Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Trevor Story hot streak continues

The Yankees game against the White Sox may have been rained out, but we had a full slate of games to occupy our evening. Every one of the Yankees’ AL rivals played last night, so there’s a lot to recap. Let’s jump right in and see how the Bombers’ foes fared.

Tampa Bay Rays (23-16) vs. Baltimore Orioles (16-24)

The first game of the night was actually the last one to end as the Rays and Orioles played out a wild back-and-forth affair. Mike Zunino opened the scoring in the fifth, becoming just the second away player (after Giancarlo Stanton) to hit a home run over Camden’s newly-reconfigured left field wall, his three-run shot giving the Rays a 3-0 lead.

The Orioles tied it up with a three-run inning of their own in the seventh, and the score would remain knotted at three to send this one to extra innings. Baltimore matched the Rays through the first three innings of extras, with both teams scoring a pair in the tenth, one in the eleventh, and none in the twelfth to bring us to a wild thirteenth inning.

Kevin Kiermaier appeared to have delivered the go-ahead hit for the second time in extras — the first coming on an RBI single in the eleventh — however the Orioles reviewed a close call at the plate involving a bang-bang tag on Wander Franco after he inexplicably decided not to slide. The umps overturned the call to wipe the run off the board and send the game to the bottom of the inning tied at six.

With the Manfred Man standing on third after a Ramón Urías sac bunt, old friend Rougned Odor said “forget small ball” and crushed a two-run walk-off home run onto Eutaw Street.

It was the Orioles’ second walk-off in as many games, the previous one coming at the expense of the Yankees. Those dang birds just won’t go away, winning this one by a score of 8-6.

Cincinatti Reds (11-27) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (21-18)

This one was a sleepy affair headlined by the starting pitchers, with Luis Castillo facing off against Hyun Jin Ryu. Though this was Castillo’s best start of the season — six innings of two-run ball — the Jays’ lefty came out on top, tossing six scoreless on just 78 pitches. Toronto did all their scoring in the fifth — George Springer starting it off with an RBI single followed by an RBI double from Bo Bichette. Matt Reynolds accounted for the Reds’ lone run with a RBI single in the seventh as this one wound down to an uneventful 2-1 Blue Jays victory.

Seattle Mariners (17-23) vs. Boston Red Sox (17-22)

Trevor Story is playing unconscious right now. He got off to a horrible start after Boston signed him to a six-year, $140 million contract in the offseason, batting .205 with a pair of home runs, a 30.7 percent strikeout rate, and 79 wRC+ through his first 32 games, earning boos from the home crowd. It’s funny how much can change in a week.

After formally introducing himself to the Boston faithful with a three home run night on Thursday, Story deposited a third inning grand slam into the first row of the Green Monster to give the Red Sox a 4-0 lead over the Mariners.

It was a lead they would never relinquish. The Mariners made it close, scoring a pair in the fifth on an Abraham Toro two-run home run and one in the eighth. However, the Red Sox answered right back in the bottom of the frame, scoring three on a Jackie Bradley Jr. three-run shot into the Monster seats to hold on for a 7-3 victory.

Texas Rangers (18-20) vs. Houston Astros (25-15)

We got a classic pitchers’ duel between Martín Peréz and Cristian Javier in this one. Javier gave the Astros six innings of three-hit, one-run ball with nine strikeouts, but was out-dueled by Peréz. The southpaw 31-year-old tossed a 108-pitch complete game shutout, giving up seven hits against five strikeouts. He becomes just the second pitcher to go the distance without surrendering a run, alongside Walker Buehler and his three-hit, ten strikeout gem over the Diamondbacks and Angels rookie Reid Detmers, who became the first pitcher to toss a no-hitter this season.

On the offensive side, the Rangers scored in the fourth on a Kole Calhoun solo shot and two in the eighth thanks to some shoddy defense by the Astros to bring us to our final score of 3-0.

Minnesota Twins (23-16) vs. Kansas City Royals (14-24)

The Twins continue to capitalize on an abysmal AL Central, beating up on the impotent Royals. They hung a crooked number in the first on a Kyle Garlick RBI single, Gary Sánchez RBI double, and Gio Urshela sac fly. They added a fourth in the second on a Garlick sac fly and looked to be cruising to an easy victory with lefty starter Devin Smeltzer giving them 5.1 strong innings, allowing a run on five hits.

The Royals meanwhile made it interesting in the seventh, cutting the deficit to 4-3 thanks to a Carlos Santana leadoff home run and Whit Merrifield sac fly. However, the Twins answered right back in the top of the eighth, scoring a pair on a José Miranda double. The Royals clawed back an insurance run on an Emmanuel Rivera solo home run off closer Emilio Pagan, but ultimately lost this one, 6-4.