Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Blue Jays demolish Rays, Twins walk it off

The Yankees had a lot of fun on the tarped-up Progressive Field, but playing baseball was not part of the festivities. The rainout forced the team to take a backseat for a night, and watch the rest of the league instead. Here’s how the relevant teams did:

Tampa Bay Rays (40-36) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (44-33)

Corey Kluber has been pretty solid for the Rays this year, but he had nothing going for him in this one. Toronto jumped on him in the third inning, tagging him for five runs off of five doubles in seven at-bats (with a walk mixed in there). They added three more runs in the sixth and tagged on one more in the seventh to support José Berríos, who didn’t miss many bats in five innings of work but managed to allow just two runs across. A trio of Jays relievers shut the door on Tampa to secure a 9-2 win.

Boston Red Sox (43-34) vs. Chicago Cubs (31-46)

Boston got off to a great start, leading off the game with a Jarren Duran homer off of Adrian Sampson. The Red Sox added three more runs in the second inning thanks to a bases-clearing Jackie Bradley Jr. double, and at 4-0, it looked like they were going to cruise past the lowly Cubs. Chicago had other ideas, however, and began a rally in the fifth inning. A Nelson Velasquez triple got them on the board, and a groundout later it was 4-2 Red Sox. From there, former Cubbie Rich Hill started to malfunction, issuing a walk, a single, and then hitting a batter to load the bases. Tyler Danish was summoned to escape the jam but walked a run in before he could do so.

Duran added an insurance run in the top of the sixth, but the Red Sox needed a better policy to cover the damage that the Cubs brought in the bottom frame. Hansel Robles began the inning in relief of Danish, and got the first two outs with ease before walking Andrelton Simmons. Christopher Morel then blasted a two-run shot to tie the game, but the inning was far from over. Robles gave up another two walks and a double to load the bases before getting lifted, and his replacement in Jake Diekman promptly threw a wild pitch to let the go-ahead run score. The Cubs held serve from there, and went on to win 6-5.

Baltimore Orioles (35-43) vs. Minnesota Twins (44-36)

Minnesota got a terrific start from Joe Ryan, who went seven innings while giving up just one run, but they nearly blew it as soon as they went to the bullpen. Caleb Thielbar came on for the eighth inning and served up a double to Ryan McKenna, who moved to third on a groundout. Thielbar got another grounder for what should have been the second out, but the ball was thrown away allowing the run and the runner to reach. The Twins had been struggling all day against Baltimore’s pitching, earning just one run off of the starter Spenser Watkins, but they broke through in the ninth against Jorge López. Luis Arraez singled to start the inning, and Byron Buxton ended it with his 21st homer of the year.

Los Angeles Angels (37-42) vs. Houston Astros (49-27)

This was not a close one by any means. The Astros broke the Angels early, scoring two in the third thanks to solo shots from Yuli Gurriel and Jake Meyers before laying it on with six runs in the fourth inning. Cristian Javier followed his 7-inning, 13-K, no-hit effort against the Yankees last week with a pretty similar line: 7 innings, 14 K’s, and one hit.

Of course, the Angels had one thing going for them on this night, and it was Shohei Ohtani, who clubbed a solo homer (one of only two hits for the team all game) off Javier to give the Halos their only run. Besides that brief glimmer of hope in the first inning, it was all Astros, sorta like a synopsis of how the AL West has been.