Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series couldn’t have gone much better for the Yankees. On the mound, Cam Schlittler was excellent, blanking the Red Sox for 6.1 impressive innings. Then, led by Ben Rice, the Yankees’ offense plated nine runs, pulling away from Boston to go up 1-0 in the series.
Yesterday wasn’t just the opening of the Yankees-Red Sox series, though. All three of the Wild Card matchups also got underway on Tuesday, so let’s check in on what happened.
AL Wild Card Series Game 1
Chicago White Sox 6, Houston Astros 3
(Chicago leads 1-0)
After jumping out to a 3-0 lead early, the White Sox withstood the Astros and tacked on some more runs late to take the opener of the other AL matchup in Houston.
Facing an Astros’ bullpen game, the White Sox got going quickly. With a runner on third in the first, Munetaka Murakami hit a fly ball that was deep enough for Chicago’s Sam Antonacci to tag up and score. The next inning, Antonacci did it at the plate, hitting a bases loaded single to bring home two more runs. A Colson Montgomery homer in the fourth and a Chase Meidroth RBI single in the fifth had Chicago up big before Houston showed any resistance.
A two-run shot from Nelson Velázquez in the bottom of the fifth got the Astros on the board, but Chicago got one of those runs back a little while later. Houston countered with one in the eighth and brought the tying run to the plate, but couldn’t cash in as the ChiSox held on from there. Amusingly, the Astros have now lost eight consecutive playoff games in Houston since early on in the 2023 playoffs. If Chicago can win one more at Daikin Park either today or tomorrow, they’ll not only eliminate Houston but also secure their first playoff series victory since winning the 2005 World Series, over two decades ago. The Astros will have their best pitcher going for them in Hunter Brown, so we’ll see if that’s enough to keep their season alive.
NL Wild Card Series Game 1
Atlanta Braves 5, Philadelphia Phillies 3
(Atlanta leads 1-0)
Austin Riley’s go-ahead eighth inning home run stunned the Phillies to give the Braves the series opener.
The Phillies opened the scoring early when Alec Bohm doubled home a run in the top of the first. Atlanta then answered back with Mike Yastrzemski RBI single. The game remained tied for a while after that as both Chris Sale and Jesús Luzardo put in solid outings; Luzardo hadn’t necessarily been expected to even last five innings, as he was still relatively fresh off the IL and threw an inning of relief just to help the Phillies clinch a playof spot on Sunday. Things changed as both teams got to the bullpen, and there were some dramatic swings.
Atlanta took the lead for the first time in the sixth when Ozzie Albies hit an RBI triple thanks to some less-than-stellar fielding from Phillies’ center fielder Derek Hill. However, a Ronald Acuña Jr. misplay in the seventh allowed J.T. Realmuto to hit a triple of his own, scoring two runs to put Philly back in front.
Phillies’ manager Don Mattingly went for the kill shot by bringing on closer Jhoan Duran in the seventh. He got through that inning fine and came back out for the eighth, facing the heart of Atlanta’s order. He got two quick outs before Michael Harris II kept the inning alive with a softly-struck infield single. Duran hit Albies with a pitch after that, bringing Riley to the plate. Duran then left a fastball right in the middle of the zone, and Riley took full advantage, giving Atlanta a lead that Raisel Iglesias held on to in the ninth.
If the Braves win today, then they’ll advance to play the two-time defending champion Dodgers in the NLDS. If the Phillies can hold them off behind ace Cristopher Sánchez however, then Game 3 awaits on Thursday.
San Diego Padres 8, Chicago Cubs 0
(San Diego leads 1-0)
Michael King took a no-hitter into the seventh inning as the Padres’ offense crushed Cubs pitching in the late night game out west.
The Cubs’ story this season is that they have an excellent offense and poor pitching, ranking first and last in fWAR respectively. However in Game 1, only one of those things proved true. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado both hit first inning home runs against Matthew Boyd, getting San Diego off to the perfect start, from which they only added on to their lead.
Meanwhile, the Cubs offense couldn’t do much against King. The former Yankee didn’t allow a hit until Nico Hoerner singled with one out in the seventh. In total, King shut out Chicago over seven frames, allowing just the one hit and three walks, striking out eight.
In the ninth inning, Padres’ pitcher Joe Musgrove returned to the majors after a two-year absence while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He allowed a couple Cubs to reach base, but did end up throwing a scoreless inning.
