Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Rays steam past Mariners, O’s crush BoSox

Despite yet another home run from Jasson Domínguez, the Yankees fell to the Brewers on Friday night. Their second-straight loss took the Yankees back below .500 and somewhat quieted the extremely optimistic whispers about them maybe sneaking back into the playoff race.

As for the teams more solidly in the postseason picture, let’s check in on what they did last night.

Wild Card Mix

Toronto Blue Jays (78-63) 5, Kansas City Royals (44-98) 4

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s two-run double in the sixth inning broke a tie and propelled the Blue Jays past the Royals, whose comeback bid came up a run short.

Kansas City took 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the third and seventh innings respectively, as their pitching did a decent job at holding Toronto in check. However, the Jays came out firing in the bottom of the seventh, and ended up putting up a four spot in the frame. Bo Bichette recorded a single to tie the game, before Guerrero gave Toronto their first lead of the game. Ernie Clement plated another run after that with a single, and that run ended up being crucial.

The Royals got one run back in the eighth, and got within reach with another run in the ninth. KC had the tying run in scoring position, but Jordan Romano eventually finished things off.

Division Contenders

Tampa Bay Rays (86-56) 7, Seattle Mariners (79-62) 4

After being held in check for the five previous innings, the Rays took control with four runs in the seventh inning on home runs from René Pinto and Harold Ramírez, which swung the game in their favor.

While Tampa Bay took the lead with two runs in the first, the Mariners scored four over the course of the second through fifth innings, taking the lead thanks to home runs from Eugenio Suárez, Julio Rodríguez, and Cal Raleigh. Meanwhile, pitcher George Kirby settled down after the first inning.

However, he came back out for the seventh and after getting the first out of the inning, eventually allowed the game-tying shot to Pinto. Tampa Bay then fully turned the tide against Seattle’s bullpen, with their own ‘pen eventually sealing the win.

Baltimore Orioles (89-51) 11, Boston Red Sox (72-69) 2

Big games from Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson and six solid innings from Kyle Bradish propelled the Orioles to a win over the Red Sox.

After Bradish and Boston’s Tanner Houck exchanged zeroes early, a Ryan O’Hearn homer got Baltimore on the board in the fourth. That was followed up by a four-run sixth inning which included run-scoring hits from Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays and a sacrifice fly from Rustschman.

The Red Sox briefly made a rally, scoring two in the bottom of the sixth, but that was all they got and were answered by six O’s runs after that. Rutschman drove home three on the day while Henderson put in a three-hit performance.

Oakland Athletics (44-97) 6, Texas Rangers (76-64) 3

The Rangers took another hit to their AL West hopes as they fell to the last place A’s.

While Oakland took a lead in the top of the first, Texas got off to a decent start themselves, taking a lead in the bottom of the inning on a Corey Seager home run. While the A’s tied the game in the second, the Rangers took the lead back in the fourth.

However after that, Texas managed just one hit and one walk over the last five innings. Meanwhile, Oakland’s offense turned things around. Home runs from Esteury Ruiz and Shea Langeliers, helped the Athletics overtake the Rangers and eventually put them away.

San Diego Padres (67-75) 11, Houston Astros (80-62) 2

A four-RBI game from Trent Grisham helped the Padres pour it on and beat the Astros.

While Houston took an initial lead in the first, the Padres answered with four runs in the second and kept pouring on the offense. Grisham went 2-for-4 with four RBI, with Xander Bogaerts also going deep in the game. On the mound, Blake Snell put in six solid innings, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks.

Minnesota Twins (74-67) 5, New York Mets (64-76) 2

A three-run seventh inning broke a tie and propelled the Twins to a victory, getting them another step closer to the finish line in the AL Central race.

After the teams played fairly evenly early on, Minnesota took a lead in the seventh inning thanks to a bit of good fortune. Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez let a ball in the dirt get past him and then when he tried to go to third to get Andrew Stevenson — who had strayed a little too far off the base — the throw went sailing past the third baseman, allowing Stevenson to come home.

Royce Lewis and Max Kepler hits tacked on another couple runs, which would be enough for a victory.