As things would have it, that would be the play that decided the game, as the Jays dropped another one, 2-1.
Houston Astros (8-12) 2, Colorado Rockies (6-12) 3
With the loss Thursday, the Astros officially lost the season series with the Rockies, a deal every other team in the Junior Circuit would happily sign up for. Houston jumped out to an early lead thanks to RBI hits from Yordan Alvarez and Joey Loperfido, but that would be all the noise the Houston bats would be able to make.
Following that, Colorado’s bulk guy Chase Dollander was terrific, allowing just one hit and striking out nine across 5.1 scoreless innings out of the ‘pen.
The Rockies made their charge in the middle innings, with runs in each of the third through fifth innings. An RBI knock and a run-scoring double play sandwiched Hunter Goodman’s fifth homer of the season, a solo shot in the fourth inning off of Houston’s Ryan Weiss.
By dropping another game, to the lowly Rockies no less, the Astros find themselves knotted up in last place in the AL West.
Seattle Mariners (8-12) 2, San Diego Padres (13-6) 5
Right down there with the Astros in the West basement is the Mariners, who took a lost to an NL West opponent on Thursday as well.
Luis Castillo struggled in his fourth outing on the season, as the Padres plated four runs in the first inning, and the right-hander eventually exited in the sixth inning having walked three and allowed seven hits. The damage San Diego did early came thanks to a couple of timely hits, punctuated by Fernando Tatis Jr.’s two-run single to make it 4-0.
On the mound for the Dads, Walker Buehler did a nice job across five innings of work, allowing just a pair of runs and striking out seven. The Mariner’s lone action on offense came in the sixth, when Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez each managed RBI singles, but it wasn’t enough to match the early output of the Padres.
Like the Astros, the M’s drop to 8-12, and find themselves in a bit of a hole to kick off the 2026 season.
Other Games
Detroit Tigers (10-9) 10, Kansas City Royals (7-12) 9: The Tigers took home a slugfest to crawl above .500 on Thursday. Five different Detroit batters recorded multiple hits in this one, which included three from Riley Greene and a two-run blast from Dillon Dingler. The Royals staged a comeback in the seventh, scoring six runs led by a three-run dinger from Salvador Perez. Suddenly trailing 9-7 in the last of the ninth, a clutch double from Greene tied the game up, and he was later scored thanks to Colt Keith’s walk-off knock.
Cleveland Guardians (11-9) 4, St. Louis Cardinals (10-9) 2: Contrary to the other AL Central winner on Thursday, the Guardians took one home thanks largely to some terrific pitching. José Ramírez led the scoring charge with a two-run blast in the first, but the story of the night was Parker Messick. In his 11th career start, the lefty delivered his finest work, ultimately taking a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Cardinals. He finished on the hook for two runs in the ninth, but he pitched a near-perfect eight innings, allowing just two hits and striking out nine in the win.
