As improbable as it seems, the Yankees won both a one-run game and an extra innings game in one fell swoop, Ryan McMahon’s tenth inning sac fly enough to sink the Braves, 3-2. Max Fried tossed 6.1 scoreless while his offense waited until the ninth inning to score their first runs. There were a handful of sparkling defensive plays to keep the bats in it long enough for the win, and it certainly looks like this recipe of shutdown pitching and sure-handed defense will have to continue until Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton return.

Tampa Bay Rays (69-46) 2, Seattle Mariners (56-61) 1

Drew Rasmussen was dominant yet again, holding the Mariners scoreless for seven innings, allowing just two hits and two walks against eight strikeouts. Things could have gone sideways in the second, the Mariners loading the bases on a Julio Rodríguez single and walks by Josh Naylor and Cal Raleigh, but Rasmussen struck out Colt Emerson to strand all three in place. Starting with that punch out of Emerson, Rasmussen would go on to retire the final 16 batters he faced in order. It’s already Rasmussen’s seventh start of the year of at least six scoreless innings, two of those coming against the Yankees.

There wasn’t much offense to be found in general, all three runs in the game coming via the solo home run. Jonny DeLuca and Jonathan Aranda put the Rays up early with solo shots in the second and third, respectively. Rodríguez ended the shutout and cut the deficit to one with a two-out solo shot in the ninth, but that was all Seattle would muster. It’s the Rays fourth win in a row as they are now 13-4 in their last 17 games to remain 4.5 games up on the Yankees.

Boston Red Sox (64-51) 13, Athletics (45-71) 1

For as stressful and exciting as their 12-11, 13-inning barnburner win over the White Sox on Thursday was, this was about as straightforward a win as the Red Sox could have asked for. On the day that the A’s parted ways with general manager David Forst, the roster he assembled got absolutely thrashed, 13-1, by Boston. The fact that they did it while hitting just one home run made it all the more impressive.

It started with one of the most dominant starts across all of MLB this season, Payton Tolle tallying a career-high 14 strikeouts across his six innings of one run ball. He allowed just two hits and no walks, the lone damage a Tyler Soderstrom solo home run in the fifth. He struck out the side in the second, fourth, and sixth, and the third was the only frame where he failed to punch out at least a pair. It lowers his season ERA to 3.20 as he makes a late charge in the AL Rookie of the Year race.

As for his offense, they did most of their scoring in the first half of the game, dropping five in the second and four in the fourth. Every member of the starting lineup had at least a hit — only Nick Sogard, Caleb Durbin, and Jarren Duran failing to record multi-hit games — Boston ending the day with 15 hits.

Boston has now won nine in a row and have lost just three games since July 1st, their 27-3 record over that span bringing them within a half-game of the Yankees for second.

Cleveland Guardians (58-59) 8, Chicago White Sox (59-56) 2

Noah Schultz recorded just one out and had to depart in the first inning, but it wasn’t due to injury. One batter after the pitching coach came out to check on Schultz, manager Will Venables made their second mound visit of the inning, which by the rules of the game necessitates the removal of the pitcher. The reliever they replaced him with, David Sandlin, got torched for six runs on seven hits and two walks in 5.1 innings, five of those runs coming in the fifth courtesy of a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded and an Angel Martínez grand slam. Martínez had already struck with a two-run single off Schultz in the first as he finished the day with six RBI. Steven Kwan went 3-for-5 with a solo home run while Chicago’s two runs arrived via solo home runs by rookies Braden Montgomery in the second and Munetaka Murakami in the sixth in this pivotal AL Central battle between first and second place teams.

Houston Astros (60-57) 6, San Diego Padres (60-57) 3

The Padres’ two blockbuster additions to the rotation at the deadline have not had the best starts to life in San Diego. First it was Casey Mize giving up eight runs on nine hits and three walks in 3.1 innings of a 10-4 loss to the Diamondbacks and tonight it was Robbie Ray coughing up four runs on seven hits and five walks in five innings against the Astros. Cam Smith had the big day on offense for Houston, with a pair of solo home runs as part of a 3-for-4 afternoon. Isaac Paredes went 3-for-5 and Christian Walker drew a pair of free passes while adding a two-run single in the third. Fernando Tatis Jr. went 2-for-5 with a solo shot. The Astros were in fourth place as recently as June 26th, but a 13-3 record in their last 16 while playing in the joke that is the AL West have them atop the division.