Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Rays drag White Sox into hell

After a couple wins, the Yankees’ hitting woes reappeared on Friday night, as they scored just two runs in a loss to the Rangers. The lineup looked especially bare without Aaron Judge — out with an injury — and Anthony Volpe — who got an off-day and only appeared as a pinch hitter in the ninth, when it was mostly too late.

While the Yankees still have a bit of work to do, let’s check in on the work that was done by some of their AL rivals elsewhere in baseball on Friday.

Tampa Bay Rays (22-5) 3, Chicago White Sox (7-20) 2

The Rays are the team that are the reason for this game being covered in the Rivalry Roundup, however, it’s hard not to focus on what happened to the White Sox in this one. Chicago’s mediocrity to start this season has been one of the bigger stores in baseball this week, and oh boy did this game not change that.

While Tampa Bay scored a run in the top of the first, the White Sox answered back with homers by Andrew Vaughn and Jake Burger in the first and second innings respectively. The Rays eventually evened things up in the fourth, but starting pitchers Zach Eflin and Lucas Giolito both put in solid performances.

The game was still tied going into the bottom of the eighth, where Burger appeared to take back the lead for Chicago with a homer. Randy Arozarena had other ideas.

Not getting that homer proved costly for the White Sox, as the Rays took a lead on an Isaac Paredes homer in the top of the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, the White Sox had a chance, getting two runners on, but Rays reliever Kevin Kelly got out of the jam.

Toronto Blue Jays (17-9) 3, Seattle Mariners (11-15) 2

George Springer’s RBI single in the sixth inning ended up being the difference as the Blue Jays came away with a win.

The teams mirrored each other for the first five innings. After a scoreless first, Cal Raleigh’s second inning homer for Seattle was immediately answered by one from Alejandro Kirk in the bottom half of the frame. In the third, Raleigh drove home a run with a single, only for Matt Chapman to then plate one with a double.

Both starter — Luis Castillo and Alek Manoah — departed after the fifth inning, turning the game into a battle of the bullpen. Toronto ended up coming out on top, thanks to Springer’s run-scoring hit in the sixth.

The Jays’ pen then retired nine-straight hitters in order after that, as they came away with a win.

Philadelphia Phillies (14-13) 3, Houston Astros (14-12) 1

The Phillies exacted some manner of revenge on the Astros in the first game of a rematch of last year’s World Series.

Facing off against Framber Valdez — who started the series-ending Game 6 last fall — the Phillies struck quickly with Kyle Schwarber going deep.

Jeremy Peña got one of his own in the bottom half of the first, but that ended up being the extent of Houston’s offense. Aaron Nola ended up putting in a dominant performance, allowing just one run on three hits in eight innings.

Cristian Pache gave Philadelphia the lead again in the fifth, and Brandon Marsh increased it with an RBI in the seventh. Those runs would prove to be the difference in the end.

Cleveland Guardians (13-13) 5, Boston Red Sox (13-14) 2

Thanks to three runs over the first two innings, the Guardians led wire-to-wire over the Red Sox, getting to .500 in the process.

Cleveland got off to a quick start, scoring two runs in the first thanks to Josh Naylor’s sacrifice fly and a RBI double from Josh Bell. Myles Straw added to the Guardians’ lead in the second by driving home Will Brennan with a single.

Those three runs would’ve been enough thanks to a good outing from Guardians’ starter Shane Bieber. He held Boston to just two runs on five hits and two walks over seven innings. The bullpen followed that with two scoreless innings to seal a win. However before all that happened, Mike Zunino and Brennan added home runs for some insurance.

Others

• Minnesota Twins (16-11) 8, Kansas City Royals (6-21) 6: While the Royals outhit the Twins and made things semi-close in the end, a four-run fourth inning helped carry Minnesota to a victory. Juan Miranda finished the day with a double and a homer for the Twins, but the most memorable play of the game was probably Michael A. Taylor’s — this isn’t a typo — bunt double.

• Baltimore Orioles vs. Detroit Tigers: Game postponed, rescheduled as part of a doubleheader today