What was looking like a miserable weekend in LA ended on a high note, the Yankees salvaging the last game from the Dodgers. As awful as the first two games of the three-game set were, the Yankees ultimately had a successful West Coast jaunt, going 6-3 across three series. Elsewhere, it was another great day in the American League, with pitchers’ duels and walk-offs dotting a fascinating afternoon of action. Let’s walk through it all.

Houston Astros (32-27) 1, Tampa Bay Rays (30-29) 0

This series featured two tight, nail-biting Astros victories and two blowout Rays wins. However you slice it though, it adds up to a series split, with a strong pitching performance from Hunter Brown helping Houston salvage a split in the four-game set.

Brown shut the Rays out for six innings, allowing just one hit and working around four walks while striking out five. His only real trouble came in the sixth, when the Rays had two on with one-out. Brown induced a hard groundball to second from Yandy Díaz, which Houston converted into an inning-ending double play:

It was another solid outing in a season full of them for Brown; outside of a five-run, five-inning start against Tampa Bay last month, Brown has gone at least 5.2 innings and allowed no more than three runs in every start this year. His ERA is down to 1.83 on the season.

Taj Bradley was the tough-luck loser, turning in a start that was even more impressive than Brown’s. The young right-hander struck out ten against two walks and three hits over seven innings, allowing a lone unearned run. That came in the bottom of the first, with Jeremy Peña reaching on an error, then scoring on a two-out base hit from Christian Walker:

Bradley was otherwise superb, but his offense was completely unable to support him. Bryan King and Bryan Abreu worked through the seventh and eighth innings in relief of Brown, setting up Josh Hader in the ninth. Hader continued his awesome start to this campaign, retiring the Rays in order to record his 15th save. He struck out the last two batters swinging, fanning Christopher Morel on three straight sliders, then blowing 97 mph past Junior Caminero to end the game.

Detroit Tigers (39-21) 1, Kansas City Royals (31-29) 0

How many 1-0 games did the Yankees’ rivals play this weekend? A day after Michael Wacha narrowly outdueled Tarik Skubal in a 1-0 pitchers’ duel, the two sides were at it again, this time with Keider Montero squaring off with Kris Bubic.

In truth, it wasn’t as scintillating a duel as Skubal and Wacha had staged the night before. Montero was effective but didn’t last long, exiting after scattering seven hits across 4.2 scoreless inning. Bubic was strong allowing a run on four hits over seven innings, striking out nine and walking two. The 27-year-old lefty has quietly been sensational this year, allowing just three runs over his last 39.1 innings across six starts, with his ERA now at 1.43 for the season.

The only offense all day came in the third, with Zach McKinstry starting things off with a triple into the right-field corner:

A wild pitch two batters later brought McKinstry home, giving Detroit a 1-0 lead that would remain unchanged all afternoon. The Royals’ best chance to get on the board came immediately after, with Drew Waters coming to the plate with two on and one down. Montero got Waters to rap one to second, and the Tigers turned two to extinguish the threat.

Tyler Holton relieved Montero and fired a scoreless inning. Chase Lee followed with 1.1 scoreless, and Tommy Kahnle pitched a shutout eighth. Will Vest came on for the ninth and made an athletic play on a grounder back to the mound to record the first out:

Vest induced two more groundouts to end the game and earn his ninth save. The Tigers keep on keeping on, maintaining their AL Central lead at six games.

Other Games

Boston Red Sox (29-32) 3, Atlanta Braves (28-30) 1: The Red Sox acquired Garrett Crochet in part for games like yesterday. Coming off a miserable month of May for the club and with Boston trying to take two of three in Atlanta, Crochet was brilliant, striking out 12 against two walks across seven innings of one-run ball. Nearing 100 pitches, Crochet went out for the seventh inning and emphatically struck out the side, ending his day with by getting a cutter past Ronald Acuña Jr:

All the offense in this one came in the first, thanks to the slumbering Trevor Story coming alive with a big bases-clearing double off Bryce Elder to propel the Red Sox to a 3-0 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Cleveland Guardians (32-26) 4, Los Angeles Angels (26-32) 2: The Guardians used a strong start from Gavin Williams to take the series over the Angels. Williams shut the Angels out into the seventh inning, only seeing his outing blemished when a two-out error by shortstop Gabriel Arias allowed two unearned runs to score in the seventh. Williams finished having allowed just one hit while striking out six over 6.2 innings. Jack Kochanowicz struggled again for the Angels, allowing four runs over 3.2 innings. José Ramírez hit his 11th homer of the year, a solo shot, while Nolan Jones added a two-run single in the third to pad Cleveland’s lead. Emmanuel Clase continued his solid run of form by closing out the ninth for his 13th save.

Seattle Mariners (32-26) 2, Minnesota Twins (31-27) 1: The Mariners capped off what was a wild, back-and-forth series with their second walk-off win in as many nights. Luis Castillo was excellent starting for the Mariners, shutting out Minnesota for six innings. On the other side, Chris Paddack was just as good, allowing just a Cal Raleigh homer (his MLB-high 23rd; does this guy ever not go deep?) over eight innings, striking out ten and walking one. Andrés Muñoz again surprisingly blew a save in a 1-0 game in the top of the ninth, with Harrison Bader coming up with a tying sac fly with two on and one out. But the Mariners came right back, with Julio Rodríguez leading off the home half with a single, stealing second, and advancing to third on an errant throw down. With one down, Randy Arozarena came through to end it, singling up the middle to score Rodriguez and end the game.