The Yankees finally remembered how to hit the ball, their seven runs on 13 hits averting a sweep at the hands of the Reds. Meanwhile, runs were at a premium in most of the games involving their AL rivals, with four of the six contests we’ll review ending in a shutout.

Athletics (33-49) 3, Detroit Tigers (50-31) 0

Athletics lefty Jacob Lopez turned in one of the best starts of his career, tossing seven shutout allowing just three hits and a walk against six strikeouts. It took him a few games to adjust to the routine of being a starter once his move to the rotation was made permanent. However, he has now given up one earned run across his last four starts totaling 23 innings, the 27-year-old lefty bringing some stability to the worst starting staff in baseball.

The big story of the night belonged to the A’s bruising rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz. He went 3-for-3 on the night with a walk, his third-inning three-run bomb representing the entirety of the scoring in this contest. It gives him six home runs in his last ten games and in fact ten of his eleven homers on the season have come since May 20th as it’s clear he’s beginning to adjust to major league pitching.

Houston Astros (47-33) 2, Philadelphia Phillies (47-33) 0

When glancing at the starting pitching matchup pregame, the smart money would have been on Zack Wheeler to win the duel over rookie Colton Gordon making just his eighth career MLB start. However, it was the 26-year-old southpaw who came out on top, giving Houston five scoreless innings allowing four hits and no walks with four strikeouts. The eighth-round pick out of UCF in the 2021 MLB Draft was called up in mid-May to help cover the injuries to Spencer Arrighetti and Hayden Wesneski and came up with by far the best start of his big league career at a crucial moment.

Isaac Paredes got the Astros on the board in the first, his RBI single driving in Jeremy Peña following the latter’s leadoff double. They’d have to wait until the eighth to score again, Victor Caratini providing an insurance run with a solo home run.

The Phillies’ best chance to score came in the eighth, three consecutive singles by Brandon Marsh, Trea Turner, and Kyle Schwarber loading the bases with one out, but and Alec Bohm strikeout and Nick Castellanos ground out stranded them in place. As an included bit of esoterica, this game was the first time in Astros franchise history that the team used five lefty pitchers in a contest.

Other Games

The Red Sox are in mini free-fall, getting swept by the Angles to lose their fifth game in a row. Trevor Story got things started with a two-run single in the first but they’d manage just two more hits for the rest of the game. The Jo Adell heater continued with his 17th home run of the year before Travis d’Arnaud went back-to-back with him in the fourth to tie the game. They’d hit consecutive RBI singles in the fifth to grab the lead and then Mike Trout sealed it with an RBI single of his own in the sixth.

There are few finishes in baseball more exciting than an extra-innings walk-off, and that’s just what the Guardians gave their home crowd. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer provided most of the offense for the Blue Jays, the former with a solo home run and the latter with a pair of singles and two driven in. José Ramírez, Lane Thomas, Daniel Schneemann, and Gabriel Arias all had multi-hit games, Thomas leaving the yard and Arias driving in a pair. But it was J-Ram with the decisive blow, his tenth-inning walk-off single winning the game.

Drew Rasmussen pitched five scoreless for the Rays, allowing two hits and two walks with five strikeouts. The four relievers to follow him held the Royals to just one hit and one walk in the final four innings. Tampa did all of their scoring in the second off Michael Wacha with four-straight one-out singles by Christopher Morel, Josh Lowe, José Caballero, and Chandler Simpson followed by a Danny Jansen sac bunt plating three in the frame.

This was a game for those who appreciate shutdown pitching, the two teams combining for just seven hits and two walks. It started with an impressive pitchers’ duel, Joe Ryan getting the upper hand with his six shutout, allowing three hits and no walks with eight strikeouts to edge Geroge Kirby’s six innings of one-run ball allowing three hits and a walk. Willi Castro got the Twins on the board in the sixth with an RBI single and Kody Clemens closed the scoring with a solo home run in the seventh.