The Yankees played like absolute ass yesterday, and I have no interest in discussing it further in this space. A good rule of thumb as a writer is not to assume anything of an audience that could be reading you for the first time, but let’s be serious here: you, dear reader, already know how terribly the Yankees looked on Saturday if you’re even five percent aware of their goings-on. So for the purposes of this separate series, let’s move on.
Here’s what else was going on around the Junior Circuit on Saturday.
Toronto Blue Jays (76-54) 7, Miami Marlins (60-69) 6 (12 innings)
Not to pour salt in the wound, but remember when the Yankees inexplicably got swept by the Marlins at the beginning of this wretched month? The Fish have won precisely five games since then and other AL teams continue to show what the Yankees should have done with this rebuilding club. After another loss yesterday—albeit a spirited battle with Toronto—the Marlins are a combined 3-8 against the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Astros, and Mariners. (They have not yet played the Tigers.) Whoopsie-daisy.
The Jays drew first blood yesterday in Miami, with Nathan Lukes doubling off former Yankees farmhand Janson Junk to begin the third. Following a lineout and an Andrés Giménez plunking, George Springer drove in Lukes with a clean single to right. Addison Barger hit into a twin killing, but the Jays gave José Berríos a 1-0 lead. The veteran right-hander continued rolling through the Marlins’ lineup, shutting them out on one lousy infield hit with no walks and eight strikeouts across 67 pitches and six innings.
Junk held the Jays to the single run until the sixth. The man who ended the last rally, Barger, started the next with a one-out walk. Bo Bichette singled and Alejandro Kirk doubled down the right-field line to plate Barger.
After fanning Daulton Varsho, Marlins skipper Clayton McCullough had to pull Junk with what Miami later ominously called “right arm discomfort.” In came Cade Gibson, who was told to intentionally walk Ty France to load the bases for the better matchup with Myles Straw. But even though Straw only had 15 walks on the season, Gibson managed to issue a free pass to him anyway, scoring a third run.
Springer tacked on with a solo shot in the seventh, and it turned out to be necessary. Berríos ran out of gas in the seventh as Miami finally mounted a rally. Liam Hicks, Eric Wagaman, and Troy Johnston knocked three-straight singles to get the Marlins on the board, driving Berríos from the game. Javier Sanoja greeted Louie Varland with a run-scoring double that was at least kept to a single RBI thanks to a nicely-executed relay. Otto Lopez brought in a third run with a single, but Varland managed to escape the inning with the lead by fanning Xavier Edwards.
Springer again tried to spark something in the ninth with a one-out double, but Barger and Bichette couldn’t come up with hits to bring him home. That ending up costing Toronto, as the Marlins mustered a rally of their own. Closer Jeff Hoffman walked the leadoff man, Wagaman, and pinch-runner Derek Hill quickly swiped second. One out later, Sanoja grounded a single to left, tying the game at 4-4.
Although Sanoja stole second as well, Hoffman did strand the winning run by fanning Lopez.
The two sides went back and forth scoring their automatic runners, but no more in both the 10th and 11th. A sacrifice fly by the Jays was only barely enough in the former, as after a game-tying double by rookie Jakob Marsee (still in his first month in the majors), they needed a leaping catch by Barger in right to avoid a walk-off. Giménez and Sanoja then exchanged RBI hits in the 11th.
It took until the 12th for a Toronto lead to hold, which they obtained again on a Bichette single to score Springer. Remember that play that Anthony Volpe failed to make at second the other day on Jarren Duran? Bichette pulled it off when Lopez strayed further from the bag than Duran, and that was the play of the night for the Jays as it was Miami’s first out of the 12th.
Edwards reached on that fielder’s choice, but he was left on first when Brendon Little got a Marsee lineout and a grounder to Bichette from Agustín Ramírez to end it. After chipping away a bit, the Yankees are now back to tied for a season-high 6.5 games behind the Jays in the AL East.
Houston Astros (72-58) 9, Baltimore Orioles (59-70) 8
You know that a game is kind of nutso when it’s 7-5 by the middle of the third inning. Pitching was seemingly optional on Saturday at Camden Yards, as both sides fired haymakers early. Technically, the Astros landed a trio of jabs first, as Carlos Correa, Jesús Sánchez, and Victor Caratini all homered against Dean Kremer in the opening frame to give Houston a quick 5-0 lead.
Cristian Javier was off his game in his third start following his return from Tommy John surgery. Four of the first five Orioles batters reached base, with Gunnar Henderson knocking in one and Colton Cowser singling in a pair. An inning later, the O’s loaded the bags and Ryan Mountcastle was the one to deliver, notching two RBI while tying the game with a single.
Javier’s night ended after recording just 6 outs on 65 pitches.
