The Yankees nicely handled their most historic rival on Friday night as they got a trio of homers from Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony Volpe, and Paul Goldschmidt, plus nice bullpen work from Fernando Cruz, Jonathan Loáisiga, and Devin Williams. It all added up to a 9-6 victory and a happy crowd at Yankee Stadium.
But for as nice as it is to beat the Red Sox—and don’t get me wrong, it is glorious and always appreciated—they are currently the worst of the teams that we regularly cover in daily Rivalry Roundup. (Their 30-35 record raises the question if they should even still be included in “Other Games” over some other clubs but we’re persisting for now.) Here’s what else was afoot around the Junior Circuit.
Detroit Tigers (42-23) 3, Chicago Cubs (39-24) 1
I think the Cubbies have a nice, contending ballclub in 2025, and their lineup is typically dangerous. It’s just going to be difficult whenever you’re tasked with dispatching the best pitcher on the planet.
Defending AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal is rolling again this year, and while he wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as he was during his recent 13-K “Maddux,” no one is going to turn their nose up at 7.2 innings of one-run ball. Doubles by rookie Matt Shaw and impending megadeal recipient Kyle Tucker led to their only score in the sixth, as the ace otherwise scattered his eight hits allowed (with no walks or plunkings).
The Tigers made some slick defensive plays behind Skubal, too, led by Riley Greene, Javier Báez, and Zach McKinstry. Kerry Carpenter had the highlight of the day though, as he helped out reliever Will Vest with a catch at the right-field wall to rob Seiya Suzuki of extra bases.
On offense, likely All-Star starter Gleyber Torres (salute) got Detroit on the board with an RBI single in the fifth, Spencer Torkelson broke a tie with a homer off righty Ben Brown in sixth, and 2024 Yankees legend Jahmai Jones—just promoted from Triple-A—provided some surprising insurance in the eighth with a bomb off Génesis Cabrera.
It’s June 6th and the Tigers still have the best record in baseball, two wins up on the Yanks in that race. They’re also seven up on Minnesota in the AL Central. I thought they would probably be good again but they’ve far exceeded those expectations.
Houston Astros (35-28) 4, Cleveland Guardians (33-29) 2
Colton Gordon and Logan Allen (sure) spun scoreless ball against each other for four innings until the Astros broke through against Allen in the fifth. That proved to be the decisive inning of the ballgame. It started innocently enough with a Brendan Rodgers walk and two outs shortly afterward, but Allen then issued a free pass to Isaac Paredes and had to pitch to Jose Altuve.
The career ‘Stro hit one to José Ramírez’s right, and Jo-Ram came up with a poor throw. It would’ve been a hard play anyway with Altuve running, so perhaps he should have put it in his pocket. The real damage came when Jeremy Peña scored all the way from second since he was running on the full count.
Christian Walker followed with a flare to right that dunked in, giving Houston a 3-0 lead.
In the home half of the fifth, Cleveland got to Gordon for their first run on an RBI hit by Will Wilson and threatened for more. After a force out, there were runners on the corners for Angel Martínez, who a sinking drive down the right-field line that might have fallen for a game-tying hit had rookie Jacob Melton not made a terrific catch.
Rodgers and David Fry would exchange solo shots in the sixth, but the Houston ‘pen held on from there. Bryan King, Bryan Abreu, and Josh Hader combined to cover the final 10 outs while allowing just a hit and a walk. The 4-2 win marked the first of Gordon’s career in five starts, and Houston now leads the AL West by 2.5 games over the again-slumping Mariners.
Other Games
Los Angeles Angels (29-33) 5, Seattle Mariners (32-30) 4: Speaking of those M’s, they lost to 2025 Kyle Hendricks! Yikes. He didn’t dazzle or anything—they scored four off him in six innings—but he mostly wriggled out of giving up eight hits and two walks with only two K’s. Jorge Soler of all people helped on defense by ranging back to potentially rob a grand slam from Rowdy Tellez. Bryce Miller pitched worse, surrendering a two-run bomb to Travis d’Arnaud and then losing a 4-3 lead in the fifth on a game-tying double by Chris Taylor and an RBI hit from Nolan Schanuel. Seattle only put one man on in the final frames. For Hendricks, it was the 100th victory of his career.
Toronto Blue Jays (34-29) 6, Minnesota Twins (34-29) 4: Despite starting an opener and falling behind early 3-0, the Jays came back to beat the Twins. The five pitchers who followed Paxton Schultz were much better than their fellow reliever, yielding three measly hits to Minnesota over the course of the last seven innings. The Jays dominated the middle innings with homers from Addison Barger and George Springer helping put them in front. Toronto (and Tampa Bay) kept pace with New York at 5.5 games behind in the AL East.
Tampa Bay Rays (34-29) 4, Miami Marlins (23-38) 3: We’ve ignored the Rays for about as long as we reasonably could. But after a shaky start, the Steinbrenner Field Dwellers rebounded to mediocrity and had won 12 of their last 15 games entering this weekend, when they drew a lousy Marlins club that somehow found a way to get swept by the 2025 Rockies. So with that cushy matchup, they’re probably sticking around in second place this weekend and as such, we’ll have to keep an eye on them. As for yesterday, the Rays indeed breezed by Miami, with Jonathan Aranda delivering two ribbies and Zack Littell throwing six frames of one-run ball (the one on a solo shot by Baby Bomber alum Agustín Ramírez). Otto Lopez took Edwin Uceta deep in the eighth to make it close, but Garrett Cleavinger stranded two men to end the inning before Pete Fairbanks entered to slam the door.