Things looked bleak before a pitch was thrown in the Yankees’ contest against the Rangers with Jacob deGrom on the mound against Ryan Yarbrough. However, Yarbrough matched the two-time Cy Young winner stride for stride, and the offense showed grit getting back into the game to set up the first walk-off home run of Jasson Domínguez’s young career. There was plenty of other exciting action around the AL so let’s jump right in.

Tampa Bay Rays (23-26) 8, Houston Astros (25-24) 4

Hunter Brown has positioned himself as the early frontrunner in the AL Cy Young race, but the Rays blasted him for his heaviest defeat of the season. They clobbered three home runs off the breakout ace, scoring five runs in five innings to raise his season ERA above two for the first time since April 9th.

Isaac Paredes seemed extra motivated facing the team that traded him for salary relief. After going deep in a loss on Tuesday, he launched a pair of home runs, including a two-run shot to open the Wednesday scoring in the first after Jeremy Peña was hit by a pitch to lead off the contest. The Rays answered right back with a pair of RBI singles from Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson in the bottom half, helped by a pair of throwing errors. Tampa Bay then hit the accelerator in the fourth and fifth innings. Curtis Mead hit a solo shot to grab the lead in the fourth, and then Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe went back-to-back to lead off the fifth.

Houston fought back to within one in the eighth on solo shots from Mauricio Dubón and Paredes, but Yandy Díaz slammed the door on any comeback attempt in the bottom of the inning, demolishing a three-run blast off Forrest Whitley after Kameron Misner and Mead drew a pair of one-out walks.

Detroit Tigers (33-17) 5, St. Louis Cardinals (27-23) 1

A.J. Hinch worked his chaos magic in a bullpen game for the Tigers, throwing out six pitchers to get them through nine. Brant Hurter and Chase Lee combined to throw a scoreless first five innings. The lone damage came in the form of a Willson Contreras RBI single in the sixth.

The Detroit offense continued to roll with the bottom of the order getting the job done today, led by their pair of young emerging stars. Riley Greene scored all three times he got on base via a single and two walks while Spencer Torkelson went 2-for-2 with a double and two walks. They scored one in the second on a sac fly double play, one in the fourth on a Torkelson RBI double, one in the sixth on a Dillon Dingler RBI single, and two in the eighth on a Trey Sweeney sac fly and Javier Báez RBI single.

Other Games

The Twins and Guardians were able to complete the game that got suspended by weather in the fourth inning on Tuesday, Minnesota walking it off after surrendering the lead in the top of the ninth. Play was suspended with the Twins leading, 3-2, after four, with Minnesota managing to tack on an insurance run in the eighth. However, Cleveland roared back scoring three in the ninth, only to see the Twins walk it off in the bottom of the inning on a Kody Clemens RBI double, his second run scoring extra-base hit after subbing in for Carson McCusker when play resumed.

Cleveland Guardians (26-22) 5, Minnesota Twins (27-22) 1 (Game 2)

Cleveland made sure to split the semi-doubleheader, Gavin Williams giving them six innings of one-run ball allowing just two hits against six strikeouts. Chris Paddack more than held his own, allowing two runs over 5.1 innings, only to see the bullpen implode late and his offense manage just three hits on the contest. Steven Kwan went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, José Ramírez 3-for-5 with an RBI, and Carlos Santana 2-for-3 with a solo home run as the Guardians scored three in the final two innings.

Ten of the eleven combined runs scored in this game came via the home run. Julio Rodríguez clubbed a three-run blast to open the scoring in the first. Chicago answered with a Tim Elko solo shot to lead off the third and back-to-back tanks in the second, the former a two-run shot by Lenyn Sosa followed by a solo bomb from Joshua Palacios. The decisive blows for Seattle came in the sixth — a leadoff tater from Cal Raleigh to tie Aaron Judge for the AL lead — and a two-run bullet by Leody Taveras in the eighth, his first with Seattle (the M’s picked him up after Texas cut ties in early May).

Garrett Crochet and Tylor Megill each allowed just one run, Crochet striking out five over 5.1 while Megill dominated to the tune of ten strikeouts over 4.2. Juan Soto struck out in his first two ABs on six pitches looking, but the rest of the offense picked him up. Brett Baty went 2-for-4 with three RBIs including the game breaking two-run single in the Mets’ three-run seventh. Francisco Lindor went 2-for-5 with a solo home run while Luis Torrens and Luisangel Acuña each contributed multi-hit efforts.