Five games, five losses for the AL East Tuesday evening.
The Yankees offense may have reached a new low, managing just one run against the MLB-worst Oakland pitching staff. There’s no time to dwell on that as we had a full card of action tonight, with every team covered by this series taking to the field. Let’s see how it all unfolded.
Cincinnati Reds (42-38) 3, Baltimore Orioles (48-30) 1
A one-hour, 43-minute rain delay interrupted what could have been an intriguing contest between two of the exciting young teams in baseball. The Reds were winners of 12 in a row until meeting the NL-best Braves but got back to winning ways thanks to six innings of one-run, eight strikeout ball from Andrew Abbott and three scoreless innings from the bullpen.
The top of the Cincinnati lineup supplied all the offense, with leadoff and two-hole hitters TJ Friedl and Matt McClain going 2-for-4 with a home run each for the NL Central leaders. McClain also added an RBI double in the fourth to tie it before the pair of round-trippers gave the Reds a 3-1 victory.
San Francisco Giants (45-34) 3, Toronto Blue Jays (43-37) 0
The San Francisco pitching staff put on a masterclass to out-duel a dominant Kevin Gausman, as the Blue Jays ace held the Giants to a run in six innings with a dozen strikeouts but still got saddled with the loss. Ryan Walker served as the opener and struck out the side in the first. Alex Wood followed with five scoreless innings and seven strikeouts of his own. Tyler Rogers came in for 1.2 innings tallying four strikeouts and Camilo Doval pitched 1.1 perfect innings with three strikeouts to close out the victory.
Patrick Bailey opened the scoring with an RBI single in the fifth but otherwise the pitching staff traded zeroes for much of the contest. Thairo Estrada finally broke it open in the ninth with a two-run double to secure his side’s 3-0 victory.
St. Louis Cardinals (33-45) 4, Houston Astros (42-37) 2
Jordan Montgomery gave the Cardinals 6.2 innings strong innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits and a walk against six strikeouts while Framber Valdez had a rare clunker, yielding four runs on eight hits in six innings. The Astros jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to a Kyle Tucker RBI groundout and Martín Maldonado solo shot but would get held in check from there besides stranding the bases loaded in the seventh.
Paul DeJong drove in a pair with a leadoff home run in the third and a sac fly in the fourth. In the fifth, Nolan Arenado drove in the third run with a double, advanced to third on a throwing error, and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Arenado and Dylan Carlson each had multi-hit days as the Cardinals took this one, 4-2.
Texas Rangers (48-31) 8, Detroit Tigers (34-44) 3
The Rangers seemed to play with an extra edge after getting largely neutralized by the Yankees pitching staff. Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Nathaniel Lowe, and Ezequiel Duran all pitched in multi-hit efforts to get the offense back on track.
Detroit opened the scoring by plating a pair in the second on four straight singles, but it was all Texas from there. The home team scored three in the sixth before really pouring it on with five in the eighth. Duran kicked off the rally with a mammoth solo shot before Adolis García capped it off with a two-run bomb to secure the easy 8-3 victory.
Arizona Diamondbacks (48-32) 8, Tampa Bay Rays (54-28) 4
A battle of first place teams went the hosts’ favor with phenom rookie and NL MVP candidate Corbin Carroll leading the charge. The Diamondbacks dropped five in the first on Taj Bradley including a three-run blast by Carroll before Christian Walker went back-to-back.
The Rays immediately responded in the top of the following frame, tagging fWAR leader Zac Gallen for four runs including two on wild pitches. Jose Siri also added a solo shot and all of a sudden we had ourselves a ballgame. Arizona’s pitching staff would lock things down from there while their offense scored a run in each of the third, fourth, and sixth innings including solo shots from Evan Longoria and Ketel Marte en route to an eventual 8-4 victory.
Other Matchups
Miami Marlins (46-34) 10, Boston Red Sox (40-40) 1
Reigning NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara held the Red Sox to a run in seven innings while Garrett Whitlock was not so lucky, getting victimized for 6 runs on 11 hits in 4.2 innings. Luis Arraez went 2-for-5 to bring his average to .399, Jazz Chisholm Jr. went 3-for-4 with three driven in, and Bryan De La Cruz and Jean Segura homered to take the series opener, 10-1
Atlanta Braves (52-27) 6, Minnesota Twins (40-41) 2
The Braves won their 12th of the last 13 thanks to a fireworks display from the offense. Ronald Acuña Jr. homered twice to set the tone for teammates Austin Riley, Sean Murphy, and Michael Harris II to also leave the yard. Atlanta did all of their scoring in the first two innings off Joe Ryan to grab the middle game, 6-2.
Cleveland Guardians (38-40) 2, Kansas City Royals (22-57) 1
The Guardians got blanked for the first eight innings before Royals closer Scott Barlow blew the save and the game. Josh Naylor singled and Andrés Giménez walked, with both coming around to score on a Will Brennan double as the Guardians stole this one, 2-1.
Washington Nationals (31-48) 7, Seattle Mariners (38-40) 4
This game went to extras knotted at four apiece before the Nationals blew it open with a three-run 11th. Ildemaro Vargas walked with one out to put a pair on including the Manfred man, and both would score on a Lane Thomas double before a Luis García single plated the final run of the game.