The Astros broke the short-lived tie with aggressive baserunning and a challenge of the last-place Orioles defense. Jose Altuve singled, Sánchez doubled, and with one down, Caratini grounded out to third, but upon the throw, Altuve bolted for the plate à la 2015 Eric Hosmer. Like Lucas Duda did back then, O’s first baseman Coby Mayo rushed the throw home and it went wild, scoring not only Altuve but Sánchez as well.
Baltimore again had an answer, this time with AJ Blubaugh on for Houston. Jeremiah Jackson’s first career homer cut the deficit to 7-6 and Cowser drove another key hit — one that landed 400 feet away in deep right field to make it a 7-7 ballgame in the fifth.
The Astros had been quiet for three whole innings by the seventh, and with an army of randos at Baltimore’s bullpen disposal for middle relief, it was unlikely that they could hold Houston down. Indeed, Christian Walker launched the decisive blow, the embattled first baseman taking 2017 Yankees trade chip Dietrich Enns deep for a two-run blast.
Jackson got one back for Baltimore by cashing in fellow rookie Dylan Beavers, who had doubled to start the eighth. That was all the fight that the O’s had left though, as the final four batters went down in order, Bryan Abreu securing the save for Houston.
Detroit Tigers (78-53) 4, Kansas City Royals (66-64) 2
Chris Paddack has alternated between solid and ugly starts for Detroit since coming over at the Trade Deadline, and after getting rocked by his old Twins teammates for eight runs his last time out, he settled down again with five innings of one-run ball against the Royals. Yes, he still allowed five hits and a walk while only generating one whiff on 62 pitches, but for a back-of-the-rotation starter, you’ll take it.
Meanwhile, the Tigers’ offense built a picket-fence between the third and the fifth, gradually building a 3-1 lead against Michael Wacha. Spencer Torkelson provided the most entertaining blow, launching a 407-foot shot to left-center field.
Mustachioed catcher Jake Rogers was responsible for the other two ribbies, as he drove in Javier Báez with a double in the third (getting caught between second and third when the throw home was cut off), and then bringing in Zach McKinstry with a single to left-center. McKinstry was on first but he came all the way around since he was running on the pitch and it went into the gap.
Bobby Witt Jr. greeted Paddack’s replacement, Troy Melton, with a solo shot to cut the deficit to 3-2. Melton retired the side before running into trouble in the seventh with runners on first and second and one down. Tyler Holton picked him up by coming in to induce a 5-4-3 double play from Nick Loftin. With Witt the tying run on second with one down in the eighth, Holton got Vinnie Pasquantino to ground out, and Will Vest then struck out Maikel Garcia to end the frame.
Andy Ibáñez went yard in the ninth for insurance, and Vest finished off the Royals in the ninth. Detroit now leads Kansas City by 11.5 games in the AL Central, and the Royals didn’t gain any ground on the Yankees as the first team out in the Wild Card race (they’re three back of Seattle and 3.5 behind the Yanks).
Texas Rangers (65-66) 10, Cleveland Guardians (64-64) 0
Boy, if you thought the AL Wild Card race was a rockfight, the muck in that aforementioned “first team out” tier is a sight to see. The Rangers, Guardians, and Royals all keep shifting around in a mediocre-at-best state. That’s one of the reasons why the Yankees and Mariners still technically hold playoff spots. (I’d say “congrats, Manfred,” but there is not a chance that he views this as a bad thing.) Anywho, just when it seemed like the Rangers were about to be completely dead in the water, they’ve defeated Cleveland in back-to-back ballgames to creep back in a bit. This one saw complete domination from Jack Leiter, who fired seven shutout frames of two-hit ball, striking out a career-high 10 and walking none. Guardians starter Logan Allen got wrecked for nine runs, including homers by Adolis García, Josh Jung, and Cody Freeman (the first of his career).
Athletics (60-71) 2, Seattle Mariners (69-60) 1 (10 innings)
Yeah, I’d be annoyed if I was an M’s fan, too. Since coming back in the AL West race from seven behind Houston to tie for first place on August 12th, Seattle has gone back to stumbling with a 2-8 record in their last 10 games. That does include eking out a one-run win over the A’s at home on Friday, but they followed that by returning the favor of a one-run victory to the Not Quite Sacramentans. Randy Arozarena erased the 1-0 A’s lead with a missile to left field off Jeffrey Springs in the sixth, but that proved to be one of only three Mariners hits on the night. George Kirby and the Mariners bullpen got this game to extras despite the paltry offense, where with two outs, Shea Langeliers cashed in the visitors’ zombie runner with a double to right off 2024 Yankees legend Caleb Ferguson. Seattle loaded the bases in the home half of the 10th on walks, but Hogan Harris kept them from even tying it (let alone winning). A grounder to short from Arozarena ended it. The Mariners are half a game behind the Yanks.