Clarke Schmidt flirted with history for the Yankees on Saturday, going seven no-hit innings as the Yankees beat the Orioles. His pitch count got a little too high, leading to him not coming out for the eighth, and the bullpen couldn’t hang on to the no-no, but a one-hit shutout win is still plenty good.

Elsewhere around baseball it was a plenty busy Saturday, so let’s look back at the action in today’s Rivalry Roundup.

Tampa Bay Rays (43-34) 8, Detroit Tigers (48-30) 3

Having crept up to 1.5 games back of the Yankees, The Rays kept pace on Saturday, as they jumped on Tigers’ pitching for four runs in the first inning and never looked back from there.

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With Detroit going with a bullpen game, Tampa Bay took advantage in the bottom of the first. Technically, Brant Hurter retired the first three batters he faced, the issue was that one of them featured a drop third strike that allowed the batter to reach base. The Rays made the most it, as a two-out double from Jonathan Aranda and a walk to Christopher Morel loaded the bases. Hurter then got wild, issuing a walk and a hit by pitch, both of which scored runs. Taylor Walls put the cap on the inning with a two-RBI single, and the Rays had full control after that.

Tampa Bay continued regularly adding to their lead over the course of the game, and they never really had to worry, as starter Ryan Pepiot and the bullpen never let the Tigers get too close.

Los Angeles Angels (37-39) 9, Houston Astros (44-33) 1

The Angels jumped on Astros’ starter Brandon Walter for seven runs over the first four innings, while Angels’ starter José Soriano struck out 10 in six innings as LA downed Houston.

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A Luis Rengifo homer gave the Angels a 2-0 lead in the second inning, but they truly broke the game open in the third. A two-run Taylor Ward double and a two-run Logan O’Hoppe homer allowed LA to put up a four-spot in the inning, opening up a comfortable lead that they never looked like losing.

They never looked like losing the lead thanks to a very impressive outing from Soriano. After working around some trouble in the first, Soriano allowed just two walks and two hits over the rest of his outing, as he cracked double digit strikeouts. A Christian Walker RBI single in the fourth was the only real blemish on his day, and even that was just a foot or two away from being knocked down and fielded for a groundout.

Other Games

Milwaukee Brewers (42-35) 9, Minnesota Twins (37-39) 0: Jose Quintana blanked the Twins for six innings, having gotten plenty of run support early as the Brewers beat Minnesota. Five different Brewers had multi-hit games, as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead through two innings and only kept it going from there.

Toronto Blue Jays (41-35) 7, Chicago White Sox (24-53) 1: The day after losing 7-1 to the White Sox, the Blue Jays returned the favor by beating Chicago by that exact score. Homers from Bo Bichette and Vladmir Guerrero Jr. helped Toronto to seven runs, while José Berríos allowed just one run on two hits in 7.2 frames.

Chicago Cubs (46-30) 10, Seattle Mariners (38-38) 7: The Cubs crushed Mariners’ starter Emerson Hancock for four home runs, jumping out to a 9-1 lead and hanging on. Ian Happ, who would hit two on the game, and Kyle Tucker went back-to-back to lead off the game for Chicago and the blows kept on coming, as they knocked out Hancock after nine runs and six hits in four innings. Cubs’ starter Cade Horton was hardly lights out himself, as Seattle got within three runs despite behind big early, but the deficit ended up being too big, despite Cal Raleigh becoming the first player this season to reach 30 home runs.

San Francisco Giants (43-34) 3, Boston Red Sox (40-38) 2: Rafael Devers homered against his former team to power the Giants, although the Red Sox did make things interesting late. Devers’ two-run shot in the third inning put San Francisco up 3-0, and that lead held for most of the game, with Landen Roupp going six scoreless innings. However, Boston scored two runs in the ninth and had the tying run as close as third before Camilo Doval finally finished things off.

Cleveland Guardians (38-37) 4, Athletics (32-47) 2: Four second inning runs ended up being all the Guardians needed for a win in Sacramento. Stephen Kwan and José Ramírez each record a two-RBI single in the second, and Luis L. Ortiz struck out 10 in six innings to make those runs stand up. The A’s made a brief run at a comeback late, but it ended up being too little, too late.

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