The Yankees dropped a brutal one on Saturday, getting shutout by the Marlins of all teams, with plenty of mistakes to show for it. It was a rough day all around, as the Blue Jays and Red Sox both grabbed wins. The Yankees will need to make something happen if they want to remain entrenched in the race in the East.
It was a full slate of games on Saturday, let’s take a look at how it all shaped up.
Toronto Blue Jays (65-47) 4, Kansas City Royals (55-56) 2
The Blue Jays rode the wave of some early scoring and an excellent start from Max Scherzer to victory on Saturday. They picked a good day for it, with the Yankees getting shutout against the lowly Marlins, so they’ll head into Sunday with a four game lead in the East.
After two scoreless frames, the Jays opened up scoring against Noah Cameron and the Royals. With a pair of runners in scoring position, Davis Schneider looped a ball into center field, scoring both runners and ultimately ending up at second base after review. Bo Bichette later singled with two outs in the inning, putting the Jays up 3-0 after the third.
On the mound, Max Scherzer worked through his six innings of wok with relative ease. He allowed just one run, a solo homer to Salvador Perez in his final inning of work, while striking out five and avoiding any walks.
The Royals scratched another run across in the seventh, but Toronto added some insurance in the bottom half when Ernie Clement managed an RBI knock. Jeff Hoffman locked down his 26th save of the season in the ninth, and helped the Jays maintain their fairly significant lead in the American League East.
Detroit Tigers (65-47) 7, Philadelphia Phillies (62-48) 5
Both the Tigers and the Phillies scored five runs each between the seventh and eighth, so the difference in this one came from Detroit’s early firepower.
In the top of the third inning, Colt Keith belted his ninth homer of the season with one out, a solo shot. Two batters later, Kerry Carpenter played a little copy-cat with a solo homer of his own, his 18th.
It was a premier matchup on the mound, with Zack Wheeler facing off with Tarik Skubal on Saturday. Both stars had their moments, as they both tallied double digit strikeouts. In those aforementioned seventh and eighth innings, we saw homers from Javier Báez and Gleyber Torres for Detroit, and long balls from Nick Castellanos and Bryce Harper for the Phils. It was ultimately those early pokes that made the difference, however, as the Tigers took home a much-needed two-run victory.
Boston Red Sox (61-51) 7, Houston Astros (64-48) 3
A win on Saturday pushed the Red Sox to ten games over .500, and with the Yankees’ loss, they move to a half-game ahead of New York, and four back of the Jays in first.
The Astros took the early lead in this one when Christian Walker connected on a two-run homer off of Walker Buehler. The Walker-on-Walker crime had Houston up 2-0, but the Sox cut the deficit in half in their turn with Romy Gonzalez’s solo homer.
They made their big move, however, in the third inning. With Colton Gordon on the hill for the ‘Stros, Gonzalez led the inning off with a ground rule double, and was scored thanks to a single from Rob Refsnyder to tie the game up. Trevor Story followed with a two-run homer over the Monster to give Boston the lead.
They doubled down in the fourth inning when Abraham Toro belted a two-run shot to put them up 6-2 — it was a lead the Sox would never surrender. Carlos Correa scored twice fresh from his return to the Astros, but it wasn’t enough as the Sox stay fully in the heart of the AL playoff picture. Tensions flared in the eighth inning after a difference of opinions on Story picking up pitches at second base, though it didn’t amount to much.
Other Games
Tampa Bay Rays (55-57) 4, Los Angeles Dodgers (64-47) 0: The Dodgers were shut out by the Rays on Saturday, as they try to creep back into the postseason conversation. Drew Rasmussen was excellent over 5.1 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out six batters. The Rays did all their damage with the long ball, with Yandy DÃaz going deep twice, bringing his total up to 20, and Junior Caminero swatting his 28th of the season. The Rays coasted to the win, as they sit four games out of the final Wild Card spot.
Texas Rangers (58-54) 6, Seattle Mariners (59-53) 4 (11 innings): The Rangers and Mariners needed some extracurricular baseball to settle things on Saturday. The Rangers scored a pair on Kyle Higashioka’s two-run shot in the third, while the M’s scratched a pair across in the sixth. It remained 2-2 after nine innings, and both AL West squads scored two runs in the tenth, with Randy Arozarena’s homer tying it back up in the bottom half. Texas ultimately took the final lead in the top of the 11th, with Wyatt Langford and Ezequiel Duran both tallying RBIs.