Hopefully, the Yankees have staved off their annual midseason malaise, having taken solid series win against the Orioles. The most important thing is that the Yankees continue to stabilize and play well, but it’s still a close race in the AL East right now, and New York surely is still interested in how their rivals are doing as they try to re-open a comfortable lead in the division. Let’s see what else happened on a busy Sunday.

Detroit Tigers (49-30) 9, Tampa Bay Rays (43-35) 3

The Tigers had frustrated Yankees fans a bit this weekend, with the AL’s top club offering a plausible opportunity for the Yankees to increase their lead on Tampa, only for Detroit to get blown out in the first two games of this series. The Tigers at last came alive in the finale, salvaging one with a game that turned into a laugher at the end.

The game was tight for most of the afternoon, however. Zack Littell continued his solid season for the Rays, tossing five innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts and no walks. On the other side, a perfect match; Casey Mize managed five innings, one run, with five K’s against zero walks.

In a 1-1 game, the Tigers pushed in front in the seventh. Spencer Torkelson led off with a walk, and Wenceel Pérez’s sixth homer of the year had Detroit ahead:

The game was 3-1 into the ninth, where the Tigers bought themselves an airtight insurance policy. Facing erstwhile top prospect Forrest Whitley, the first six Tigers of the frame reached via a hit. Whitley departed having allowed six runs on six hits without recording an out. Brant Hurter gave up a couple runs in the ninth to make the score more respectable, but Detroit eased out of Tampa with a win.

Houston Astros (45-33) 8, Los Angeles Angels (37-40) 7

After a sleepy start, this one evolved into slugfest. It was scoreless into the bottom of the fourth, when Logan O’Hoppe’s two-run homer opened the scoring off Ryan Gusto. But the Angels made a mess of the next half-inning. Mauricio Dubón and Jeremy Peña each hit solo homers off Kyle Hendricks to tie the game. Then, Hendricks was let down by his defense, as Luis Rengifo failed to handle a groundball off the bat of Jake Meyers that went into left for a single, then committed an error on a Cam Smith groundball. Christian Walker followed with a double to give Houston a 4-2 lead.

But the Angels were game. Anaheim came right back against Gusto, Lamonte Wade Jr. and Christian Moore singling before Nolan Schanuel brought them home with a three-run dinger:

Yet Hunter Strickland, in for Hendricks, couldn’t hold the lead. Mauricio Dubón hit his second homer of the day to put the Astros back in front 6-5, and Peña drove in another with a double, before Meyers’ sac fly made the score 8-5.

It was on Houston to hang on from there. Schanuel kept pounding, singling home a run in the seventh off Bryan King. It stayed 8-6 into the ninth, and the Astros of course went to Josh Hader. Zack Neto made it a one-run game by leading off with his 11th homer, a pinch-hit job.

Hader got the next two outs, but Schanuel doubled, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Mike Trout. Trout got a slider over the plate from Hader and hit it on the screws, 103 mph to center, but Meyers corralled it to end the game. The Astros maintained their five-game lead in the AL West.

Other Games

Milwaukee Brewers (43-35) 9, Minnesota Twins (37-40) 8: The Twins went with an opener-follower strategy, and bulk guy David Festa saw himself get crushed by the Brewers. Milwaukee teed off on Festa for 12 hits and three walks over 4.2 innings as the Brew Crew put together an offensive explosion for their fourth straight game. Rhys Hoskins and Brice Turang homered while six Milwaukee starters posted multi-hit games. Minnesota did make things interesting, rallying from a 9-3 deficit to make it 9-8 on Ty France’s homer in the eighth. The Twins had two on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Trevor Megill popped out Matt Wallner and struck out Trevor Larnach to end the thriller.

Chicago White Sox (25-53) 4, Toronto Blue Jays (41-36) 2: The Jays gave the Yankees a gift this weekend, dropping two of three at home to the moribund White Sox. Toronto led late into the game, Chris Bassitt twirling six strong, departing with a 2-1 lead after striking out seven and walking one. But Brendon Little and Jeff Hoffman couldn’t hold the lead in the eighth. Hoffman issued a two-out walk to load the bases, then committed an error that allowed Andrew Benintendi to reach base and a run to score. Miguel Vargas dumped a double down the left field line, and suddenly Chicago led 4-2. Rookie Grant Taylor pitched the ninth to earn his first career save.

Seattle Mariners (39-37) 14, Chicago Cubs (46-31) 6: A wild, high-scoring series came a close with the Mariners taking two of three in Chicago. Seattle battered Colin Rea for 11 hits and seven runs over 5.1 innings, supporting Logan Gilbert who was shakier than usual, allowing four runs over five frames. The remarkable Cal Raleigh hit his 31st homer, while Dominic Canzone and Donovan Solano both hit two. Is there a bit of cruel irony that the Mariners offense is having its best season in years at the same time that its typically excellent pitching staff is having a lackluster campaign?

San Francisco Giants (44-34) 9, Boston Red Sox (40-39) 5: The Giants surged late to take the rubber match against the Red Sox. Lucas Giolito pitched OK for Boston, and the Sox led 4-2 into the fifth when San Francisco made their move, Casey Schmitt and Mike Yastrzemski both homering to tie the game. The Red Sox nudged in front on Ceddanne Rafaela’s solo homer in the sixth, but the Giants used a four-run seventh to pull away. Heliot Ramos scored the biggest blow, his two-run double putting the Giants up 8-5 and capping his four-RBI day.