Rivalry Roundup: The AL East gains while the Twins fall

The Yankees’ 15-game home winning streak was snapped on Friday, delivering just the 19th loss of the season overall. The gap between the Yankees and the rest of the AL East is a canyon at the moment, but this was a chance for the rest of the competition to claw back a game if they could. Let’s see how they did:

Toronto Blue Jays (40-30) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (40-33)

The Blue Jays got out in front early in this one, dropping five runs in the second inning against Adrian Houser. Houser actually managed to stem the bleeding there and go six innings, but his offense gave him just one run back before the bullpen took over and furthered the lead. Cavan Biggio and Alejandro Kirk homered in the seventh inning to add three more runs for Toronto en route to a 9-4 win.

Boston Red Sox (40-31) vs. Cleveland Guardians (36-30)

Cleveland briefly tasted first place in the AL Central, but they handed it back to the Twins before hosting the Red Sox. Boston had Nick Pivetta on the mound, and he continued to shove — seven innings of two-run ball, despite giving up nine hits and only striking out four, is a strong outing for any pitcher. The decisive frame came in the top of the seventh, when a Christian Arroyo bomb and an Alex Verdugo double plated three runs. Boston wound up winning 6-3, continuing their hot performance outside of April.

Pittsburgh Pirates (29-41) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (38-32)

On paper this matchup is a major mismatch, and the Rays were gifted a 3-0 lead after the second inning to double down on that fact. However, the Pirates nearly came away with the upset, scoring two in the fourth and one in the fifth thanks to three solo homers from Michael Chavis and old friends Diego Castillo and Hoy Park. The game stalled out from there though, and in extra innings the Rays prevailed. First they stranded the ghost runner in the top of the 10th after allowing a leadoff single, and then Vidal Brujan’s steal set up Harold Ramirez for the walk-off single. The Rays won 4-3, just their third win in their last 10 games.

Colorado Rockies (31-40) vs. Minnesota Twins (39-33)

It’s always tough to swallow close losses, but ones where its close and your offense does absolutely nothing is pure frustration. The Twins had that sort of night yesterday, losing 1-0 to Colorado. The long mistake happened on what is typically a good-play: Charlie Blackmon grounded out to shortstop, but the Twins couldn’t turn two. Instead, they had to watch as Connor Joe made it across home plate to score the lone run of the game.