JUST IN: The Yankees got a little help on Tuesday night, with the plucky Nats taking down the Orioles.

Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Rangers bury the A’s, Nationals knock down the O’s

The Yankees got a little help on Tuesday night, with the plucky Nats taking down the Orioles.

Texas Rangers v Oakland AthleticsPhoto by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

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The vibes are excellent at Yankee Stadium right now, with the Yankees crushing the scuffling Astros and extending their winning streak to four. Yet even though they’ve been on a short streak, they haven’t been able to catch the rival Orioles, who have been playing great ball of late. Baltimore was in action last night, as was the rest of the AL. Let’s go through the Tuesday slate.

Washington Nationals (18-17) 3, Baltimore Orioles (23-12) 0

The Yankees couldn’t have been too optimistic about the prospect of tying the O’s for first in the AL East yesterday, not with Baltimore trotting out ace Corbin Burnes against journeyman Trevor Williams and the Nationals. Yet the Nats continued to surprise, with Williams outdueling Burnes and helping the Bombers out.

Williams only lasted five innings, but those five innings were nearly spotless. He allowed just two singles, and nary allowed a runner to even advance into scoring position. He struck out eight and walked none.

Burnes was sharp as well, though. The Nats scored in the second on what is in my opinion one of the more satisfying possible baseball sequences: single-steal-RBI single. Jesse Winker singled, swiped second, and scored on Joey Meneses’ baseknock to put Washington up one.

It seemed that might be all that they’d get against Burnes, with the right-hander cruising through the next few innings. Burnes entered the seventh down 1-0 and with his pitch count in good shape, but the Nats managed to open up some breathing room. Meneses doubled and scored on Eddie Rosario’s RBI single to make it 2-0. Rosario then stole second, and came around on Trey Lipscomb’s single.

It wasn’t an offensive onslaught from Washington, but they were able to swipe some timely bags and convert their few chances with runners in scoring position. It’s probably not the most reliable way to muster offense and win games, but it was more than enough with the way Williams and the Nationals’ bullpen pitched; four relievers combined to allow just one baserunner after Williams departed.

Tampa Bay Rays (19-18) 5, Chicago White Sox (8-28) 1

Zach Eflin quietly morphed into one of the most impressive pitchers in the AL last year, with the Rays once again flashing their keen eye for pitching talent. The right-hander had a couple of rough starts to begin the year, but he appears to be locking in, tossing seven strong to down the White Sox.

Eflin was only really in trouble once, when the Sox loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but he induced a pop-up from Gavin Sheets to escape unscathed. Otherwise, a Paul DeJong solo shot in the seventh at the end of his outing was the only blemish. Eflin finished with seven innings of one-run ball, walking none and striking out three.

Mike Soroka, trying to rebuild his career in Chicago, was not as sharp, with the Rays dinging him for two in the second, and Randy Arozarena doing Randy Arozarena things in the third:

It’s been a brutal start to the year for Arozarena, with the star rocking a .564 OPS after today, so the Rays must hope he’s starting to get rolling.

Isaac Paredes added a solo shot in the seventh to provide a little more insurance. Paredes’ breakout 2023 is looking like no fluke, with the 25-year-old rocking a .904 OPS and eight dingers on the year.

Texas Rangers (21-16) 15, Oakland Athletics (18-19) 8

On Monday night, the Rangers and A’s played a tight affair, one that wasn’t decided until late. Tuesday, the Rangers turned the game into a laugher before the fans could even settle into their seats.

Marcus Semien hit a solo homer, his sixth of the year, in the top of the first, but it was the second frame that turned into a nightmare for Oakland. The Rangers scored ten runs in an inning where everything that could go wrong went wrong for the A’s. Texas smoked line drives, dunked seeing-eye bloops in for base hits, forced in a run on a walk and capitalized on sloppy Oakland defense in an inning that had everything, at least from the Rangers’ perspective.

Leody Taveras and Semien each singled home a run. Corey Seager reached on an error that also brought home a run. Adolis Garcia forced one in on a walk. Josh Smith singled home one, and Jonah Heim singled home two. Taveras and Semien double-dipped, with Taveras notching his second RBI single of the inning, and Semien driving home two with a double. It was striking how there was no great exclamation point, no dingers or bases-clearing triples that really highlighted the rally. It was just death by a million paper cuts.

It takes a few minutes just to watch the highlights of the second inning alone:

Oakland scratched two runs off of starter José Ureña (not a great sign seemingly that Ureña is starting games for the defending champs) in an effort to make things respectable, but the Rangers poured on four more in the fourth to make it 15-2.

In one of the most spectacular instances of wearing it you’ll ever see, Ross Stripling took the beating and finished with a line of 1.1 innings, ten hits, 11 (11!) runs (five earned), two walks and two strikeouts. The A’s put a few more across both Jonathan Hernández and Yerry Rodríguez later in the game, at least salvaging a slightly less embarrassing final score.

That the A’s have hung in there has been one of the more surprising developments of the early season. Perhaps that “run” has come to a crashing halt.

Other Games

Detroit Tigers (19-17) 11, Cleveland Guardians (23-13) 7: Disaster struck for both starters in this game. Kenta Maeda got demolished by Cleveland, yielding seven runs in just two innings. But spotted a lead, L.T. Allen did hardly better than Maeda, allowing seven runs of his own in 2.1 innings. Things settled down from there, but the Tigers kept chipping away at Cleveland’s bullpen to ultimately pull away. Andy Ibáñez led the way with an outstanding 4-for-4 night with two homers and four RBI. José Ramírez was typically excellent in the losing effort, going 3-for-4 with three driven in.

Seattle Mariners (20-16) 10, Minnesota Twins (20-15) 6: This was a seesaw battle, which saw three four-spots put up between the two teams. Seattle went up 2-0 early, but Bailey Ober held them from there, striking seven over five innings. Minnesota threw a haymaker in the third, scoring four off Emerson Hancock, including a three-run dinger from Ryan Jeffers. The Mariners didn’t respond until the seventh, when Cal Raleigh smashed a grand slam for the lead:

The Twins were able to put one across in the seventh and eighth to tie the game, but Seattle had one last big swing in them. The M’s hung four runs on Jorge Alcala in the ninth to put the game away, with Josh Rojas, Mitch Haniger, and Ty France all driving in runs.

Philadelphia Phillies (26-11) 10, Toronto Blue Jays (16-20) 1

Do the Blue Jays just stink? Probably not; Vlad Guerrero Jr. likely won’t run a .700 OPS all year, and George Springer and Bo Bichette shouldn’t see their OPS figures sit below .600 for too long. But things are going south up north right now. Bryce Harper homered for his third straight game, this time stroking a grand slam that capped off a terrible day for José Berríos (there sure were a few grand slams yesterday):

Berríos departed after just 3.2 innings having let home eight runs. Cristopher Sánchez pitched seven strong for Philly, limiting the Jays to one run on five hits. Toronto is 3-9 over the last two weeks, and sits 8.5 games back of first in the AL East.

Atlanta Braves (21-12) 4, Boston Red Sox (19-17) 2

One of the stories of this young season has been that of relievers converting to starting. Reynaldo López has been one of the best such converters, and he looked like he was about to add another excellent outing to his resume against Boston, shutting out the Red Sox through five and carrying a 2-0 lead. The Red Sox got to López in the sixth, though, chasing the righty and tying the game.

But Marcell Ozuna drove home the winning run with an RBI single off Justin Slaten in the bottom of the eighth. Orlando Arcia tacked on an insurance with a groundout, and Raisel Iglesias pitched an easy ninth for his ninth save.

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