Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Four-bag man gets paid

The Yankees could not have played a more entertaining game last night, putting up 13 runs against the Tigers while Gerrit Cole carried a perfect game into the seventh inning. Alongside Jameson Taillon’s effort on Thursday, they become the first teammates in the Expansion Era to carry perfect-game bids at least six innings in consecutive contests. It’s hard to see the Yankees rivals topping that performance.

Minnesota Twins (31-23) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (30-21)

The Twins opened the scoring in the first on a two-run home run by Kyle Garlick; however, the Blue Jays answered right back in the bottom half on a George Springer leadoff bomb and Teoscar Hernández RBI single. In fact, the ball was absolutely flying out of Rogers Centre, with José Miranda launching a leadoff solo shot in the second followed by Garlick’s second long ball in as many at bats against Yusei Kikuchi, this time a two-out solo shot in the third.

Toronto cut the deficit to 4-3 on a mammoth Vladimir Guerrero Jr. solo home run, but that was all the Blue Jays would manage for the rest of the game. The Minnesota relievers combining for six no-hit innings, and Miranda joined teammate Garlick with a second homer of his own on a two-run shot in the sixth.

Byron Buxton provided the cherry on top in the ninth with a two-run shot to cap off the Twins’ 9-3 win. Minnesota’s victory put an end to the Blue Jays’ eight-game winning streak as well as an end to their own mini-skid — they had lost four of the previous five to the Tigers.

Chicago White Sox (23-27) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (31-21)

This game was practically decided before the first inning was over. They Rays scored four in the bottom of the first, highlighted by Randy Arozarena’s two-run home run off Davis Martin.

Rays starter Shane McClanahan continued his dominant start to the season, tossing six innings while giving up two runs on six hits while striking out eight. José Abreu added a solo home run in the sixth, but a two-run double from Ji-Man Choi in the seventh put this one out of reach as the Rays held on for a 6-3 victory. The loss continues a four-game slide and five of their last six for the White Sox as they deal with Tim Anderson’s absence due to a groin strain.

Houston Astros (34-18) vs. Kansas City Royals (16-34)

Houston took an early lead in this game and never looked back. Aledmys Díaz opened the scoring with a two-run home run in the top of the second off Brady Singer, who I’m sure would like to erase this game from memory. That’s because three innings later, he’d give up another two-run homer to Martín Maldonado before Yordan Álvarez — fresh off signing a six-year, $115 million extension — launched his own two-run blast to make it 7-0, Astros.

Royals phenom rookie Bobby Witt Jr. made sure it wasn’t a complete embarrassment, absolutely destroying three-run home run 443 feet into the Kauffman Stadium fountains to get the Royals on the board in their eventual 10-3 loss.

Boston Red Sox (25-27) vs. Oakland Athletics (20-34)

Nathan Eovaldi carved up the Oakland lineup to the tune of six scoreless, giving up four hits and a walk against eight strikeouts. On the offensive side, Xander Bogaerts kicked off the scoring in the fourth with a solo home run. Trevor Story drove in a pair on a sixth-inning double, maintaining his third-place spot on the AL RBI leaderboard at 39.

Oakland attempted a comeback in the eighth, tagging the Boston bullpen for a pair on a Jed Lowrie two-run double. However, the Red Sox slammed the door on any potential rally, hanging a crooked number in the ninth on RBI doubles by Bogaerts and Rafael Devers to tie down the 7-2 victory.