Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Boston pulls out an extra-inning win

The Yankees finally managed to halt their slide, ending a nine-game losing streak by letting off some steam on the Washington Nationals. Specifically, Aaron Judge let out that steam, launching three balls out of the park for the first time in his career to back up a surprisingly effective Luis Severino en route to a rout. For the first time in a while, we get to look at this series through the lens of seeing where the Yankees gained ground instead of losing it, fun!

Wild Card Mix

Baltimore Orioles (78-48) 7, Toronto Blue Jays (70-57) 0

Let’s get the one blowout from the out of town scores out of the way first, shall we? To be fair, this was a close game for the majority of it, with the Orioles getting on the board in the third and adding another run in the fifth, but otherwise needing all of Dean Kremer’s six shutout innings to hold onto a slim 2-0 lead.

In their presumptive last chance at the plate, however, the O’s put this one to bed. Trevor Richards entered the game for Toronto and promptly surrendered a bomb to Anthony Santander, and a wild pitch two batters later brought home another. Cedric Mullins brought in a run via a sacrifice fly, and Adley Rutschman delivered the back-breaker with a two-out, two-run single to center. Shintaro Fujinami got the opportunity to work the ninth with a now-comfortable lead and effortlessly struck out the side.

Chicago White Sox (50-77) 5, Seattle Mariners (71-56) 4 (10 innings)

On the same day the Yankees’ streak ended, the Mariners’ winning streak also closed. The White Sox got ahead early against George Kirby, jumping ahead 1-0 in the third on a Tim Anderson single, and they extended that lead to 3-0 in the sixth thanks to a two-run Trayce Thompson homer. However, Seattle had plenty of fight left in them. After scratching their first run across in the seventh, they rallied for three runs in the ninth thanks to a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and a Eugenio Suarez two-run single.

Equipped with the lead for the first time all game, the Mariners still had to maneuver through the bottom of the ninth to secure the win. There they were bitten by trading away their closer, calling instead on Andres Munoz for the save only to watch as he allowed a leadoff double and an Andrew Benintendi single that tied the game. Munoz managed to get a pair of strikeouts to evade further damage, but in the 10th the Mariners couldn’t manufacture anything. Tim Anderson was the ghost runner for Chicago, and he drew a throw over that got him in a rundown until an errant throw allowed him to waltz home for the walk-off.

Boston Red Sox (67-60) 7, Houston Astros (72-56) 5 (10 innings)

After getting trounced in the first two games of this series, Boston found themselves down 3-0 quickly after a first inning sac fly and a second inning two-run bomb from Martin Maldonado. Chris Sale then allowed an RBI double to Jose Abreu in the fourth, but by that time his offense had gotten him two of those runs back in the third. Still, the Sox needed another rally to tie it and they found their spot in the fifth, getting an RBI single from Trevor Story and and RBI groundout from Wilyer Abreu.

Sale and Astros starter Jose Urquidy had both shown their warts by this point, and the bullpens entered and began to trade zeroes. That is, until the 10th inning rolled around and Kendall Graveman entered, allowing a walk to Triston Casas before Adam Duvall greeted him with this blast:

To their credit, the Astros threatened to keep the game alive in the bottom of the inning. Chas McCormick and Yainer Diaz hit back-to-back singles forcing in a run and bringing the winning run to the plate, and Jeremy Pena put that run on base with a single of his own. However, Josh Winckowski was able to put away a pair of pinch-hitters to seal the Boston win.

Division Contenders

Milwaukee Brewers (70-57) 8, Minnesota Twins (65-62) 7 (10 innings)

Chaos reigned in the battle of the Centrals, with Corbin Burnes surrendering three homers and six runs in six innings to put the Brewers behind big early. The Brew Crew were able to rally, however, tying the game with a Tyrone Taylor solo shot in the seventh and forcing extras. They allowed the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th, only to immediately tie the game with a single that became a double after a misplay from the Twins’ center fielder. Brice Turang delivered the knock-out blow, walking Minnesota off with an infield single to third base that just beat Royce Lewis’ throw.

Tampa Bay Rays (77-51) 6, Colorado Rockies (48-78) 5 (10 innings)

Seriously, what was in the water yesterday? This game too went to extras despite the Rockies exploding for four runs in the sixth inning, partially thanks to them immediately giving one of those runs back on an Isaac Paredes solo homer. The real blow came in the ninth when a sequence of two walks and a hit-by-pitch set up Yandy Diaz for a two-run single to tie the game. Tampa sat the Rockies down in order in the 10th, and then Brandon Lowe’s single to start the bottom of the inning was more than enough to walk it off.