Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Blue Jays commit bird crimes, Astros falter against Rangers

The Yankees didn’t play on Monday, using their last scheduled off-day for a while to rest up after a dominant stretch of play. The Red Sox and Rays, the latter of whom is next on the Yankees’ schedule, also didn’t play, but the rest of the team’s rivals were in action. Let’s see what impact these games brought:

Baltimore Orioles (26-36) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (36-24)

The two bird teams in the AL East met up north of the border, and it was a one-sided affair. The Blue Jays put the game out of reach thanks to a massive fifth inning where they scored seven runs, three off of Orioles starter Kyle Bradish and then four more off of reliever Logan Gillaspie (who only recorded one out). In the top half of the innings, Alek Manoah cruised through six innings of one-hit, shutout ball before turning it over to the Blue Jays bullpen. Julian Merryweather gave up a run to break up the shutout, but the Jays still bagged an easy 11-1 victory.

Minnesota Twins (36-27) vs. Seattle Mariners (27-34)

For a low-scoring game, this one turned into a slog — thanks in no part to the two teams combining to use 13 different pitchers. Chris Archer was gifted a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but could only go four innings before getting lifted for a reliever. Seattle managed to tag a run off of Archer in the third inning thanks to a Ty France single, and the teams traded runs in the seventh to keep things tense. Seattle got the tying run into scoring position in the ninth when Dylan Moore walked and then stole a base, but Emilio Pagán converted the save in a 3-2 win.

Houston Astros (37-24) vs. Texas Rangers (29-31)

Houston hasn’t gotten out to a great start in June, but they set themselves up nicely with a 3-0 lead after two innings in this game. Beginning in the third, however, Texas staged a comeback — first off of starter Cristian Javier, who gave up a run and left a runner on in the seventh before getting lifted. Ryne Stanek allowed that inherited runner to score, but he managed to strand two of his own runners. Then Hector Neris came in for the eighth, and allowed five of the first six batters he faced to reach base. By the time the dust settled the Rangers had a 5-3 lead, and they would close the game out with that score.