Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Angels upset ‘Stros, White Sox stay hot

The Yankees got a must-win game against Tampa Bay, assuring that they’ll have the season series in hand with a game to go — something that could unfortunately matter with how suddenly close this division has gotten. In the meantime, the rest of the league had some high-scoring affairs to check in on, so let’s do just that:

Toronto Blue Jays 11 (78-60), Texas Rangers 7 (59-79)

This game was dictated by the bottom of the Blue Jays’ lineup dealing massive damage to the Rangers’ pitching. Santiago Espinal and Raimel Tapia combined to go 4-for-9 with six RBI and a home run from the latter, leading the charge in Toronto’s four-run first and five-run third innings. Kevin Gausman did not have his A-game by any stretch of the imagination, but it didn’t matter when Rangers starter Kohei Arihara’s line read three innings with 11 runs on 12 hits with five walks, one strikeout and two homers. Ouch. The rest of Texas’ bullpen did yeoman’s work giving the team six shutout innings and giving them an outside shot once the team scored four in the sixth, but it was too little, too late.

Los Angeles Angels 6 (61-78), Houston Astros 1 (89-50)

The Astros were denied their first attempt at being the first AL team to 90 wins, thanks to an early onslaught from the Angels. Los Angeles jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first, and after Houston tied things in the bottom frame they grabbed the lead right back in the second. The Halos loaded the bases with no outs and got an RBI groundout from Andrew Velazquez, followed by an out at home on the contact play. In stepped Mike Trout, and the future Hall of Famer launched a three-run shot to break the game open. It was Trout’s sixth-straight game with a homer, bringing him up to 34 on the year and one ahead of his teammate Shohei Ohtani for second in the American League.

Atlanta Braves 1 (87-52), Seattle Mariners 3 (78-61)

Rookie George Kirby continues to assert himself as a playoff-caliber starter for Seattle, tossing six innings of one-(unearned)run ball against the defending champs. The Mariners got their lead in the middle innings, getting a pair of solo shots from Sam Haggerty and Eugenio Suarez as well as an RBI double from Julio Rodriguez. Atlanta had a chance to swing the game back in their favor in the seventh after a leadoff single and an error gave them runners on with no-one out, but they could only push across a single run before succumbing to the Mariners’ bullpen.

Other Contenders

• Boston Red Sox 17 (68-72), Baltimore Orioles 4 (73-66): The wind beneath Baltimore’s Wild Card push is beginning to stall after a sweep by the hands of the Blue Jays, and now the bottom dweller of the AL East is playing spoiler to them. Rafael Devers had a monster day, starting with a first-inning grand slam to open an absurd offensive performance from the Sox in this one.
• Cleveland Guardians 6 (72-65), Minnesota Twins 4 (69-69): Somehow, the Twins have found themselves in third place and breaking even at .500 in the span of a week. The score in this one is deceiving, as Cleveland was in control the whole way — Minnesota’s runs all came in the ninth inning down to their last out, but it became sticky enough of a situation that Emmanuel Clase had to be summoned for the save.
• Chicago White Sox 10 (72-68), Oakland Athletics 2 (50-90): Sure, it’s against one of the teams in the basement of MLB’s standings, but the White Sox have given themselves a second life with the run that they’ve been on of late. Elvus Andrus continued his torrid pace since getting released from the A’s, hitting a three-run homer to do in his former employers.