Now that was one helluva series win! After the back-breaking loss to the Padres in the series opener, the Yankees fought back from deficits in each of the final two games to steal a series from the second-best team in baseball. I can’t think of better way to seal the series dub than an extra-innings walk-off for one of the best stories in baseball in J.C Escarra. It’s a good thing they completed the comeback, because most of their rivals around the AL were victorious as well.
Houston Astros (18-18) 9, Milwaukee Brewers (19-19) 1
This game was the Framber Valdez and Jeremy Peña show. Starting on the pitching side, Valdez has been one of the most talked-about names as a potential trade deadline candidate, and he only boosted his stock tonight. He twirled seven innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and two walks against seven strikeouts. The lone damage came in the fifth inning — an Eric Haase solo shot.
Zach Dezenzo opened the scoring for the Astros in the second with an RBI double to plate Jake Meyers following the latter’s two out single. Another pair scored in the fifth, Dezenzo drawing a leadoff walk followed by an error by Caleb Durbin to allow Brendan Rodgers to reach. A Chas McCormick sac bunt advanced both runners into scoring position, Dezenzo touched home on a Peña grounder and close play at the plate, and a passed ball brought Rodgers home.
Houston really turned it on once they got into the Brewers bullpen, tagging Elvin Rodriguez for six runs on five hits and four walks in 3.1 innings. Meyers and Dezenzo drew a pair of leadoff walks in the sixth to set up a three-run blast by Peña to left on a first-pitch fastball.
They put it fully to bed scoring another three in the ninth. Peña led off with a double followed by a Jose Altuve single to put runners on second and third. Isaac Paredes smacked an RBI single and Yainer Diaz a two-run double to bring it to a final score of 9-1.
Boston Red Sox (19-19) 6, Texas Rangers (18-19) 4
Fans were treated to a back-and-forth affair all game long at Fenway. Wilyer Abreu and Alex Bregman came up trumps for Boston and drove in all six runs. Abreu went 3-for-5 with two home runs, a double, and three RBIs while Bregman smacked his 200th career home run in his own 3-for-5 night with three RBIs.
Texas actually jumped out to an early lead, a Tanner Houck throwing error in the third allowing a run to score followed by a fourth inning leadoff homer by Adolis GarcÃa. Bregman and Abreu responded with solo shots in the bottom of the fourth to level the scores at two apiece. The Rangers reclaimed the lead in the fifth on a GarcÃa sac fly following a Corey Seager single and Joc Pederson double to open the frame.
However, Boston scored four unanswered to jump out to a decisive lead. Bregman and Kristian Campbell opened the sixth with a double and single, respectively, and an Abreu double plated Bregman, though Campbell was thrown out at home on the play. Bregman smacked a two-run single in the seventh to plate Connor Wong and Ceddanne Rafaela following the pair’s back-to-back singles with no outs. Abreu concluded the scoring for Boston with his second home run to leadoff the eighth, and though Josh Jung clawed one back with his own leadoff blast in the ninth, Aroldis Chapman shut it down from there, throwing the hardest pitch of the season in MLB at 104 mph.
Other Games:
Cleveland Guardians (22-15) 8, Washington Nationals (17-21) 6
The Guardians scored all eight of their runs in the sixth inning to shock the Nationals, who had been cruising with a 3-0 lead to that point. Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann led off with a pair of singles followed by a José RamÃrez hit-by-pitch to load the bases for Carlos Santana, the first baseman driving in all three with a double down the line in right. Gabriel Arias followed with a single and Bo Naylor drew a walk to re-load the bases for Angel MartÃnez, and the center fielder obliged with a two-run single to plate Santana and Arias. A wild pitch by Andrew Chafin allowed Naylor to score, and Brayan Rocchio grounded out softly enough to plate MartÃnez. With the Guardians having batted around, Kwan and Schneemann drew a pair of two-out walks, a J-Ram single plating Kwan as the eighth and final run of the inning as Cleveland sent 13 batters to the plate.
Seattle Mariners (22-14) 6, Athletics (20-18) 5
The upstart A’s pushed the first-place Mariners to the finish line, where some late heroics left Seattle on top. The A’s jumped out to a 5-0 lead through four, powered by an impressive performance by rookie Jacob Wilson — 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles. However, Seattle hung around until they got the big blast — a three-run tank by Rowdy Tellez in the sixth — putting them right back in the game. The Mariners just claimed Leody Taveras off waivers from the Rangers yesterday and he made an instant impact with an RBI single in the eighth to level the scores at five apiece, and the next batter Dylan Moore provided the winning hit, his RBI double plating Taveras.
Minnesota Twins (17-20) 5, Baltimore Orioles (13-22) 2
The Orioles lost their fourth in a row, putting them on the brink of a sweep by the Twins. It took just two swings for Minnesota to vanquish the Orioles, who scored only twice despite cracking ten hits on the day. Byron Buxton provided the first with a three-run blast in the third and Harrison Bader the second with a pinch-hit two-run no-doubter in the seventh to deepen Baltimore’s woes.
Detroit Tigers (23-13) 8, Colorado Rockies (6-29) 6
This game was supposed to be all about the duel between two of the Rookie of the Year frontrunners in Jackson Jobe and Chase Dollander. However, both pitchers gave up six runs in fewer than four innings and it became a battle of the bullpens. Ryan McMahon and Michael Toglia each clubbed a pair of two-run homers off Jobe while Javier Báez continued his improbable renaissance with a pair of two-run singles off Dollander. Neither team scored in the final five innings to send this game to extras, and Detroit wasted no time, a pair of doubles by Spencer Torkelson and Trey Sweeney driving in the pair of decisive runs as the former Yankees farmhand went 4-for-4 on the day.