Thanks to some early damage against now-former MLB ERA leader Kris Bubic, the Yankees made last night’s win in Kansas City nice and boring … until the ninth. We’ll save our sanity in this space and not talk about the abhorrent defense. They got the win anyway! Aaron Judge homered again! That’s what’s important. The Yanks eye a sweep today.

That’s the report from Kauffman Stadium; here’s what else was going on around the American League.

Baltimore Orioles (27-39) 10, Detroit Tigers (44-25) 1

The 2025 season has been terrific on the whole for the Tigers, but Wednesday was one of the few clear lowlights thus far. First came the news that young gun Jackson Jobe needed Tommy John surgery, the unfortunate coda to a couple-weeks-long story that began when he didn’t look like himself in the last game he pitched, back on May 28th. So that’s a huge bummer, especially since many sources had Jobe as MLB’s top pitching prospect heading into 2025. Now, he has a long road of recovery in front of him, just like Gerrit Cole, Corbin Burnes, and more.

With that report out to the public, the Tigers then put up a dud in Baltimore, though it didn’t get bad until late.. Ramón Urías hit a two-run homer off Jobe’s future fellow first-round elbow scar holder Casey Mize (say that five times fast) to give the scuffling O’s an early 2-0 lead. Detroit got one back when they finally got to an otherwise-excellent Zach Eflin on an RBI double from Colt Keith in the seventh. They had a chance to tie it too, but Urías threw Wenceel Pérez out at home on the dreaded contact play.

Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson quickly got that run back with a double and single, respectively, off Tyler Holton to begin the seventh. Baltimore then spent the eighth laying waste to Brenan Hanifee and Beau Brieske, who combined to allow seven runs on five hits, two walks, and a wild pitch. Jordan Westburg struck the crowning blow with a three-run blast to give the O’s a 10-spot.

Westburg has homered in both of his first two games after a lengthy stint on the IL. The O’s and Tigers will play the rubber match of the series today.

Houston Astros (37-30) 10, Chicago White Sox (23-45) 2

Would you believe that the White Sox actually had a chance to take the season series over Houston with a victory yesterday? They might only have 23 wins in 2025 (still better than last year, or the Rockies), but they were 3-1 against the Astros.

Well, they’ll still have another shot in the season series finale today. The Astros were all over White Sox starter Sean Burke, who allowed seven runs on eight hits and a walk in 3.2 innings. Christian Walker had one of his better games thus far with Houston, going 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBI, the long ball helping his team make a first-inning statement.

Isaac Paredes had a three-hit night as well, and Ryan Gusto held Chicago to two runs on six hits in a quality start. The Astros are a season-high four games up in the AL West.

Other Games

Boston Red Sox (34-36) 4, Tampa Bay Rays (36-32) 3: Roman Anthony was the big Red Sox prospect called up this week, but it was the previous notable recall who stole the show in the series finale against the Rays. Marcelo Mayer was the reason why the Red Sox took two out of three. All four of Boston’s runs came on solo shots against Zack Littell, and two came from Mayer in the former No. 4 overall pick’s first career multi-homer game. Jarren Duran (leadoff shot) and Abraham Toro (go-ahead homer in the fifth) hit the other two as Walker Buehler had a nice rebound outing from his ugly Friday in New York. Tampa Bay is now six back of the Yanks and sits in third, three games up on Boston.

Cleveland Guardians (35-32) 11, Cincinnati Reds (35-34) 2: The Reds won their first Ohio Cup in 11 years and nearly swept the entire six-game season series from Cleveland. But the Guardians came back with a vengeance in the finale, obliterating Nick Lodolo for six runs on two walks and five hits, including a Carlos Santana grand slam (his 332nd career homer) on the 15th anniversary of his debut. Lane Thomas officially made it a laugher in the sixth with a three-run bomb to make it double digits for Cleveland.

Arizona Diamondbacks (34-34) 5, Seattle Mariners (33-34) 2: All of a sudden, the M’s are sinking like a rock. The D-backs have been one of the more disappointing teams in baseball and don’t even have the injured Corbin Burnes in their rotation anymore, but they still managed to sweep Seattle (4-13 since May 23rd). Eugenio Suárez put the hurt on his old team with a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth off Bryan Woo, and Pavin Smith soon followed with a bomb of his own. The M’s are now even with the Angels for second in the AL West. Oof.

Minnesota Twins (36-31) 6, Texas Rangers (32-36) 2: Do you actually want to read the nitty-gritty about how the Twins beat an underachieving Rangers team? OR DO YOU WANNA SEE BYRON BUXTON SOCK A HUGE DINGER?!

Toronto Blue Jays (38-30) 5, St. Louis Cardinals (36-32) 2: Yes, the Rivalry Roundup is probably too crowded at this point but only the Yankees and Tigers have a better record than the Blue Jays right now. So we do what we must and might cull another team shortly. The surprising Jays have won 12 of their last 14 games after sweeping away St. Louis. Toronto used small ball for four of their five runs, bringing them home on a pair of singles and sacrifice flies. Ernie Clement had the final blow off Matthew Liberatore though with a solo shot in the fifth. Although Eric Lauer didn’t make it through the fifth, the Jays’ bullpen — including the Spencer Turnbull in his season debut —cover the final 4.2 innings with ease. Toronto still sits four games back of New York.