Last night featured one of the sparser slates you’ll see, with just two pure American League games (plus two interleague matchups) on the docket. That said, with the AL East shaping up to be a heavyweight showdown between the Yankees and Orioles, any day on which either side is in action stands as an important one. The Yankees enjoyed a needed day of rest after a long and excellent West Coast trip, but a series between Baltimore and Toronto highlighted the action from Monday. Let’s run through it.
Baltimore Orioles (38-20) 7, Toronto Blue Jays (29-32) 2
The Orioles’ young stars have led the way this year, with Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutchsman setting the standard and the likes of Jordan Westburg and Colten Cowser also excelling. Yet some of the club’s veterans, like Austin Hays and Cedric Mullins, have struggled mightily in 2024. It’s a little scary to consider how Baltimore’s lineup would look if its youth kept performing and the vets eventually came around.
Hays started to turn the tide yesterday, hitting his first two homers of the year to lead the Orioles to another win. Anthony Santander also went deep as Baltimore cruised.
Santander was the one who got things rolling, hitting a two-run shot off Kevin Gausman in the second. Cowser added a RBI double in the fourth, and Hays followed with his first homer, a two-run shot that put the O’s up 5-1:
Hays added a solo shot in the seventh:
Ramón Urías also hit a solo dinger of his own in the ninth. Daulton Varsho hit an RBI triple and Vlad Guerrero Jr. hit a solo homer to account for all of Toronto’s offense. Grayson Rodriguez was sharp for the Orioles, allowing just one earned run and striking out four against zero walks across 6.2 innings.
It was a rough outing for Gausman, who appeared to have righted the ship after an awful start to his campaign. He’d managed a 2.50 ERA and 1.70 FIP over his last three starts, along with a .599 OPS allowed. He yielded six runs over 6.1 innings yesterday, a step back for both him and this middling Blue Jays team.
Detroit Tigers (30-30) 2, Texas Rangers (29-31) 1
The defending champs have been starting to turn things around, winners of five of their last six. They also got Nathan Eovaldi back Monday, as the Rangers hope to add a cavalcade of veteran starting pitching to their staff as the summer progresses and their injured arms return. They suffered a setback though, with Eovaldi pitching well but his lineup failing to support him.
Eovaldi was very sharp as he came back from a groin injury, allowing just one run over 5.2 innings, striking out seven and walking none with three hits. A Jake Rogers solo homer in the third was all Detroit could manage against him.
But Tarik Skubal, fully cemented among the best pitchers in the American League, was just as good. Skubal allowed seven hits, but scattered them across six innings of one-run ball, striking out six and walking two. Marcus Semien hit his tenth homer in the first to open the scoring, but Skubal shut down the Rangers from there. Texas’ best chance came in the sixth when they put the first two runners on against Skubal, but the lefty retired the next three in order, two via strikeout.
José Leclerc relieved Eovaldi in a 1-1 game and cruised into the eighth. Yet it was Rogers’ night, as the catcher hit his second homer of the game to push the Tigers in front:
Beau Briske earned the win by pitching all three innings of relief after Skubal. He allowed just one baserunner, a two-out double in the ninth that gave the Rangers hope. Briske got Leody Taveras to loft a harmless fly to center to end the game.
Houston Astros (27-34) 7, St. Louis Cardinals (28-29) 4
The Astros looked like they were coming on a couple of weeks ago, rolling off six in a row at one point to creep toward .500. They’ve disappointed (well, from their perspective) since, watching the Mariners open up a lead in the AL West. They host the Cardinals in an interleague matchup of underperforming teams this week, and got off to a good start thanks to a late surge.
St. Louis was nursing a 4-3 lead in the eighth, and had JoJo Romero on the mound. Alex Bregman tied the game right off the bat, leading off by absolutely walloping a homer to left:
A single, sac bunt, and strikeout (by José Abreu, whose .331 OPS on the year remains horrifying) left the Astros with just a man on and two down. But Yanier Diaz played the hero, smashing a two-run homer to left to give Houston the lead:
José Altuve added an RBI double later in the inning to give the Astros some insurance. Josh Hader worked a perfect ninth for his ninth save, as the big-name closer appears to be leaving his early-season struggles behind.
Yordan Álvarez hit his 12th homer of the year earlier in the game, off of Kyle Gibson, who allowed three runs over 5.2 innings. Justin Verlander turned in an uneven start for Houston, allowing four runs, two walks, and seven hits over five innings. The veteran has been more good than great for the Astros thus far this year.
