There is always baseball happening â almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:
The Yankees and Guardians are both in first place in their respective divisions â New York essentially tied with the Rays in the AL East, Cleveland 1.5 games up on the White Sox in the AL Central â making this weeks series between the two not only a test for each but necessary for sticking at the top. This is doubly true since the Guardians havent been great against teams over .500, while the Yankees are not only worse in that regard, but are now without Aaron Judge thanks to injury.
The opening game was a banger, with the Yankees coming out on top, but it took extra innings to get that result. The Yankees tied things up 5-5 in the top of the eighth when DH Paul Goldschmidt â who also opened up the scoring with a homer in the first â grounded into a force out but pushed a run across in the process. The score would stay 5-5 until extras, in no small part thanks to this incredible double play that ended the eighth.
Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a ball right between the legs of reliever Cade Smith, but shortstop Brayan Racchio didnt lose sight of the ball, snagging it right at second and spinning while on the ground to get the first out then throw to first for the second.Â
The Yankees would threaten again in the 10th, however, and had a challenge to use at the perfect time: after an intentional walk to first baseman Ben Rice, new DH Max Schuemann, who had entered earlier as a pinch-runner, challenged a high strike call and ended up walking to load the bases with one out.
This was bad news for the obvious reasons, but then there was the fact that left fielder Cody Bellinger was next up. Bellinger has been having an excellent season â hes hitting .276/.373/.474 â and here drove in two runs with a single to left to put New York up 7-5.
The Guardians would end up trying to answer back in the bottom of the 10th, with right fielder Angel MartÃnez leading off the inning with a walk to put two on. David Bednar would retire the next two batters, however, and then got Rocchio to ground out to end the game.
The Yankees were able to keep pace with the Rays â they are .003 points behind them in winning percentage, not even enough to be half-a-game back â while the Guardians failed to put some more distance between themselves and the White Sox in the standings. There are two games left in this series for both of those situations to change, however.
The Athletics started a home series in their future home of Las Vegas on Monday, and this probably wasnt actually a taste of what As baseball is going to be about when it settles in for good. And that would be for the best, or else they will never be able to convince a pitcher to join them.
The As hosted the Brewers, and the two combined for 34 hits, 11 walks, 82 total bases, and 29 runs. The two teams managed to score 29 runs while still stranding 21 total runners â the entire game was made out of offense, and then it just kept going because it was still tied at the end of nine.
It almost wasnt, however. The As were up 10-8 in the top of the ninth, trying to secure the W, and then first baseman Andrew Vaughn happened. Or happened again, really, since he had a home run back in the third to make it 4-3. Here, Vaughn drilled a 292-foot two-run double to make it 10-10. Â
And while the Brewers didnt score again in regulation, they opened up extra innings with a barrage. Left fielder Jackson Chourio made it 11-10 with a sac fly, then catcher William Contreras, with two runners still on, demolished a ball 463 feet to center to make it 14-10.
The As were not deterred: backstop Shea Langeliers hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th, then first baseman Nick Kurtz hit his
