It’s a miserable time in Yankees universe, the Yankees floundering day in and day out. I wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t in much of a mood to watch a ton of baseball at all right now, but the fact is, there is still a pennant to chase. There was plenty of action across the American League on Saturday, with the AL East in particular continuing to jockey for position. Let’s go through what went down.

Minnesota Twins (43-46) 6, Tampa Bay Rays (48-41) 5

After suffering another crushing defeat at the hands of the Mets, the Yankees were in danger of falling into third place in the division. Fortunately, the Twins narrowly slipped by the Rays to keep New York in a tie for second.

It didn’t look like that would the case for part of Saturday, however. Minnesota went with something of a bullpen game, two relievers handling the first two innings before turning to Travis Adams for some length. Tampa Bay was all over the 25-year-old, making his major-league debut in a difficult spot as a bulk reliever in the third inning. Adams was tagged for nine hits and five runs over four innings, and when he departed, the Twins trailed 5-1.

But having been handled over the first five innings by Taj Bradley, Minnesota came alive in the sixth. With two on and two out, the Rays went to Kevin Kelly to face Royce Lewis. Lewis came through with a big single to keep the inning alive and pass the baton to Kody Clemens. In an 0-1 count, Kelly left a fastball over the heart of the plate, and Clemens drove it opposite field over the left-field fence. Tie game:

Given new life, the Twins turned to their top relievers, Griffin Jax handling the seventh, and Jhoan Durán coming in early in the eighth inning. Duran flirted with disaster but escaped two-on, two-out jams in both the eighth and ninth to give Minnesota a shot.

Facing Garrett Cleavinger in the bottom of the ninth. The Twins pulled off one of the stranger walk-offs you’ll see. Cleavinger did himself no favors, walking Byron Buxton to lead off the inning before Willi Castro singled. With two on, Brooks Lee tried to bunt the winning run into scoring position:

He did one better. Lee’s bunt ate up Yandy Díaz at first base, and Buxton scored the winning run as the ball trickled into no-man’s land. See, teams other than the Yankees can lose in maddening ways, too!

Toronto Blue Jays (51-38) 4, Los Angeles Angels (43-45) 3 (11 innings)

While the Yankees were fortunate to see the Rays fall, they weren’t so lucky with the Blue Jays. Over in Toronto, George Springer kept raking and the Jays kept winning.

Max Scherzer started for Toronto, and it looked as though the Angels might get to him quick. Scherzer hit Zach Neto with a pitch, and after a lineout allowed two singles to load the bases before walking in a run. Scherzer was all over the place, but escaped due to a fly-out double play, with Jorge Soler flying out to right fielder Addison Barger, and Barger delivering an accurate throw to the plate to nab a tagging Mike Trout:

Vlad Guerrero Jr. tied the score in the bottom of the first, but Scherzer again ran into issues with wildness in the third. He allowed a single and two walks to load the bases, before Jo Adell’s sac fly put Anaheim ahead 2-1.

But Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz couldn’t hold the lead, thanks to George Springer:

Springer’s two-run shot, his 16th, pushed Toronto in front 3-2, but the Jays offense went quiet from there. Connor Brogdon, Jose Fermin, Reid Detmers, and Kenley Jansen all combined to shut down Toronto after Kochanowicz departed in the sixth. Scherzer left after just four innings, and though Lazaro Estrada provided quality relief work over four innings, Nolan Schanuel got to him for an RBI single in the seventh to tie the game.

We went to extras with the score 3-3, and the Jays went to 24-year-old rookie Braydon Fisher. Fisher came up huge, stranding the zombie runner in both the tenth and 11th innings to give his offense a chance. In the bottom of the 11th, Barger came through again, delivering a bases-loaded, two-out single to end the game:

The Jays have won seven straight and lead the AL East by three games. It’s not what you want.

Houston Astros (54-35) 6, Los Angeles Dodgers (56-34) 4

It wasn’t the demolition that Friday night’s 18-1 drubbing was, but the Astros kept the pressure on the Dodgers and won again in LA to clinch a series victory.

The Dodgers did shake off the effects of their embarrassing loss in the series opener to take an early lead. Mookie Betts went deep off Framber Valdez in the first:

And Shohei Ohtani looked impressive in opening for the Dodgers. He struck out the side in the second inning, grazing 101 mph with his fastball and exiting the game after two innings with a 2-0 lead in hand.

But the Astros broke through against follower Justin Wrobleski. The first three hitters Wrobleski faced reached, with Zack Short quickly tying the game on a two-run double:

Cam Smith and Christian Walker added RBI singles later in the inning, and the Astros had a 4-2 lead. Yainer Diaz’s solo shot in the fifth made it 5-2:

The Dodgers did make things interesting, Miguel Rojas’ two-run homer in the fourth making it a 5-4 game. But Valdez did enough to hold them there, departing after six innings of four-run ball, and his bullpen made the lead stand up. Bennett Sousa pitched the seventh, Bryan Abreu got the first two outs of the eighth, and Josh Hader got the last four outs for his 25th save.

Detroit Tigers (56-34) 1, Cleveland Guardians (40-47) 0

The Tigers could get almost nothing going on Saturday night. They managed just two hits all game, L.T. Allen going six strong and yielding just one run before three relievers held Detroit hitless over the final three innings.

Fortunately for Detroit, they were playing in Cleveland.

The Guardians continued one of the most futile offensive stretches in recent memory. Per Zack Meisel of the Athletic, the Guardians have allowed four runs over their last three games while losing each time, and have been shut out five times over their current nine-game losing streak. On this night, they were shut out by Casey Mize and Co. as the Tigers got away with a 1-0 victory. Mize was never bothered, striking out four and walking two over seven shutout. Brant Hurter pitched a perfect eighth, and Tommy Kahnle worked around a walk in the ninth for his ninth save of the year.

On the other side, Allen’s one run allowed didn’t even come on a big mistake. Allen left a fastball thigh-high to Spencer Torkelson, but painted the black with it, only for Torkelson to flash his impressive power by extending his arms and driving the pitch out to right:

Torkelson’s 20th of the year put the Tigers up 1-0 in the second inning and ended the scoring for the game. Detroit remains in full control of the AL Central, a shocking 12.5 games clear of second place.

Other Games

Boston Red Sox (45-45) 10, Washington Nationals (37-52) 3: For the second-straight day, the Red Sox pounded a helpless Nationals team. Incredibly, the Red Sox used another seven-run inning to pull away, with Jarren Duran’s two-run triple and Ceddane Rafaela’s two-run homer highlighting a seven-run third against Mitchell Parker. Walker Buehler was shaky, allowing eight hits while striking out just two over five innings, but he didn’t need to be great, allowing three runs to earn the win.

Seattle Mariners (47-42) 1, Pittsburgh Pirates (38-52) 0: Pittsburgh’s offensive explosion last week when they swept the Mets already seems like a distant memory, with the Mariners shutting out the Pirates on back-to-back nights. Luis Castillo did the heavy lifting, shutting the Pirates over seven while striking out eight, walking none, and allowing just two hits. Rookie Mike Burrows kept Seattle off the board for five innings, but in the sixth, former Yankee Caleb Ferguson allowed an RBI double to Ben Williamson. That was all the offense Seattle would need, with Matt Brash and the peerless Andrés Muñoz shutting down the Pirates in relief of Castillo to seal the win.