Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Giolito has nightmare first start with Angels

The Yankees managed to snag a win out of their series with the Rays after a dysfunctional day, and teams around the American League had their trade deadline acquisitions go to work for the first time in their new colors.

Toronto Blue Jays (60-49) 4, Baltimore Orioles (66-42) 1

The battle of two strong, young AL East teams didn’t have as many fireworks as it did yesterday in Baltimore’s 13-3 win, and the result wasn’t the same either.

There wasn’t much offense until the bottom of the fourth when George Springer brought Brandon Belt across home plate with an RBI single off the young starter Grayson Rodriguez. That was it for the fourth inning, and unsurprisingly in the fifth inning, Adley Rutschman came back with an RBI single of his own to tie the game off Yusei Kikuchi.

The bottom of the fifth was quiet for the Blue Jays and the top of the sixth was quiet for the Orioles, but the bottom of the sixth was where Toronto took the lead and wouldn't give it up. They loaded the bases, and Matt Chapman and Danny Jansen were subsequently hit by two pitches, bringing home two runs to make the game 3-1. And finally, Daulton Varsho was able to reach base on an error by Jorge Mateo, which created another run with Springer coming across home plate.

Houston Astros (62-47) 3, Cleveland Guardians (53-56) 2

After Framber Valdez tossed a no-hitter yesterday against the Guardians, the Astros came in and looked for a sweep of the second-place team in the AL Central, and they did just that in a closer game than the two prior. Yesterday, one man on the defensive side of the ball took over. Today, another man on the offensive side of the ball took over.

In the top of the second inning, the Guardians took a 2-0 lead after loading the bases. Gabriel Arias hit a double that hit the edge of the left field grass and off the wall to help bring in two runners. But it didn’t take long for the Astros to come back with some offense of their own — Chas McCormick blasted a ball 360 feet to the Crawford Boxes in left field off Tanner Bibee, tying the game.

No runs were scored from then on until the sixth inning when McCormick came up to bat again and hit another home run to left field to give the Astros a 3-2 lead, which would end up being the final score. This was McCormick’s second multi-homer game in the last month, and it gave the Astros a sweep.

Texas Rangers (61-46) 11, Chicago White Sox (43-65) 1

The Rangers added some big names at the trade deadline, but in tonight’s game, they got another weapon back in the form of Corey Seager, and it made an immediate difference. In his first two plate appearances, he had an RBI single and a two-run homer, accounting for the Rangers first three runs.

By the bottom of the sixth inning, the Rangers had an 11-0 lead established by a Marcus Semien two-run shot, and it was all but over. The White Sox managed to score a run from a Seby Zavala solo home run, but that was all she wrote in a drubbing in Arlington.

Other Games:

Seattle Mariners (55-52) 6 Boston Red Sox (57-50) 3

After the Red Sox took the contest yesterday by a score of 6-4, the Mariners came back and were looking to do what they did in the first game of the series: win.

Jarren Duran got the scoring started for the away team, hitting a two-run homer in the top of the third to make it 2-0 ballgame early. Then, Masataka Yoshida brought home a runner with an RBI single in the top of the fifth to put the Red Sox up 3-0. But the Mariners came storming back in the second half of the game. Cal Raleigh hit a two-run homer (his 17th homer of the year) in the bottom of the sixth. Then, Cade Marlowe hit an RBI single off Richard Bleier to tie the game. And from there it was the Mariners’ world and the Sox were just living in it. Julio Rodríguez and Eugenio Suárez both hit RBI singles to give the Mariners a 5-3 lead. Then, in superstar fashion, Rodríguez stole home for the Mariners’ sixth and final run of the game.

Atlanta Braves (69-37) 12, Los Angeles Angels (56-53) 5

Lucas Giolito’s first start with the Angels certainly didn’t go as planned. The Halos’ starter gave up nine runs in total during the start with the first three coming in the bottom of the third off the bat of Ronald Acuña Jr. By the time the fourth inning rolled around, Matt Olson was hitting a solo shot to right field to put the ninth run of the game for the Braves on the board, and Giolito’s day ended. From there, the rest of the game was a bit of a formality. Travis d’Arnaud hit a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth, and Ozzie Albies sealed the deal with an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth.

AL Central Rock Fight

St. Louis Cardinals (47-61) 7 , Minnesota Twins (55-53) 3

The Cardinals took an early lead thanks to a total of seven runs in the second and third innings via home runs from Tyler O’Neill (solo), Jordan Walker (solo), Lars Nootbaar (two-run), and Alec Burleson (three-run). The Twins weren’t able to come up with anything until the seventh inning when they scored three runs off the bat of Matt Wallner and his three-run homer. Dakota Hudson had an extremely strong start, throwing seven innings and only allowing two hits, even though one of them was the home run.