The Yankees dropped the ball on Saturday night, losing 10-7 to the Red Sox to even up their series. Ryan Yarbrough’s streak of excellent starts came to an end when he gave up eight runs in just four innings, and a late comeback attempt was put out of reach when Ian Hamilton gave up a couple more runs in the ninth. C’est la vie.

The rest of the American League was on the field as the archrivals fought, with plenty of notable results. Let’s get into them, shall we?

Chicago Cubs (40-24) 6, Detroit Tigers (42-24) 1

Tarik Skubal came out and dominated on Friday, putting the Tigers up 1-0 in a battle of the two top Central teams in the AL and NL. The Cubs responded on Saturday, getting a gem from their starter and keeping their opponent to just one run.

Former Yankee Jameson Taillon had his A-game going, tossing seven strong innings in just 84 pitches for the Northsiders. He allowed just three hits, one of which was a one-out triple to Zach McKinstry in the fifth inning that set up the Tigers’ lone run. His offense made sure that he exited in line for the win, starting with a Seiya Suzuki solo shot in the first inning. Then, Michael Busch hit a two-run shot in the fifth to extend the lead, and in the seventh Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matt Shaw hit a pair of solo homers. Suzuki capped the day off with another solo bomb in the eighth to cap off a six-run outburst entirely fueled by the long ball.

Houston Astros (36-28) 5, Cleveland Guardians (33-30) 3 (10 innings)

Two teams that have constantly been in the postseason hunt this decade, Cleveland has been fading a bit as they remain stuck in the middle of their division while Houston has risen back to the top of the AL West. Back in form, they took this contest to remain a step above.

The Astros struck first in the fifth with a Jeremy Peña RBI single, and added two runs in the sixth on a two-run Yainer Diaz homer. Cleveland evened things out with one run in the sixth and two in the seventh via a José Ramírez bomb. Neither side did anything in the eighth, but while the Astros went down in order in the ninth the Guardians wasted an opportunity to walk it off. Steven Kwan lifted a one-out double that dropped right in front of Jose Altuve’s sliding glove on the line in left field, and Angel Martínez walked right after. A lineout and strikeout preserved the tie, however, and Houston made them pay in extras.

The Astros even made it easy for Cleveland at first, flubbing a bunt attempt for the first out of the 10th. A walk and groundout put runners in scoring position with two outs, but a wild pitch gave them a run and Isaac Paredes singled to right to punch in the other run. The Guardians got a walk to put the tying run on base in the bottom half, but otherwise flared out to end the game.

Other Games

Miami Marlins (24-38) 11, Tampa Bay Rays (34-30) 10 (10 innings): An absolute barnburner of a game saw the Rays use seven pitchers and the Marlins six to claw their way into extras, with the Marlins scoring on two huge innings in the third and fifth inning. In extras, Garrett Cleavinger blinked and allowed an RBI single to Heriberto Hernandez while the Rays narrowly couldn’t force an 11th inning when their ghost runner was thrown out at home.

Los Angeles Angels (30-33) 8, Seattle Mariners (32-31) 6: The Mariners have slid out of first place, and now they’re in danger to sliding under .500 at the rate they’re going. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to none other than the Big Dumper himself, Cal Raleigh, hitting a three-run bomb, and he even hit another one out in the ninth to tally his MLB-best 26th bomb of the year. In the middle of those shots, however, it was the Angels converting scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity to take away this game. The Halos scored in six straight innings, and Jo Adell’s two home runs led the way for them.

Toronto Blue Jays (35-29) 5, Minnesota Twins (34-30) 4: The Jays scored early and late to pull away with a win, and Kevin Gausman did just enough on the mound to ensure that they had a chance to comeback. Gausman lasted six innings, allowing three runs in the process, but left down 3-2. George Springer’s two-run shot in the eighth put them back on top, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. slapped an insurance run home that ended up being the difference maker when Kody Clemens hit a solo shot to cut the deficit in half.