It’s just not very fun to watch the Yankees these days. Even if they’re in playoff position, the guys in the lineup right now aren’t the ones who put them in that spot. The Yankees’ starting pitching is doing yeoman’s work, with Max Fried following up nice outings from Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler, Ryan Weathers, and Will Warren with one of his own. But the offense is just paltry these days, and an E3/single/single rally combined with a Spencer Jones solo shot only gave them a 2-1 lead. Two of the better arms in the Yankees’ bullpen—Fernando Cruz and Brent Headrick—both had bad days, and that cooked the lead.
The Yankees aren’t giving their pitchers any margin for error, and that’s not even getting into the larger matter of the Rays and Red Sox barely losing anymore. Here’s what else was going on around the American League’s best on Saturday.
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Tampa Bay Rays (65-45) 1, Chicago White Sox (58-52) 0
The White Sox scored six runs in Friday night’s win over the Rays, but they were back to the offense yesterday that frustrated their fans almost as much as the Yankees’ lineup did with their own diehards. They got four hits and a walk against Rays ace Drew Rasmussen, putting the leadoff man on in half of his six innings. But they never capitalized on those opportunities. Rasmussen fanned 10 while lowering his ERA to 2.91 on the season.
Chicago’s best chance came in the sixth, which Braden Montgomery began with a single. Tristan Peters got ahead of Rasmussen 2-0 before lining out to center. Chase Meidroth then flew out, but Edgar Quero delivered a two-out single, and a terrible throw to third by left fielder Chandler Simpson allowed Quero to move into scoring position as well. With a chance to make it 2-0 on a mere single, Sam Antonacci hit it hard to right—at 105.1 mph, it was actually the second-highest exit velocity of the day for Chicago—but Victor Mesa Jr. was there for the play.
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The Rays weren’t exactly prolific themselves against the opener/bulk guy combo of Jordan Hicks and Noah Schultz and the relievers who followed. Nonetheless, they did score their one run, so it held up. Jonny DeLuca began the home half of the fifth with a single, stole second on a strikeout, and after Ben Williamson grounded out, catcher Nick Fortes cashed in the ribbie on a knock to left.
Down to their last licks in the ninth, Miguel Vargas hit Bryan Baker‘s first pitch 372 feet to left, and it would’ve been gone to tie the game at Fenway and Wrigley. But at the Trop, it died at the warning track. Baker then got Colson Montgomery to ground out and Randal Grichuk went down swinging to end it.
At least Luis Castillo will cure Chicago’s offensive malaise. Wait, what?
Okey dokey.
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Other Games
Boston Red Sox (59-51) 3, Los Angeles Dodgers (69-42) 2: Not even Yoshinobu Yamamoto could cool down the Red Sox out west. Fresh off an absurd 21-4 July, they won again on August 1st as Ceddanne Rafaela clubbed two homers off Yamamoto and a leadoff double by Andruw Monasterio in the eighth turned into the go-ahead run on a bunt single and a grounder. The Dodgers mustered 10 hits and a pair of walks (largely against Payton Tolle), but their only scoring came on a Teoscar Hernández two-run shot in the second. So in a postgame rage* over actually losing a series for once, the Dodgers traded for the Tigers’** two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. That’s one way to cope.
*Yes, yes, I know that the deal was almost certainly completed before the final out. I am being silly. For fun.
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**No, I don’t think the Tigers are going to go on another improbable post-sell run like they did in 2024, but also they’re only 2.5 games behind the Twins and Guardians for the last Wild Card spot. Texas, Baltimore, and Seattle are all ahead of them but… it’s possible!
Arizona Diamondbacks (59-52) 12, Cleveland Guardians (56-56) 8: Would you believe that the score in this one was 2-2 at the start of the seventh? Hunter Gaddis had one of his worst days as a professional and Franco Aleman got beat up as well during the D-backs’ seven-run seventh, which was capped by a three-run blast from Corbin Carroll. Nolan Arenado‘s homer in the eighth made it 10-2, but deposed closer Paul Sewald almost gave it all back in his own nightmare eighth. A homer and four singles later, he was out of the game, and when Kevin Ginkel finished the frames, it was 10-7 (all runs charged to Sewald). The best reliever is always more offense though, and a two-run single by Geraldo Perdomo in the ninth added insurance in the 12-8 final.
Houston Astros (57-55) 5, Texas Rangers (55-56) 4: Sigh. The Astros returning to the top of the meager AL West wasn’t a one-day thing. They added a full game of separation between them and the previously-leading Rangers by beating up Jacob deGrom for five runs on seven hits; the former Mets great recorded just 10 outs. Texas made it a one-run game in the middle frames, but Houston held on for the W.
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Seattle Mariners (54-58) 4, Minnesota Twins (56-56) 3: With rumors swirling of Jerry Dipoto and company considering a sell, the M’s absolutely needed a win if that clubhouse wanted any hope of staying together. Dipoto could still unload some folks, but Seattle at least eked out a walk-off win on Saturday. The 3-0 lead from the first couple innings (with a Randy Arozarena solo shot) vanished as Logan Gilbert faded in the middle frames. Homers by Luke Keaschall and Trevor Larnach chipped away, and an RBI groundout from Victor Caratini evened it at 3-3 in the seventh. Closer Andrés Muñoz entered to strike out Royce Lewis with runners on in the eighth, and after another scoreless frame in the ninth, his offense rewarded him.
Randy Arozarena led off with a double down the left-field line and moved to third on a deep fly. Minnesota challenged defending home run leader Cal Raleigh by intentionally walking Julio Rodríguez with one out to set up a double play. The struggling MVP runner-up hit a grounder to first, but while Lewis stepped on the bag for one out (rather than throwing to second to try to turn two on the slow Raleigh), his throw home to get Arozarena was late, securing the weird walk-off win. The Astros remain three games up on Seattle in the AL West.
(The M’s still dealt starter Luis Castillo after the game, but he’s less essential to the operation than almost everyone else in the rotation.)
