The Yankees blew their series opener with the Padres, wasting a great Carlos Rodón start amidst terrible weather thanks to another Devin Williams implosion. At this point, removed from the closer position but still finding himself with such disastrous appearances, the team is starting to face an uncomfortable conversation about their offseason relief acquisition.
While New York was burning a game in hand, there were only a few other teams of note active to take advantage. With the Guardians rained out, that left just two games to highlight today, both of them from the West Coast. Let’s see how Houston and Seattle fared.
Milwaukee Brewers (18-18) 5, Houston Astros (17-17) 1
Oh how the Astros have circled around the .500 mark this season. A 4-6 stretch has the Astros down in third place and dead even in the win-loss column for what feels like the 12th time this season already.
The Brewers took control in the third inning, and they did most of it with two outs. Joey Ortiz led off with a double, but Jackson Chourio and Isaac Collins flew out and struck out in quick succession to get the Astros a step away from escaping unharmed. Instead, William Contreras laced a single to left to score Ortiz and then Christian Yelich hit a booming homer to straightaway center field to take a 3-0 lead.
Houston had their hands full against Tobias Myers, but they broke through in the sixth inning. Tobias started off the frame with an out, before Jose Altuve and Isaac Paredes both notched hits to put runners on the corners. Christian Walker hit a comebacker right to Myers, but he fired an off-balance throw to second trying to get the double play and instead got nobody out, allowing Altuve to score. Another single loaded the bases for the Astros, but Myers was pulled for Nick Mears who navigated the jam perfectly, picking up a strikeout and groundout to avoid any more runs coming across.
Milwaukee got some insurance in the eighth with Rhys Hoskins hitting an RBI double and Jake Bauers singling him home to make it 5-1, but it was unnecessary in the end. After blowing a prime opportunity to flip the script, the Astros went down meekly with just a single baserunner in each of the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.
Other Games
Athletics (20-16) 7, Seattle Mariners (20-14) 6 (11 innings): Bryce Miller versus Luis Severino was a potential pitchers’ duel on paper, but it ended up being a topsy-turvy affair with plenty of offense on both sides. The Athletics struck first with a run in the first and second inning, but a big four-run third had Seattle out in front. The Athletics answered right back with two runs in the fourth, and both sides eked out one more run before extra innings arrived.
Seattle converted in their half of the 10th moving the runner over and lifting a sacrifice fly, but the Athletics knocked a leadoff single to match their efforts and force an 11th inning. They could’ve pushed for the walkoff, working a walk and picking up a catchers interference to load the bases, but they struck out three straight times to squander their chance.
The Athletics weren’t punished, however — Seattle flailed their way out of the top of the 11th and the Athletics bunted the Manfred runner over, prompting some intentional walks before Jacob Wilson walked it off with a single to center.