Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Blue Jays survive wild game versus Angels

Facing off against an AL East rival, the Yankees couldn’t quite come up with some timely hits on Sunday, falling in a 4-2 loss to the Rays. Despite that, they still ended up with a split over their weekend at the Trop, ending the series the way they began it: up 4.5 games over Tampa in the division.

With the Yankees falling to their closest competition, let’s check in on how some other AL foes did on Sunday in today’s edition of the Rivalry Roundup.

Toronto Blue Jays (27-20) 11, Los Angeles Angels (27-22) 10

The Blue Jays finished off a four-game sweep of the Angels, but the finale took a wild ride to get there. The teams combined for 21 runs, six lead changes, and four ties, before Toronto finally ended the game in front. The Jays rallied from 6-2, 9-6, and 10-9 deficits before Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s eighth inning, RBI double gave Toronto the lead for good. Gurriel drove in five runs for the game, while Shohei Ohtani had a two home run day in a losing effort. Take a peak at the win expectancy graph for this one, because it’s a doozy.

Boston Red Sox (23-25) 12, Baltimore Orioles (20-20) 2

Boston has been fairly hot of late, and they continued that on Sunday, defeating Baltimore for their ninth win in 12 games. The Red Sox opened the game’s scoring, putting up three runs on home runs by Bobby Dalbec and Franchy Cordero, and never looked back from there. Eight of Boston’s starting nine recorded at least one hit, with all 11 players who stepped to the plate for them reaching base at least once. Cordero led the way with 3 RBI, and Xander Bogaerts had two doubles in a three-hit day. Meanwhile, Nick Pivetta was solid for Boston, allowing one run in six innings.

Houston Astros (30-18) 2, Seattle Mariners (20-28) 1

The Astros’ Luis García took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but didn’t even come away with the win. His team did, through, as Houston avoided a sweep at the hands of Seattle. The Astros took an early lead on Jeremy Peña’s second inning home run and held a 1-0 lead for a while. A few batters after García lost his no-no, he lost the lead as well, with Ty France tying the game in the sixth on a single. After he exited, the Astros’ bullpen held things down, which would allow them to eventually come out with a win. Yordan Álvarez’s eighth inning RBI single ended up being enough to get the ‘Stros the win.

Minnesota Twins (29-19) 7, Kansas City Royals (16-30) 3

Highly-rated prospect Royce Lewis played center field for the first time in his MLB career on Sunday after getting recalled, but his stint there didn’t last long. He collided against the wall after making a catch in the third inning and ended up having to leave the game.

However, the Twins didn’t let that dampen their day and cruised past the Royals. Gio Urshela got Minnesota on the board with a three-run home run in the third inning and the Twins never trailed after that. Sonny Gray allowed just two hits and a walk, and a run in six innings, helping the Twins to a series split.