Welcome to the second edition of the revamped Rivalry Roundup! The Yankees were able to address one of their main rivals head-on last night, blanking the Red Sox behind a sterling effort from Luis Gil and a power display from Giancarlo Stanton. Even if it’s April 22nd, there’s never a bad time to see the Yankees in first place and the Red Sox in last. May it continue all season. (It probably won’t, but I can hope.)
Here’s what else was going on among notable teams around the Junior Circuit.
Toronto Blue Jays (10-13) 4, Los Angeles Angels (11-14) 2
Don’t look
now but the defending AL champions might finally be picking themselves off the mat. Their victory over the Angels last night gave them three wins in a row (and a series victory) for the first time since sweeping the A’s to begin the 2026 season. From then until the beginning of play on April 19th, they went a ghastly 4-13.
Now, they’ll be eyeing a sweep of the Angels this afternoon. Tuesday was a low-scoring game until late, as Patrick Corbin (once an Angels draft pick approximately a million years ago) and Jack Kochanowicz exchanged zeroes through four. The Halos got on the board first in the fifth on back-to-back singles from Oswald Peraza and Nolan Schanuel, then a sacrifice fly from Vaughn Grissom. One sac fly begat another in the top of the sixth when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached on an infield hit, moved to third on a Jesús Sánchez knock, and tied the game on a fly ball to left by Eloy Jiménez.
This one would be decided by the bullpens, and the Angels came out on the short end. The Yankees were stymied by Drew Pomeranz in their series against the Angels, but he hadn’t pitched since then. Blame it on rust or him simply being 2026 Drew Pomeranz; he didn’t have it. The lefty surrendered doubles in the eighth to both Ernie Clement and pinch-hitter Lenyn Sosa (recently acquired from the White Sox) after an intentional walk to Vlad Jr. Both runners scored, and Sosa dented home himself when Eloy singled him in to make it 4-1.
The three-run lead was not fully Jeff Hoffman-proof. I don’t know if the way the 2025 season ended for him has Hoffman shook, but he has been horrendous early in 2026. After striking out Zach Neto to begin the ninth, he gave up a single to Mike Trout, plunked Jo Adell and Jorge Soler in consecutive plate appearances, and then allowed an RBI single to Yoan Moncada.
With Hoffman lost, the tying run on first, and the winning run at the plate, manager John Schneider came out to get his closer. It was the right move, as Louie Varland entered and immediately induced a double-play ball from Schanuel, whose head-first slide into first base was in vain. So it
Other Games
Cleveland Guardians (14-11) 8, Houston Astros (9-16) 5
Monday turned out to be a one-day reprieve for Houston after getting swept by St. Louis over the weekend. The Guardians ensured that the Astros would not carry a winning streak into their series against the Yankees that begins tomorrow. Cleveland’s Parker Messick was not sharp after his no-hit bid last week, and a three-run fifth put Houston ahead, 3-2. They boosted it to 4-2 in the seventh before their nightmare pitching staff set everything ablaze. Old friend Enyel De Los Santos recorded only one out in the eighth, with Bryan Rocchio hitting a two-run single to send him to the showers. Bryan King offered no actual relief, with a bases-clearing triple by rookie sensation Chase DeLauter putting the Guardians ahead for good. While Houston occupies the AL West cellar, Cleveland leads the pack in the AL Central by a game over Minnesota.
Detroit Tigers (12-12) 4, Milwaukee Brewers (13-9) 12
Well, that wasn’t close. Tigers starter Keider Montero and reliever Enmanuel De Jesus were blasted by the Brew Crew for a combined 10 runs on 12 hits across their seven innings. I still love the guy, but Gary Sánchez of all people TRIPLING against you just says it all about how things went for Detroit. David Hamilton had a four-hit night, Brice Turang drove in four during his own multi-hit game, and Milwaukee scored seven in the eighth inning alone. Yowza.
Tampa Bay Rays (12-11) 6, Cincinnati Reds (16-8) 12
The Rays have dropped three in a row and four of five, perhaps cooling off after 9-2 stretch that briefly put them in first place in the AL East. They were merely the Washington Generals of the Elly De La Cruz Show on Tuesday, the Reds shortstop blistering them with two homers, a stolen base, a two-run single and five RBI on the day. Steven Matz and the Tampa Bay pitching staff had no answers for Elly.
Baltimore Orioles (11-13) 5, Kansas City Royals (8-16) 6
Although the Mets dropped their 12th (!!) in a row last night, the Royals snapped their own skid, which had run up to eight in a row including the Yankees’ sweep of ’em. A not-quite-pitchers’ duel between Shane Baz and Kris Bubic was seemingly decided in the eighth when Adley Rutschman picked a good time for his first long ball of 2026, launching a two-run shot off Matt Strahm to put Baltimore in front, 5-4. The lead was oh-so-brief thanks to Michael Massey’ solo shot against old friend Rico Garcia to knot it at five apiece, and the Royals walked it off—or ran it off—when Ryan Helsley uncorked a pair of wild pitches to move Maikel Garcia to third and then score him. Whoops.
Texas Rangers (12-11) 5, Pittsburgh Pirates (13-10) 1
I think there’s a case that the Rangers are the most boring team in the Junior Circuit these days, so I long for the day when we can excise them from the Rivalry Roundup. Alas, it is not this day. Kumar Rocker threw six innings of one-run ball, fanning five Buccos, and the Rangers took care of business against Carmen Mlodzinski. It wasn’t a perfect day though, as their most important young player, outfielder Wyatt Langford, had to leave the game with forearm stiffness.
Seattle Mariners (10-15) 2, Athletics (13-11) 5
The two teams from last year’s American League Championship Series have a combined record of 20-28. Seattle is actually worse than Toronto right now after dropping a home game to the feisty A’s last night. Jeff McNeil hit his first career homer in a non-Mets uniform, and the Fightin’ West Sacramentans shook off a game-tying dinger by Cal Raleigh in the sixth to move in front on an RBI double from Jacob Wilson and Shea Langeliers’ eighth homer of 2026 — twice Raleigh’s current total. The superior backstop has spoken! (I’m only kind of trolling. Langeliers is a legitimately good hitter in his own right!.)
