Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Kyle Bradish delivers monster outing to down Astros

While the Yankees make their way down the West Coast, the rest of their rivals to the east continue to play through the dog days of August. Fortunately, the results mostly went the Bombers’ way yesterday, with underdogs taking down teams that the Yankees are either chasing, or being chased by. In particular, an unheralded rookie did them a favor with a shocking performance down in Houston.

Boston Red Sox 9 (61-65), Tampa Bay Rays 8 (69-56)

A This was a wild one, with the Rays jumping out to an early lead, Boston storming back in the middle innings, and Tampa almost pulling off a late stunner. Ultimately, the Red Sox held on to play spoiler to their AL East rivals.

Yandy Diaz and Ji-Man Choi hit homers in the early innings, getting to Michael Wacha quickly, and a Harold Ramirez sac fly in the third had Tampa up 4-1. But Ryan Yarbrough, pitching as a follower behind J.T. Chargois’ open, couldn’t hold the lead. Yarbrough yielded five runs between the fourth and sixth as Boston charged into the lead.

Franchy Cordero started things with a solo homer in the fourth, and Jarren Duran added a sac fly to pull within in 4-3. Enrique Hernandez and Kevin Plawecki chipped in RBI to take the lead in the fifth, and Xander Bogaerts delivered the big blow in the sixth:

Alex Verdugo added an RBI triple in the seventh, which ended up being crucial. Jose Siri hit just his fourth homer of the year in the eighth, bringing the score to 9-8. Boston had to bring on Garrett Whitlock to nail down the ninth for his sixth save.

Baltimore Orioles (66-59) 2, Houston Astros 0 (81-46)

The Yankees have their rivals in Baltimore to thank for picking up a win in Houston, and in particular, they owe kudos to Kyle Bradish. The rookie right-hander had the game of his life, shoving for eight shutout innings against the vaunted Astros lineup to deliver the O’s another big win.

Lance McCullers matched Bradish early on, managing five shutout before giving way to the bullpen. Cristian Javier wasn’t able to maintain the stalemate, allowing a two-run homer to Ramon Urias.

Meanwhile, Bradish was mowing down the Astros, unleashing some particularly nasty sliders on the Houston batters:

The 25-year-old entered the game with a 6.25 ERA to his name across 72 major league innings. He left with the performance of his life.

Cionel Perez got the first two outs of the ninth in relief of Bradish, but also put two runners on. Former Yankee farmhand Dillon Tate came on to strike out Trey Mancini for the final out of the game.

Los Angeles Angels 12 (53-73), Toronto Blue Jays 0 (68-56)

At least for a night, the Angels dodged the Tungsten Arm O’Doyle jokes, putting the hurt on the Blue Jays. They torched right-hander Mitch White for seven runs in five innings, smashing four dingers total to cruise to a shutout victory.

David Fletcher doubled home two in the second, and Shohei Ohtani tripled home two more in the third to quickly put Toronto in a deep hole. Andrew Velazquez and Mike Trout each added home runs later in the game, while Jo Adell smashed two of his own:

The former top prospect has had a miserable 2022, with those two dingers only bringing his season wRC+ up to 88. Hopefully for him, this game is a sign of things to come. On the other side, Reid Detmers tossed 5.1 shutout to earn the win, and combined with the bullpen to hold down the Toronto offense despite allowing 12 total baserunners for the game.

Other Contenders

• Minnesota Twins 8 (63-61), San Francisco Giants 0 (61-63): Joe Ryan led Minnesota, submitting six shutout innings, striking out eight and walking three. Carlos Correa hit his 15th homer of the year, while Gary Sánchez notched his 12th.
• Arizona Diamondbacks 7 (57-67), Chicago White Sox 2 (63-63): Johnny Cueto has had a remarkable season for Chicago, but the Cinderella ride hit a bump yesterday, as Arizona tagged him for seven runs in five innings. Rookie Tommy Henry earned the win with five innings of one-run ball.