Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Red Sox cruise, Jays comeback falls short

While Gerrit Cole was flirting with a no hitter down in Tampa, just a pair of the Yankees’ rivals were on the field in a pretty quiet night across baseball. Any time New York wins — no matter how dramatic — the out-of-town scoreboard is just a little less important, but let’s take a look regardless.

Detroit Tigers (26-41) vs. Boston Red Sox (37-31)

Jeter Downs, called up earlier in the day, did not make his MLB debut, though the Sox got enough from the top of their lineup that they certainly didn’t need a rookie’s help. Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez combined to reach base six times in Boston’s 5-2 win, as they continued their climb from the very bottom of the league table. With the Rays’ loss, they’re now up to third place for the first time since April 22nd.

Despite striking out just five times all game, a rather milquetoast Tigers lineup couldn’t manage anything against Josh Winckowski and a quartet of relievers, putting 11 men on base and plating just a pair, with Spencer Torkelson responsible for a run-scoring single and Jonathan Schoop an RBI double.

Toronto Blue Jays (38-29) vs. Chicago White Sox (32-33)

We had considerably more action in the other rivalry game, with the Jays falling behind and giving up eight runs before beginning a comeback for the second straight day. This time, they couldn’t quite pull it off, with Reynaldo López closing the door after Lance Lynn was burned with a pair of unearned runs.

José Berríos’ rollercoaster season continued, as the righty allowed three home runs, perhaps none bigger than what Luis Robert did to him in the second:

For the Jays’ part, they were able to put five runs up on Lynn in his second start of the season, with both Teoscar Hernández and Raimel Tapia credited with multi-RBI games. Down three with one out in the ninth, Cavan Biggio did his best to keep hope alive as well:

Sadly, that just wasn’t enough to overcome a bad, bad start, and the Jays slipped back to 12 games behind the AL East-leading Yankees.