The Yankees were unable to maintain their momentum from the series opener, dropping the middle game by a score of 6-3 to the Mets. Carlos Rodón by his own admission continued to suffer from a lack of command, and the offense couldn’t produce the timely hit when they needed it most. Theirs was a relatively tame contest relative to the games featuring their AL rivals, so let’s jump right into the action.
Toronto Blue Jays (20-25) 2, Detroit Tigers (20-26) 1
The Blue Jays had to go with a bullpen game as they continue to deal with injuries in the rotation, confirmation coming down right around first pitch that José Berríos will require surgery to repair a stress fracture in his elbow and could miss the entire season if ligament damage is detected. They received excellent contributions from opener Mason Fluharty and bulk man Spencer Miles, who combined to toss five scoreless innings.
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The lone damage came in the form of a Matt Vierling solo home run off Braydon Fisher in the sixth. Other than that, the best chance for Detroit to score came in the third when they loaded the bases with two outs on singles from Zach McKinstry and Kevin McGonigle and a Dillon Dingler walk. This prompted A.J. Hinch to call on a pinch-hitter far earlier in the game than you would expect, only for Gage Workman to strike out swinging on three straight curveballs below the zone.
Tigers starter Casey Mize did his part to match the zeroes put up by the Toronto pitchers, tossing six scoreless allowing just two hits and no walks. However, reliever Kyle Finnegan coughed up the lead by surrendering a leadoff home run to Yohendrick Piñango in the seventh, and off to extra innings this game went. Toronto wasted no time grabbing their first lead in the tenth, Daulton Varsho singling home the automatic runner as the winning run.
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Miami Marlins (21-25) 10, Tampa Bay Rays (29-15) 5
This game started off with quite a pitcher’s duel between Sandy Alcantara and Nick Martinez. The Marlins’ resurgent ace fired off six innings of one-run ball, allowing seven hits and no walks with six strikeouts. That lone run was of the unearned variety, Taylor Walls reaching on a one-out bunt single in the third and advancing to second on an Xavier Edwards throwing error, allowing him to score on a Chandler Simpson ground ball single through the left side. His infield defense imploded again with two outs in the fifth, though Alcantara managed to stop the bleeding just in time. Walls reached on a fielding error by Edwards, Simpson on a fielding error by Javier Sanoja, and Junior Caminero on an infield single that Sanoja couldn’t get to first in time, Alcantara then inducing the inning ending ground ball from Jonathan Aranda to strand the bases loaded. Martinez meanwhile continued his exemplary start to the season with six scoreless innings allowing five hits and a walk to lower his season ERA to 1.51.
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Just when it looked like the Marlins would go away quietly, the bats woke up in the final innings. Heriberto Hernández leveled the scores at one apiece with a mammoth two-out solo shot in the seventh off Rays reliever Garrett Cleavinger. Then in the ninth, the Rays were one strike away from heading to the bottom of the ninth with the scores tied and a chance to walk it off. However, Jakob Marsee kept Miami alive with a bloop single to left, allowing Sanoja to partially atone for his errors with a double to center that plated Marsee as the go-ahead run. This brought Pete Fairbanks into the game looking to record a save against his former employers, but once again the Marlins defense let their pitcher down. Cedric Mullins drew a one-out walk, stole second, and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Joe Mack, allowing Mullins to score the tying run on a Nick Fortes single to send the game to extras.
Once again, the Marlins’ guilty parties immediately atoned for their errors. Mack singled to lead off the top of the tenth and Edwards walked to load the bases with no outs off reliever Hunter Bigge. The wheels promptly flew off the Rays’ reliever wagon, Bigge yielding a two-run single to Liam Hicks and a sac fly to Otto Lopez. Kyle Stowers and Connor Norby followed with a pair of singles, the latter driving in the Marlins’ fourth run of the frame. Marsee drew a close walk to load the bases for Sanoja, whose double to left cleared the bases to make it 9-2. Esteury Ruiz, who started the inning as the automatic runner on second, came up to bat and singled Sanoja home before being thrown out at second trying to stretch it to a double.
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It’s a good thing Miami scored eight in the top half, because reliever Lake Bachar tried his best to give it all back in the bottom of the tenth. Simpson drew a leadoff walk and Caminero drove him and the automatic runner home with a double to center before coming around to score himself on an Aranda double to center. After buckling down and retiring the next two batters, Bachar injected a last bit of spiciness with a wild pitch and walk of Mullins to put runners on the corners before inducing the game ending fly out from Jonny DeLuca to bring an end to a topsy-turvy 10-5 Marlins victory.
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Other Games
Cleveland Guardians (25-22) 7, Cincinnati Reds (24-22) 4
The middle game in the battle of Ohio went the way of the Guardians after a close affair the night before. Cleveland jumped out to an early 2-0 lead courtesy of a two-run single from Brayan Rocchio in the second, but Cincy responded with four unanswered runs — one in the third on a Dane Myers solo shot and three in the fifth on a Sal Stewart walk with the bases loaded followed by a two-run double by Spencer Steer, Stewart getting thrown out at home to end the frame. From there, it was all Cleveland, the Guardians scoring a pair in each of the sixth and seventh, a wild pitch and sac fly tying the score at four apiece before Angel Martínez clubbed a two-run homer to retake the lead for Cleveland in the seventh.
Houston Astros (19-28) 4, Texas Rangers (21-24) 1
The Astros have taken the first two games of this Texas showdown, tonight powered by five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts from Kei-Wei Teng to out-duel Jacob deGrom, who got tagged for four runs in six innings. All four of those runs came via the solo home run — Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez in the first followed by Christian Walker and Zach Cole in the fourth. The Rangers’ lone run came courtesy of a Joc Pederson RBI single in the seventh, nothing more than a consolation run with the Houston bullpen locking it down from there.
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San Diego Padres (27-18) 7, Seattle Mariners (22-25) 4
Logan Gilbert turned in one of his worst starts of the season, coughing up seven runs on five hits and two walks in 6.2 innings. Six of those runs crossed home courtesy of the long ball, Gavin Sheets leading off the second with a homer, Nick Castellanos adding a three-run blast in the fourth, and Rodolfo Durán a two-run shot in the the seventh. That proved enough to withstand Seattle’s efforts, J.P. Crawford leaving the yard in the fifth, Cole Young driving in a run in each of the fourth and seventh, and Randy Arozarena joining Young with an RBI single in the seventh.
Boston Red Sox (19-26) 3, Atlanta Braves (31-15) 2
Payton Tolle was brilliant for the Red Sox, turning in eight innings of two-run ball to out-duel Bryce Elder and his eight innings of three-run ball. Atlanta held the lead for most of the game, Drake Baldwin driving in both of the Braves’ runs with a homer to lead off the first and an RBI single in the fifth to nullify Masataka Yoshida’s sac fly in the fourth. However, Walt Weiss left Elder in for perhaps an inning too long, the Braves starter surrendering a two-run blast from Willson Contreras in the eighth that proved the decisive hit in the game.
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