The Yankees ran past the Cardinals on Saturday night, but most of their rivals took care of business as well, leaving the state of the AL standings unchanged. But the Yankees pulled away from St. Louis again yesterday, sweeping away the Cards as they finally find themselves playing strong all-around baseball again. They hold a playoff spot and control their own destiny, and the most important thing is that they play well to the finish line. That said, they’ll surely be keeping an eye on how their rivals are faring. Let’s see what happened on Sunday.
Texas Rangers (62-63) 10, Toronto Blue Jays (73-52) 4
The Blue Jays embarrassed the Rangers on Saturday, putting up 14 runs and clinching a series win. The Rangers did the best they could to answer, putting up a 10-spot of their own on Sunday to avoid a sweep.
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The Rangers were all over José Berríos, knocking around the right-hander for six runs, the fourth time this season Berríos has allowed six in an outing. Marcus Semien opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the second, which was answered by a solo shot in the home half from Alejandro Kirk. But Texas opened things up in the fourth, battering Berríos with five hits that scored three runs, which could’ve been more had Josh Smith not been thrown out at second to end the inning. Berríos hung into the fifth, where Corey Seager finally chased him with a solo homer:
Nathan Eovaldi bounced back from a rare poor start, tossing seven strong innings of two-run ball to earn the win. He struck out six and walked none, the outing actually increasing his ERA to 1.76.
Wyatt Langford made it 8-2 with a two-run homer in the seventh, and though George Springer brought Toronto a little closer with a two-run shot of his own, Evan Carter tacked on one more two-run dinger in the ninth as the Rangers cruised to victory. The Jays are 5.5 games ahead of New York, not an insurmountable margin to say the least.
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Miami Marlins (59-65) 5, Boston Red Sox (68-57) 3
As the afternoon wore on, it looked like the Red Sox would be able to hold off the Marlins. Ace Garrett Crochet turned in another superb start, and though Miami was on the precipice of breaking through inning after inning, it appeared Boston would just be able to sneak through. But right at the last, the Marlins shocked the Sox and avoided a sweep at Fenway.
Crochet was his typically excellent self, striking out eight and walking one over seven innings. He carried a 2-1 lead late into his start, thanks to Wilyer Abreu’s two-run homer in the fourth. The Marlins threatened; in the sixth, they put two on with one out and didn’t score. Again, in the seventh, they had the tying run in scoring position, but failed to score. Garrett Whitlock came on in the eighth and also put two on, and though the Marlins drove one in, Abraham Toro had tacked on another run in the seventh with a sac fly, and the Red Sox led 3-2 into the ninth.
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Greg Weissert came on to try and close things out and didn’t get very far. His second pitch of the game was a cement-mixer slider that Dane Myers drove out to right-center. Tie game:
Three batters later, Alex Cora went to lefty Steven Matz to try and get the red-hot Jakob Marsee with one out and one down, and the rookie absolutely drilled one out to right. Suddenly it was 5-3:
Anthony Bender pitched the bottom of the ninth to earn his fourth save. Thanks to the Marlins’ help, the Yankees are now just a half-game back of their archrivals in the AL East.
Baltimore Orioles (57-67) 12, Houston Astros (69-55) 0
The Orioles are mostly playing out the string, but they’ll have plenty of chances to play spoiler against contending AL teams down the stretch. They played that role nicely this weekend, taking it to the Astros and winning two out of three in Houston.
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Cristian Javier made the start for the Astros, the right-hander making just his second start as he continues to work back from Tommy John surgery. He was effective, allowing one run over three innings, but departed early with an illness.
Shawn Dubin took over for Javier and was less successful. Dubin gave up three straight singles to open the fifth inning, the last one an RBI knock for Jackson Holliday. Jordan Westburg then took the liberty of clearing the bases with a three-run dinger, and it was 5-0:
Westburg would drive in another in the seventh and one in the eighth as part of a five-RBI day. Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo each drove in two.
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It was all in support of Dean Kremer, who turned in one of his sharpest starts of the year. Kremer allowed just three hits over seven shutout, striking out seven and walking none. He’s been one of the few bright spots in the Oriole rotation these last few months.
Minnesota Twins (58-66) 8, Detroit Tigers (73-53) 1
The Tigers couldn’t finish off the sweep after dominating the first two games of this series, Minnesota’s bats waking up to salvage the finale.
Royce Lewis opened the scoring with a solo homer off Chris Paddack in the second, which was answered by Kerry Carpenter’s RBI single in the top of the third. But Minnesota crushed Paddack in the home half of the third. Byron Buxton led off with his 25th homer to make it 2-1. A double, single, and groundout scored another, but after another single and a strikeout, Paddack had a chance to escape with his outing still intact. Paddack issued a walk to load the bases though, and Brooks Lee unloaded them:
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Lee’s grand slam was his 12th homer of the year, and it gave Minnesota a comfortable 7-1 lead. The Twins would mostly cruise from there. Thomas Hatch pitched five innings to earn the win, and the Minnesota bullpen combined for four shutout innings as Detroit went down quietly.
Other Games
New York Mets (66-58) 7, Seattle Mariners (68-57) 3
The Mariners missed an opportunity to draw closer to the Astros out in the AL West, the Mets cruising past them in the LLWS game. Clay Holmes was solid, allowing one run over five innings, while George Kirby got knocked around for crooked numbers twice by the Mets’ offense. Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, and Mark Vientos all drove in runs in a three-run second, and New York broke it open with a four-run fifth inning that capped Kirby’s night, highlighted by a three-run homer from Vientos. Cal Raleigh did manage his 47th long ball of the year in the seventh to bring the Mariners within four, but that was as close as they’d get.
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Atlanta Braves (56-68) 5, Cleveland Guardians (63-60) 4
The Braves have shockingly been relegated to also-ran status this year, but they’ve played well the last couple weeks to throw a wrench into the plans of contending teams. Atlanta rallied in Cleveland to sweep the Guardians and help the Yankees maintain some breathing room on Cleveland. The Guardians led 4-1, chasing Erick Fedde after four. But the Braves scored two in fifth, Ozzie Albies’ RBI single off Nic Enright, in for L.T. Allen, making it 4-3. Enright stayed in for the sixth and gave up a two-run homer to Jurickson Profar that gave the Braves a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Aaron Bummer, Dylan Lee, Pierce Johnson, and Raisel Iglesias all turned in scoreless relief outings, Iglesias working the ninth for his 19th save.