Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Chicago quiets Boston bats after Tuesday outburst

The Yankees made their fans sweat a bit last night by only scoring two runs against Tyler Wells and the Orioles’ pitching staff. Thankfully, JP Sears and the Yankees’ own arms were dominant, shutting Baltimore out in a 2-0 victory to clinch the series win. From there, the Yankees could scoreboard-watch at their leisure.*

*Which to be frank is probably minimal given that it’s only May 26th, but you know that there are some baseball freaks like us on the team that can’t get enough of this goofy game.

The 23-20 Blue Jays were off yesterday, but how did the Yankees’ other primary foes fare?

Detroit Tigers (15-28) vs. Minnesota Twins (27-17)

Shortstop Harold Castro was essentially the entire Detroit offense through nine in this one, as he belted a pair of solo homers and the Tigers didn’t put much else together against Dylan Bundy and the Twins’ bullpen. However, the Detroit pitching staff helped those two dingers stand up, as Minnesota put a pair on the board in the fourth via a Trevor Larnach long ball off Rony García and didn’t score at all otherwise.

The odd roll call of Wily Peralta, Joe Jiménez, Gregory Soto, Alex Lange, Michael Fulmer, and Andrew Chafin combined for six innings of four-hit, shutout ball. Detroit scored in the 10th on a Jeimer Candelario two-run homer, and after the Twins were again turned away in the home half, that was the game.

Miami Marlins (18-24) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (26-17)

The Rays might have uncharacteristically lost two out of three in Baltimore prior to this mini-set against the Marlins, but they firmly righted the ship. After a 4-0 shutout win on Tuesday, they smoked Miami’s Cody Poteet in the first inning of play on Wednesday, plating five runs on doubles by Wander Franco and Randy Arozarena before a Harold Ramirez two-run shot capped the opening salvo.

The Marlins fought back against Drew Rasmussen and the Rays’ bullpen, all while their own pitching staff silenced Tampa the rest of the way. Big hits from Jorge Soler and Jacob Stallings cut the lead to 5-3, and a throwing error from Franco in the ninth made it a one-run game with the tying run on third and one out. Poche wormed himself out of it though. Willians Astudillo popped up to far-too-shallow right field, and in a two-out, bases-loaded jam, Poche fanned Jesús Aguilar to secure the victory.

Boston Red Sox (20-23) vs. Chicago White Sox (22-21)

The suddenly-surging Red Sox carried a six-game winning streak and 9-2 record in their past 11 contests into Wednesday night. They’d thumped the White Sox in their own building, 16-3, on Tuesday, but this time, the South Siders’ pitching staff limited Boston to a single run. It came in the first on an Alex Verdugo single to put two on for defending AL Player of the Week Trevor Story. Before Boston could put another crooked number on the scoreboard, Lucas Giolito induced a grounder to end it.

Giolito’s only run support came from a three-run homer by the wonderfully-named Jake Burger off Rich Hill in the fifth. Nonetheless, Giolito made it hold up despite putting a whole bunch of Boston batters on via walks (4) or hits (5). By the end of the sixth, he departed with a 3-1 lead. Tony La Russa’s bullpen kept that margin intact, with Liam Hendriks getting the potential go-ahead run Xander Bogaerts to pop up, earning earn the save.

Cleveland Guardians (18-22) vs. Houston Astros (29-16)

Here’s an oddity box score for you: The Astros beat the Guardians, 2-1, on Wednesday, and none of the three runs scored on a hit. Houston got its two scores on sacrifice flies from Michael Brantley and Jason Castro off Cal Quantrill, and while Cristian Javier blanked Cleveland through 5.2 innings of three-hit ball, they did push one across in the seventh when Hector Neris unleashed a wild pitch.

An Austin Hedges walk after the wayward offering went for naught. Neris got Myles Straw to fly out and bullpenmates Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly retired Cleveland in order during the eighth and ninth. That’s a snooze of a win for Houston, but a win’s a win.