It was a miserable weekend for the Yankees in Boston, as New York’s dropped five straight to their archrivals. The only possible positive came from the Red Sox promptly trading away their best hitter after the sweep was complete. Perhaps that’s a good time to distract oneself by looking at how the rest of the Yankees’ rivals have done. The Yankees have a nice AL East lead, but it’s far from insurmountable, with the Blue Jays and Rays in the rearview mirror, and the likes of the Tigers and Astros to vie with for positioning in the broader AL picture. Let’s go through what happened on Sunday.

Cincinnati Reds (37-35) 8, Detroit Tigers (46-27) 4

Late in this game, we seemed ticketed for another rock solid victory, and series win, for the league-leading Tigers. In the seventh, the two teams were tied with two, with Wade Miley going five innings and giving up two runs for the Reds, and the Tigers using a bit of a bullpen game, Tyler Holton pitching the first frame before giving way to Sawyer Gipson-Long as a bulk guy.

But Gleyber Torres came through with a big RBI single in the bottom of the seventh off Graham Ashcraft, followed by Riley Greene’s RBI double to make it 4-2.

That felt like it should be enough for the typically strong back of the Tigers’ bullpen. But the Reds strung together a rally through timely hitting and some fortune, surging to the front in the eighth. A fielding error and a single put two on with none out, and Elly De La Cruz sliced the lead in half with a single off Will Vest. After a strikeout, Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit a potential double play ball to Zack McKinstry at third, but McKinstry had trouble getting the ball out his glove, and everyone was safe:

The Reds made Detroit pay for their largesse. Will Benson tied the game at four with a sac fly, and Gavin Lux pushed Cincy into the lead with a single:

Vest uncorked a wild pitch to add to the comedy of errors, and by the time the dust settled the Reds led 6-4. De La Cruz added a line drive homer in the ninth, his 16th homer of the year giving him a dinger in four straight games, as the Reds closed this one out 8-4.

Houston Astros (41-30) 2, Minnesota Twins (36-35) 1 (ten innings)

Another day, another pitcher’s duel in Houston. Though the Twins led for most of this one, the Astros saved themselves right at the death before walking things off for a second consecutive game.

In the top of the third, Brooks Lee roped one into the Crawford Boxes, his seventh homer of the year:

Minnesota led 1-0, and for a time, that looked like it might be the only run to score all afternoon. That was the only damage the Twins managed against Brandon Walter, the 28-year-old rookie turning in the finest outing of his short career. Walter lasted 6.2 innings with six hits allowed but zero walks, to go with nine strikeouts.

Simeon Woods-Richardson started for the Twins and was effective, shutting out Houston through five. Minnesota went to their bullpen from there; Brock Stewart pitched a scoreless sixth, while Louis Varland turned in an impressive relief outing, working the seventh and eighth and preserving a thin one-run advantage.

That set the stage in the ninth, the Astros needing to pull off a small miracle against Minnesota’s ace closer Jhoan Duran. Houston managed to tie the game in one of those manufacture a run baseball sequences that, to me, is one of the most satisfying ways to tally a run. Jeremy Peña worked a leadoff walk, then swiped second. Peña moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a Victor Caratini sac fly:

No hits required, but a tie game nonetheless.

Josh Hader came on for the tenth and mowed through Minnesota, leaving the zombie runner standing on second. Cole Sands looked like he might do the same, retiring the first two batters he faced in the home half. But Mauricio Dubón sent the Houston fans home happy again, following Saturday night’s walk-off from Cam Smith with a walk-off single off the wall of his own:

As seems to happen so often, the Astros have recovered from a sluggish start to lead the AL West, where they now stand 4.5 games clear

Other Games:

The Phillies did the Yankees a real solid this weekend, sweeping the Blue Jays so that Toronto didn’t gain any ground even as the Yankees were swept. Zack Wheeler was his typically brilliant self, tossing six innings of two-run ball (one earned) while striking out nine against zero walks. And the Philly offense was relentless against José Berríos and the Toronto bullpen. Trea Turner and Nick Castellanos homered, while Alec Bohm went 2-for-43with three driven in, and rookie Otto Kemp went 4-for-5 in just his eighth career game. Kyle Schwarber stayed hot too, driving in two, scoring twice, and walking twice in a 2-for-3 day.

Though the Phillies did the Yankees a favor, we can’t say the same about the crosstown Mets, as the Rays ran roughshod in Queens for the third straight day. Shane Baz turned in one of this best starts of the year, shutting out the Mets over 6.2 innings, allowing just three hits, while his counterpart Griffin Canning struggled. Tampa had traffic on all day against Canning, who issued five walks and allowed four hits before getting pulled after 4.1 innings down 6-0. Junior Caminero led the way with three RBI and three runs scored, while Jonathan Aranda went 2-for-4 with two driven in to push his OPS above .900 on the season.

After surviving a thriller the night before, the Mariners cruised to a much-needed easy victory on Sunday afternoon. Young Emerson Hancock was spectacular, shutting out Cleveland over seven innings, allowing just two hits. Luis L. Ortiz struggled to contain the Seattle lineup, issuing five walks and allowing five hits over six innings. The Mariners put up a five-spot in the second to break open the game, the big blow a grand slam from J.P. Crawford: