The Yankees looked to start their “second half” on the right foot. The Red Sox need to gain games in the division as the Rays inch closer. The Jays are trying to switch places with the Rays before having their home games in Toronto. Let’s look at what happened over the weekend and what’s to come this week in the MLB American League East.
BOSTON RED SOX
Thursday’s only game was canceled due to COVID-19 issues. The five All-Stars had to be tested to make sure they were negative after being around Aaron Judge, who was tested positive for COVID-19.
Because of the postponed game, which will be made up with a doubleheader in August, Eduardo Rodriguez started Friday’s game. He went 5.2 innings and kept the Yankees offense scoreless. J.D. Martinez hit his 19th home run of the season and Christian Arroyo hit the 3-run home run in the second inning that sealed the deal for the team. Tanner Houck pitched three scoreless innings. MLB American League East
WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS
The game started out as a rain delay and ended up being called after 6 innings of rain. Nathan Eovaldi pitched a no-hitter into the 5th inning and even though his pitch count wouldn’t allow him to complete the game, he could have easily handed the ball to Matt Barnes. Unfortunately, it did not get to that. He gave up one run that tied the game before Hirokazu Sawamura gave up two runs in 0.1 innings. Josh Taylor finished the inning before the game was in a delay and eventually called.
Martin Perez lasted 4 innings and gave up three runs on Sunday’s rubber match. Darwinzon Hernandez gave up four runs and two walks while Brandon Workman walked three batters. The Sox offense had five hits but only one run. Xander Bogaerts went 2-for-3 and Martinez went 1-for-3 with a walk. Rafael Devers had three walks. The Sox lost two of three games played against the Yankees in this series.
Arroyo will most likely head to the IL after injuring himself playing first base for the first time. Danny Santana is expected to join the team in Buffalo so the move for him is pretty much already done.
The next series for the Sox is against the Blue Jays. Nick Pivetta, Garrett Richards, and Tanner Houck will pitch during the series before heading home to face the Yankees again.
TAMPA BAY RAYS
The Rays played against the Braves over the weekend. Michael Wacha pitched four innings and gave up 4 runs. The Braves scored six runs off of the Rays pitching staff and the offense came back to tie it in the 9th. They won it in the 10th inning to keep their distance behind the Red Sox 1.5 games in the standings. Ji-Man Choi hit his fourth home run of the season off of Charlie Morton. Pete Fairbanks got his fourth save.
Ji-Mannnnnnnnnn 💥 pic.twitter.com/IiQUgkBxG5 — Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 17, 2021
Josh Fleming pitched in game two’s loss on Saturday. He went 4.1 innings and gave up seven runs. Yandy Diaz went 2-for-4. The offense only had four hits and two walks in the game. With the Red Sox losing in their game that was called due to weather, the Rays stayed 1.5 games behind.
Rich Hill took the mound on Sunday. He went four innings and gave up three runs. Wander Franco hit his third home run of the season and Diaz hit his fifth. The Rays scored seven runs to win. This win makes the Rays half of a game behind the Red Sox.
Next for the Rays is facing the Orioles. MLB American League East
TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Robbie Ray pitched in game one against the Rangers over the weekend. He went 6.2 innings and gave up no runs. Jacob Barnes gave up the only two runs the Rangers scored in the 10-2 win. All-Star MVP Vladimir Guerrero Jr.hit his 30th home run of the season in the first inning. Marcus Semien hit his 23rd. Teoscar Hernandez hit his 12th and Randal Grichuk hit his 17th home run.
The postponement on Saturday meant a