Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Red Sox do Yanks a solid in Baltimore

I had a nice little introduction planned where I would briefly touch on the Yankees winning late out in Anaheim after most of their top opponents had already played. Instead, they blew a late lead to a bad team. It was pretty dumb! Read Josh for more because I’d rather just flush that game out of my head, or as much as I can anyway.

Here’s what else was afoot among the American League’s best on Tuesday.

Boston Red Sox (28-27) 8, Baltimore Orioles (34-19) 3

Through the first couple innings, it looked like this was going to be the kind of back-and-forth affair that would’ve fit in well in the more hitter-friendly Camden Yards days. Both sides got off to fast starts. Wilyer Abreu took Grayson Rodriguez deep, and when Rob Refsnyder doubled, Rafael Devers singled him in to make it 2-0, Boston.

Baltimore immediately punched back against Brayan Bello, as Gunnar Henderson led off with a double, Adley Rutschman walked, and a force/infield single combo brought home the Orioles’ first run. Bello plunked Anthony Santander and gave up a sharp single to Jordan Westburg, putting Baltimore ahead, 3-2.

Rodriguez couldn’t rebound with the lead. Ceddanne Rafaela singled, Jarren Duran doubled him in, and a couple batters later, a Devers flare fell in just past Henderson’s glove. So the Red Sox were back ahead once again, 4-3. From that point on, Rodriguez actually was OK, departing after six with a career-best 10 strikeouts.

The damage was done though, and unlike Rodriguez, Bello didn’t need a buffer inning to get back on track. He struck out the next five Orioles he faced, and a potential Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot match instead fizzled out. Baltimore never scored again after the first, even with Bello departing in a sixth-inning jam. The O’s loaded the bases with no one out (and Westburg concerningly getting hit by a pitch in the process), but Brennan Bernardino didn’t allow anyone to score.

Shaky work from the Baltimore bullpen allowed Boston to pull away, with Refsnyder delivering the final blow by scaling “Walltimore.”

The Yankees might have a missed a chance to gain ground on the Orioles, but at least the Red Sox kept Baltimore quiet on Tuesday. Enjoy the grudging gratitude from yours truly, Boston. It is fleeting.

Seattle Mariners (30-26) 4, Houston Astros (24-31) 2

Get ready for a fun little batch of 4-2 final scores in this Rivalry Roundup. Please note that I would also never describe a 4-2 game involving this generation of Astros “fun” unless they lost, which they did.

Hunter Brown got the ball for the Astros and soon ran into trouble when Josh Rojas hit a one-out single in the first, stole second, and crossed home plate on a Julio Rodríguez knock. Rodríguez did Brown a favor by trying to go first-to-third on a Cal Raleigh single to left, and he was thrown out. From there, Brown buckled down and allowed just one hit over the next 5.1 innings.

Luis Castillo was on the bump for Seattle, and Luke Raley helped him out by robbing a solo shot from Jeremy Peña in the second:

Castillo mostly pitched well, but there was nothing Raley could do when Alex Bregman put one out of his range. The shot gave Houston a 2-1 lead in the fourth and that’s where the score remained until the eighth.

With Ryan Pressly on for Houston, the Mariners rallied. Mitch Haniger led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch before rookie Ryan Bliss worked a walk. Pressly fanned J.P. Crawford, but Rojas cracked a ball that deflected off José Abreu’s glove at first and went for a game-tying double. J-Rod was next, and he atoned for his baserunning mistake with a perfectly-placed nubber that ended up plating two when Bregman threw it away.

Whatever works, Julio. Closer Andrés Muñoz had worked back-to-back days, so manager Scott Servais asked Ryne Stanek to finish his old teammates in the ninth, and he did so with a pair of punchies.

Texas Rangers (26-29) 4, Arizona Diamondbacks (25-29) 2

Although both the Rangers and D-backs’ runs to the 2023 World Series could fairly be classified as “surprising,” I don’t think anyone would have expected their first meeting since then to come with both ballclubs under .500. The first couple months of the 2024 campaign have not been kind to either of them, to say the least.

Texas got one of their wounded back on Tuesday night, as Nathan Eovaldi returned and delivered three innings of two-run ball. Although he was only at 37 pitches, manager Bruce Bochy was cautious in his playoff hero’s first start back, so Andrew Heaney entered for the fourth. The Rangers’ bullpen would combine for six shutout frames, allowing just three hits. They did get a huge assist from Adolis García in the sixth though, as Heaney had loaded the bases prior to getting pulled. Eugenio Suárez lifted a possible sacrifice fly to right, but García unleashed a 93.4-mph throw to nail Joc Pederson at home plate.

Corey Seager won World Series MVP last year for his efforts in dispatching the D-backs, and he again torched them on Tuesday. Texas might have only mustered six hits, but one of them was a three-run bomb by Seager to put the Rangers ahead, 4-2. He might end up going down as one of the Phoenix area’s all-time villains for both his Dodgers days and what he’s done against the D-backs with Texas, too.

Other Games

Minnesota Twins (30-24) 4, Kansas City Royals (34-21) 2

I don’t know how long we’ll see the MLB standings page feature three AL Central teams in playoff spots, but those ballclubs are really enjoying their time in the spotlight. It was a terrific ballgame at Target Field, as the Twins built a lead with big RBI doubles from Carlos Correa and Manuel Margot. It was a 4-2 game in the ninth, when Salvador Perez led off with a double off Jhoan Duran and Adam Frazier followed with a sharp single. Dairon Blanco pinch-ran and tried to get into scoring position as the tying run, but Correa’s brilliant tag on Christian Vázquez’s throw nailed him. Three pitches later, an amped-up Duran ended it.

Cleveland Guardians (37-18) 13, Colorado Rockies (19-35) 7

There’s nothing like a Coors Field game where both teams combine to score at least 20 runs, right? It was a home run derby, with José Ramírez, Kris Bryant, Josh Naylor, Elehuris Montero, and David Fry all going yard. Naylor socked two, and Fry landed what was ultimately the knockout punch with a go-ahead three-run blast in the seventh. The Guardians have won 13 of their last 15 games.

Oakland Athletics (23-33) 3, Tampa Bay Rays (26-29) 0

Back in December, the A’s selected Yankees minor leaguer Mitch Spence with the first pick in the Rule 5 Draft, and while he’s been modest enough in 11 games for Oakland. He’s been getting starts lately too, and yesterday was easily his best. Spence no-hit the Rays for 5.1 innings, only getting pulled after the Rays’ first hit (a clean single from José Caballero). Another old friend, Miguel Andujar, provided the pop with a three-run bomb off Zack Littell. The A’s bullpen finished a three-hit shutout, with Mason Miller doing his nasty thing with two K’s in the ninth for the save.

Toronto Blue Jays (25-29) 7, Chicago White Sox (15-41) 2

I’m trying to decide if it was considerate or mean for the umpires in this game to make the Chicago wait out a 68-minute rain delay in the middle of the ninth just to quickly roll over, 7-2. Maybe it’s kind that they believed in the 2024 White Sox enough to grant them a chance at a quick-strike five-run comeback, even if the odds were infinitesimally small. Then again, it might be better for all parties involved if the White Sox were just Old Yeller’d.