Royals’ Michael Wacha Outduels Drew Rasmussen as Yankees AL Rivals Battle for Position
If you’re hearing about it in passing, a 5-3 final score doesn’t feel really bad. But if you saw any of the Yankees’ game last night in Detroit, it sure felt bad.
An unproductive Gerrit Cole, who surrendered an unexpected nine hits and five runs and couldn’t get through five innings on 89 pitches, cost the Yankees a brief 1-0 lead. The Bombers bats didn’t accomplish much against Framber Valdez, and only a two-run homer by Amed Rosario off Drew Anderson brought this back to a two-run game.The Yanks’ last genuine danger came in the eighth inning with runners on second and third and two outs, when Jasson Domínguez struck out. Meh. The Yanks have to climb out of the rut today or they could be facing a potential sweep and five-game slide against Tarik Skubal tomorrow.
The AL West-leading Mariners were inactive Monday, but here’s a look at some of what else was happening around the Junior Circuit.
Tampa Bay Rays (43-32) 1, Kansas City Royals (33-46) 2
The Yankees still have a two-game lead in the AL East because the Rays had a dead performance in their own ballpark against an underachieving Royals team missing their best player. Not so good, Bob(by).
Good news for Kansas City, if they have an All-Star this year other than Bobby Witt Jr., it’s starter Michael Wacha. He was able to pitch Monday and took care of the Rays relatively handily with seven innings of six-hit, one-run ball, boosting his innings total up to an AL-leading 101 in 16 starts. He struck out just five but he threw the correct pitches in the proper counts and this game was finished in 2 hours and 13 minutes.
Tampa Bay ace pulled Rasmussen pulled the short end of this pitchers’ duel and lost despite a fair six-inning outing with four hits and two runs allowed. In fact, he leads AL pitchers with a sparkling.884 WHIP and 1.6 BB/9. He did walk two yesterday though and the first rapidly burned him at the start of the second.Lane Thomas knocked in Michael Massey for the first run of the game in the second, and he went to third on the play.
Rasmussen settled down to retire the next three hitters in order with a pair of K’s. In the fifth however, KC struck out again, this time with little ball. Nick Loftin singled and stole second and Rasmussen walked for the second time that night, and good catcher Carter Jensen singled to center to drive in Loftin. Rasmussen worked through the inning on the next two pitches, but the insurance run would prove important for Wacha, as the Rays scored their sole run in the bottom of the second, Yandy Díaz tripling home Richie Palacios with two out.
Wacha stranded Diaz on a groundout by Jonny DeLuca and then retired six of the next seven batters to finish his outing easily. The Rays killed a threat in the eighth when a pinch-running Victor Mesa Jr. was thrown out on a stolen base attempt with two outs and masher Junior Caminero at the plate, who normally has runners in scoring position already when he goes up to bat. Oops. KC got a flawless ninth from Alex Lange to end the one-run win.
Other Games
Toronto Blue Jays (39-39) 4, Houston Astros (37-43) 2: The Jays moved back to .500 for the first time since May 29. Ace Hunter Brown made his second start off the IL for the Astros and gave up just one run but was worked through three innings, throwing 85 pitches – one of which left the yard on a Kazuma Okamoto homer. Somewhat amusingly, the remainder of the Toronto runs off the Houston bullpen were all on sacrifice flies, the most important coming off the bat of Myles Straw in the seventh to break a 2-2 tie. They count!Dylan Cease gave up two runs and struck out eight over 5.2 innings, but Braydon Fisher secured the win with four important outs in middle relief.
Cleveland Guardians (41-38) 5, Chicago White Sox (40-37) 6: What a passionate back and forth on the South Side! It was all Chicago for the first half and change. Anthony Kay spun six shutout frames and a Randal Grichuk homer helped create a 3-0 lead. But Cleveland erupted for three in the seventh, with three singles and two walks off reliever Grant Taylor. After the seventh-inning stretch, Sam Antonacci pushed the Pale Hose ahead with an RBI knock and manager Will Venable handed the lead to free-agent closer addition Seranthony Domínguez.
Unfortunately it’s been a rough ride for Seranthony so far in 2026, and he broke apart in the ninth. He walked Travis Bazzana then threw a wild pitch with Bazzana already stealing, moving the tying run 90 feet.Patrick Bailey singled him in, and Brayan Rocchio followed with a laser double to right. Bailey froze at third, and Dominguez struck out Rhys Hoskins for the second out. But Chris Murphy took over and Kyle Manzardo tied the game with a sacrifice fly that scored Bailey on review by the slimmest of margins.
The more reliable Cade Smith had already threw a spotless eighth for Cleveland, and skipper Steven Vogt had no qualms about letting him go for the save in a second inning. Alas, the South Siders had one last rally in ’em. Braden Montgomery drew a one-out walk and Tristan Peters hit a check-swing/excuse-me double down the left field line to put two in scoring position. Pinch-hitter Jacob Gonzalez tried to be the hero but struck out swinging. Antonacci came through for the second time in three innings. Antonacci was down to his final strike and in a 0-2 count before he fouled two off and then singled cleanly to center to score both Montgomery and Peters to walk off the Guardians. Both teams are tied for first in the AL Central.
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