Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Blue Jays, Orioles win extra-inning battles

Yesterday saw the Yankees successfully kick off a west coast road trip, opening up a four-game set in Oakland against the Athletics with a blowout win. For those of us on the east coast, that means a couple more late nights in our future, as a series against the Angels will follow the one against the A’s.

The late nights and later starts will provide a chance to catch up on some of the competition while you wait for the Yankees’ game to start. However if you didn’t do that, here’s a look at yesterday’s action in today’s Rivalry Roundup.

Tampa Bay Rays 8 (69-55), Los Angeles Angels 3 (52-73)

A five-run third inning broke the game open for the Rays and they never looked back from there. Manuel Margot got things started for Tampa Bay, hitting a two-RBI triple to open the scoring and record the first of four hits on the day. Harold Ramírez was one of the other main stars for the Rays in this one, recording a game-high three RBI.

Meanwhile, Drew Rasmussen put in a solid outing on the mound for the Rays, but didn’t quite match his previous two starts. He took a perfect game into the ninth inning two starts ago, and a no-hitter into the sixth in most recent start, but this time was merely pretty good. He ended up allowing one run on six hits in 5.1 innings

Shohei Ohtani didn’t go full Tungsten Arm O’Doyle, but he did drive in a run in losing effort. Also of note is that Mike Ford has reappeared in the majors with the Angels after they called him up ahead of this game. He went 2-for-4 after getting inserted right into the cleanup spot.

Seattle Mariners 3 (68-57), Cleveland Guardians 1 (66-57)

A lot of the action and all of the runs were condensed to the first inning in this one. Cleveland took a very early lead, scoring a run when José Ramírez grounded into a force out for the very first out of the game. After failing to add more to their lead, Mitch Haniger hit a three-run homer in the bottom half of the inning, which would be extent of either team’s scoring.

Marco Gonzales led the way for Seattle, going six innings, allowing one run on four hits and a walk. After the first inning, he retired 15 of the remaining 17 batters he faced. On the other side, Triston McKenze did the exact same thing, also exiting after six innings.

This really wasn’t a game of too many missed chances for the Guardians. Even against the Seattle bullpen, they only had two runners reach base. For all intents and purposes, this game was a pitcher’s duel with just one wild inning to start things off.

Houston Astros 6 (81-45), Minnesota Twins (62-61) 3

The Astros jumped on Minnesota early, answering a first inning Twins run with four of their own as the mostly cruised to a win. Houston got on the board when a run scored as Yordan Álvarez grounded into a double play, but the big blow came a few batters later. Trey Mancini hit a three-run homer that broke open the game and gave the Astros the lead for good.

Meanwhile, Jose Altuve had a three-hit day, and three other Astros recorded multi-hit days. Luis García gave them a so-so start, but Houston’s bullpen had a dominant day, combining to allow just two hits and no walks over the last four innings.

Toronto Blue Jays 6 (68-55), Boston Red Sox 5 (60-56)

As it turns out, failing to capitalize on a bases loaded, nobody out spot can be quite costly. The Red Sox had that with a chance to walk-off with a win in the bottom of the ninth. Instead, they let the Blue Jays live to see another day, and Toronto came away with the extra inning win.

The two teams traded the lead back and forth early on, with neither starter, Toronto’s Kevin Gausman and Boston’s Kutter Crawford, having great days and neither lasting past five innings. However, both team’s bullpens had solid days, holding their opponents off the board in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.

As mentioned, Boston had the best chance in that time, as they started off the bottom of the ninth with a J.D. Martinez single, a Xander Bogaerts double, and an intentional walk, loading the bases with no outs against Blue Jays’ closer Jordan Romano. However, Franchy Cordero struck out and Kiké Hernández grounded into a double play, ending the inning.

In the 10th, Cavan Biggo beat out a throw home on a George Springer grounder, giving the Jays the lead.

Boston quickly went down in order in the bottom half of the inning, sealing Toronto’s win.

Other Contenders

• Baltimore Orioles 4 (65-59), Chicago White Sox 3 (63-62): Oh, White Sox... They had the Orioles down to their last out in the ninth, and got a semi-difficult, but playable pop up in foul territory. However, Adam Engel dropped it. The batter, Kyle Stowers took advantage, homering later in the at-bat to tie the game. Two innings later, after Chicago had escaped a jam with the winning run at third with nobody out, Anthony Santander put the nail in their coffin with a walk-off single.