The Yankees and Red Sox fight for the wild card spot. The Blue Jays continue to try to move up and the Rays remain in first place. Let’s see what happened this week and what is to come this weekend in the American League East.
TAMPA BAY RAYS
The Rays faced the O’s for a four-game set. Collin McHugh pitched two scoreless innings. Josh Fleming pitched the bulk of the game with 5.2 innings and gave up two runs. Kevin Kiermaier hit his 4th home run of the season. Brandon Lowe went 3-for-4 and hit two home runs in the game. Brett Phillips went 2-for-4. The Rays won 9-2.
Drew Rasmussen went four scoreless innings for the Rays on Tuesday. Mike Zunino hit his 26th home run of the season. Nelson Cruz hit two home runs in the game. Randy Arozarena went 4-for-5. The bullpen kept the O’s scoreless. The Rays won 10-0.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM@ncboomstick23 got all, and we mean ALL of this one pic.twitter.com/pvD11j65U8 — Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 18, 2021
Louis Head was the opener for the Rays. He gave up two runs in the inning he pitched. Ryan Yarbrough took the bulk of the game and pitched five scoreless innings. Wander Franco went 3-for-4 and Ji-Man Choi went 2-for-4. The Rays won 8-4.
The Rays completed the sweep with Shane McClanahan giving up one run in five innings. Lowe hit his 29th home run and went 2-for-4. The Rays won 7-2.
In McClanahan we stan https://t.co/76BTP4EA8d — Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 19, 2021
The next series is against the White Sox. Michael Wacha and Luis Patino are scheduled to pitch.
NEW YORK YANKEES
The Yankees played the makeup game against Shohei Ohtani and the Angels. Gerrit Cole was reinstated from the COVID-19 IL and started the game. He went 5.2 innings and gave up the only run the Angels scored. Joey Gallo hit his 29th home run. Aaron Judge went 2-for-3. Yankees won 2-1.
Tuesday was a doubleheader against the Red Sox. Game one belonged to Jordan Montgomery, who returned from the COVID-19 IL. He went 4.2 innings and gave up three runs. Rougned Odor and Tyler Wade went 2-for-2. The offense scored three runs in the 5th to take the lead and win. Yanks won 5-3.
Luis Gil took the ball for the Yankees. He pitched 4.2 scoreless innings. Homeruns by Luke Voit and Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankees the win. DJ LeMahieu went 2-for-3. The Yankees won 2-0.
SWEEP
The final game of the series had Andrew Heaney on the mound. He pitched seven innings and gave up one run. Anthony Rizzo returned from the COVID-19 IL and went 1-for-4. Andrew Velazquez went 2-for-4. Gary Sanchez also went 2-for-4. Aroldis Chapman returned from the IL and pitched the 9th inning but couldn’t finish it. He gave up a home run to Renfroe, walked Bogaerts, and got the second out with Rafael Devers before giving up a hit to J.D. Martinez</