Rivalry Roundup: Blue Jays, Orioles win wild extra inning games

After a bit of a rough stretch, the Yankees got a much-needed dominant win yesterday over the Red Sox. Matt Carpenter led the way as both he and Aaron Judge hit two home runs each. It was the exact response you would hope for after the way Friday night’s loss played out.

As the Yankees were doing that, there were some mixed results from their rivals around the league, including a couple fairly wild games. Let’s check in on Saturday’s action in today’s edition of the Rivalry Roundup.

Minnesota Twins (50-43) 6, Chicago White Sox (45-46) 3

A five-run third inning saw the Twins break this game open and never look back. Already leading 1-0, home runs from Carlos Correa and Jorge Polanco put Minnesota up six, which ended up being enough. Correa’s in particular was an absolute blast off of White Sox starter Lance Lynn.

Chicago got a couple runs back off Twins starter Dylan Bundy, but Minnesota’s bullpen combined to shut them out for the last 3.2 innings to seal the win.

Toronto Blue Jays (49-43) 6, Kansas City Royals (36-55) 5 (10 innings)

Oh, Royals ...

The two teams were even through nine innings, mirroring each other by both scoring one run in the third and two in the fourth. The score held there and the game went to extra innings, where the Royals got a big breakthrough when Vinnie Pasquantino hit a two-run home run in the top of the 10th. Despite that lead, it took just 13 pitches for their lead to evaporate. Toronto recorded four straight hits off Kansas City reliever Joel Payamps, flipping the final result without recording an out. A Teoscar Hernández single finished things off as the Jays picked up the win.

Houston Astros (59-31) 5, Oakland Athletics (31-61) 0

Justin Verlander went six scoreless innings as Houston bounced back after taking a loss on Friday night. The Astros starter allowed six hits, but struck out 10 to help keep Oakland off the scoreboard. His offense broke the game open with a four-run second inning giving Houston control for good. Martin Maldonado drove in all four of those runs in the second with a grand slam as the Astros cruised to a win after that.

Baltimore Orioles 6 (46-45), Tampa Bay Rays (50-41) 4 (11 innings)

This was quite the wild one at the Trop.

Trailing 3-2, the Orioles were down to their last couple outs in the eighth when Adley Rutschman stepped up to the plate. The highly-touted prospect hasn’t set the world on fire in the bigs yet, but he came through with a with a big home run that tied the game, which would go to extra innings.

In the 10th, Rutschman again came through, when his sacrifice fly gave Baltimore the lead. However, Tampa Bay answered, tying the game on a Ji-Man Choi single in the bottom half of the inning.

In the 11th, Rougned Odor started the inning on second as Baltimore’s zombie runner. In the very first at-bat of the inning, he got picked off, seriously denting the Orioles’ chances. However, Jorge Mateo promptly tripled, restoring the opportunity. A few batters later, after Cedric Mullins walked and stole second, Ryan Mountcastle singled home two runs, giving Baltimore the lead again ...

The Rays tried to rally again and put the tying run on in the bottom of the 11th, but they couldn’t do it again as the Baltimore bullpen shut the door.