With just a little over a month left of the season, anything can happen. While it isn’t time to look at elimination numbers, eyes should be kept on the standings. Let’s see what happened this week and what is to come over the weekend in the American League East.
TAMPA BAY RAYS
Drew Rasmussen went five innings and gave up one run against the Phillies. Nelson Cruz went 3-for-4. Andrew Kittredge got his third save of the season. The Rays won 3-1.
Ryan Yarbrough went four innings and gave up two runs. Brandon Lowe hit his 30th home run. Francisco Mejia went 2-for-4 and hit his 6th home run. Wander Franco went 3-for-5. Joey Wendle went 2-for-5 and Yandy Diaz went 2-for-4. The Rays won 7-4.
After another day off, they will face the Orioles over the weekend. Shane McClanahan is scheduled to pitch.
NEW YORK YANKEES
The Yankees and Braves meet up for a quick two-game series. Both teams entered the series with a 9-game winning streak. Fortunately for the Yankees, their streak continued entering Oakland.
Jordan Montgomery went five innings and gave up the only run the Braves scored. Giancarlo Stanton went 2-for-3 and hit his 21st home run of the year. Anthony Rizzo went 0-for-5. Joey Gallo went 0-for-2 with two walks and scored each of those times. The Yankees continued their winning streak to 11 by winning 5-1.
Andrew Heaney went four innings and gave up two runs. Stanton hit his 22nd home run and Rougned Odor hit his 15th home run. Aaron Judge went 2-for-4. The Yankees were leading 5-3 before Aroldis Chapman pitched in the 9th. The day after he had a smooth 9th inning, he ended up giving up a run via a walk and leaving the game with the bases loaded and two outs. Wandy Peralta had to come in to pitch against Freddie Freeman to get the last out. The Yankees won the nail-biter 5-4.
WILD CARD RACE
After the off-day on Wednesday, the team started their four-game series against the A’s. Gio Urshela returned to the lineup and Jameson Taillon took the mound. He started fine in the first couple of innings but gave up 3 runs in the 4th in which he walked three batters. He only lasted 3.2 innings and gave up five runs.
The offense had taken a 6-0 lead in the 3rd inning and lost the lead by the 5th inning. Albert Abreu relieved for Taillon and gave up the tying run. Stanton hit his 23rd home run, Gallo hit his 30th and Brett Gardner hit his 6th home run. Aaron Judge brought in Tyler Wade to score the 7th run and Chapman closed it out. The Yankees won 7-6 and the save with Chapman’s 300th in his career.
Gallo, is it me you're looking for? pic.twitter.com/098HU8S8ve — New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 27, 2021
The series continues over the weekend. Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes Jr. and Jordan Montgomery are scheduled to pitch. Let’s see if they can do better than Taillon.
BOSTON RED SOX
Monday was supposed to be an off day for the Sox but it turned into the makeup game from Hurricane Henri. Nathan Eovaldi went seven innings and gave up one run. Alex Verdugo went 2-for-3 and hit his 12th home run. Hunter Renfroe hit his 23rd home run. The Sox offense had the lead until the 9th inning.
Matt Barnes got his 6th blown save of the season on a ground-rule double that tied the game. The Rangers scored in the top of the 10th but Rafael Devers hit a double to score Xander Bogaerts in the bottom of the inning, a strike away from losing the game. Travis Shaw sent everyone home at the bottom of the 11th with a walk-off grand slam. The Sox win 8-4 in a game that shouldn’t have been 11