Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Mariners pull out narrow win over Astros

The Yankees’ losing streak was extended to eight on Sunday, as they fell 6-5 to the Red Sox. It was one of their “better” losses, as they battled back a couple times, and were victims to some unfortunate umpiring in the eighth, when they arguably should’ve taken a lead. However, that doesn’t mean much, as the game still goes in the loss column, which they really can’t afford.

With the Yankees losing more ground (they’re now a staggering nine games back of the Blue Jays for the third Wild Card), let’s check in on what else was going on in the American League on Sunday.

Seattle Mariners (69-55) 7, Houston Astros (70-55) 6

The Mariners jumped on Astros’ starter Hunter Brown with two runs in all of the first, second, and third innings. Houston made it close after that, but Seattle ended up finishing off a win, getting within a game of the Astros in the standings.

Dominic Canzone and Dylan Moore led the way for the Mariners, both going 4-for-5 with an RBI. Meanwhile, Eugenio Suárez went deep, while Brian O’Keefe had a two-RBI day himself.

A five-run third inning from Houston got them right back into the game. However, Seattle scored a seventh run on a Moore single in the fifth inning. That ended up being crucial, as while the Astros got back within in a run in the sixth. The Mariners’ bullpen held up after that, sealing a tight win.

Toronto Blue Jays (69-56) 10, Cincinnati Reds (64-61) 3

Brandon Belt homered twice as the Blue Jays’ offense poured it on against the Reds.

Toronto crushed Cincinnati starter Hunter Greene, knocking him out in the fourth inning after nine runs (eight earned) on 10 hits. Meanwhile, Hyun Jin Ryu put in five solid innings for them in his third game back from the injured list.

Milwaukee Brewers (68-57) 6, Texas Rangers (72-52) 2

Three eighth-inning runs for the Brewers gave them some breathing room as they finished off a win of the Rangers.

Adrian Houser put in five decent innings for Milwaukee, as his offense jumped out to a lead against Max Scherzer. While Scherzer did move into 11th on the all-time strikeout list, he struggled and was knocked out after just 3.2 innings.

The game was close for a while, until the Brewers — led by Tyrone Taylor’s two-RBI triple — picked up some late insurance runs and put the game away.

Out of Reach

Baltimore Orioles (77-47) 12, Oakland Athletics (34-90) 1: The Orioles’ offense burned former Yankee JP Sears and Oakland pitching to the ground in a blowout win. Gunnar Henderson had a four-hit day, as he, Ryan Mountcastle, and Austin Hays all had multi-RBI games. Kyle Bradish also had a good day for the O’s, as he gave up just two hits in six scoreless innings.

AL Central Rock Fight

Detroit Tigers (57-67) 4, Cleveland Guardians (59-66) 1
Minnesota Twins (65-60) 2, Pittsburgh Pirates (65-60) 0

While they’re still not too far out of it games-wise, the Guardians are teetering on the edge, and that continued with a loss to the Tigers. Detroit scored two runs in the first and Eduardo Rodriguez held Cleveland’s offense in check over 6.2 innings as the Tigers won.

They ended up losing a full game as the Twins beat the Pirates thanks to a dominant pitching performance from Dallas Keuchel. The former Cy Young rolled back the years and took a perfect game into the seventh inning. That, plus two RBI from Edouard Julien, helped Minnesota gain ground in the Central at six games up on the Guardians.