Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Aroldis Chapman giveth, Aroldis Chapman taketh

The Yankees were inactive on Monday on the field, though reports indicate that they’ll look a little different today when they host the Nationals. Their day off was shared by most of the field, giving us an opportunity to ease in a shakeup for the roundup heading into the final stretch of the year. Going forward, we’ll be giving you a priority on the Wild Card mix up front, and a splash of what’s going on with the division frontrunners towards the tail-end. This is also the official goodbye for the Angels and Guardians, as they’ll be out of our lineup from here on out. We’ve got three teams to cover, so let’s get into it:

Houston Astros (71-55) 9, Boston Red Sox (66-59) 4

Boston put themselves in good position out of the gate, grabbing a 3-0 lead on an Adam Duvall bomb to left over the Crawford Boxes (with an assist from color announcer Kevin Millar calling it). However, that lead was not long for this world — Houston cut into it with a run in the first inning and then overtook it with three of their own in the second. The Astros added three more in the fourth on a Chas McCormick homer, chasing former Yankee James Paxton from the game, and McCormick would make it a two-homer night with a solo bomb later in the eighth as the Astros entered cruise control.

Seattle Mariners (70-55) 14, Chicago White Sox (49-76) 2

The Mariners are hot on the Astros’ tail after sweeping them, and they carried their momentum over into a beatdown of the ChiSox. The hottest hitter on the planet Julio Rodriguez merely dipped his batting average with a 2-for-5 night, driving in three in the process, but there was plenty of offense to spare around him: Cal Raleigh had a two-homer night, Dominic Canzone hit the third homer of his career, and Teoscar Hernández got into the mix with a solo shot. Luis Castillo kept the White Sox from joining in on the fun with seven innings of one-run ball, striking out nine in the process.

Arizona Diamondbacks (65-61) 4, Texas Rangers (72-53) 3 (11 innings)

This game was a Yankees performance by proxy, played out with some familiar faces. Jordan Montgomery got the start for Texas and dazzled, spinning eight shutout innings to nurse a 1-0 lead entering the ninth when Aroldis Chapman got the call for the save. Despite being mostly excellent since his trade to the Rangers, Chapman found his Yankees form and coughed up a game-tying homer to send this one to extras.

Chapman remained on the mound to toss a scoreless 10th, and the game moved to the 11th where the Rangers probably thought they brought it back. After the first two outs only succeeded in moving the ghost runner over to third, Corey Seager was intentionally walked and stole second base, setting up Nathaniel Lowe to drive in two with a double out to center. Armed with a two-run lead, the Rangers summoned Will Smith who promptly got two outs ... and then intentionally walked Ketel Marte and allowed back-to-back doubles to Geraldo Perdomo and Tommy Pham to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.