Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Orioles pound Miller, Alexander flirts with perfection

The Yankees are on fire right now, but anyone who has paid attention to this space knows that even as they’ve excelled, they haven’t been able to put any space between themselves and the relentless Orioles. The Bombers would seem to have an opportunity this weekend, as they find themselves matched up with the lowly White Sox while Baltimore faces a competent Seattle outfit. Could the Yankees open up some breathing room in the AL East last night? Let’s go through that and everything else that happened with their rivals on Friday night.

Baltimore Orioles (28-14) 9, Seattle Mariners (24-21) 2

If you looked at the pitching matchups ahead of Friday’s games and saw the Orioles squared up against Bryce Miller, who carried a shiny 2.66 ERA into the day, you might’ve had hope that the Mariners might be able to help the Yankees out here. The O’s extinguished that hope instantly, with Gunnar Henderson leading off the Orioles’ end of things with a home run (after Jordan Westburg led off Baltimore’s previous game with a homer) as the O’s pounced for five first-inning runs off Miller.

The five batters after Henderson actually reached against Miller, with a walk and an error supplementing three hits. Colten Cowser did the most damage, with his two-run double putting the Orioles up 4-1. Westburg drove in another with a sac fly, and the Orioles had a 5-1 lead on Miller after one.

Miller did well to settle in from there, not allowing another run before exiting after 5.1 innings. But the damage was done, and John Means had all he needed to cruise to the victory. Means has looked solid in his return from Tommy John, and he picked up the win with six innings of two-run ball.

Baltimore dropped a four-spot in the seventh to turn this one into a laugher, with the highlight being back-to-back triples from Jorge Mateo and Henderson. It’s striking how dynamic the young O’s can look on their best nights. The Yankees will continue to hope they slow down at some point this year.

Tampa Bay Rays (24-22) 4, Toronto Blue Jays (19-24) 2

Can Tyler Alexander become the next Rays pitching success story? The 29-year-old left-hander was selected off waivers by Tampa Bay last winter after five pretty non-descript seasons with Detroit. While he hadn’t fared very well in his first five starts with the Rays, number six almost proved to be very special.

Alexander, the man who the Yankees roughed up for three homers and six runs five days prior, was perfect through 7.1 innings in a bid for the first perfecto in Rays history. He looked like a different man in Toronto, filling the strike zone and daring the Jays lineup to beat him. Alexander does not have big strikeout stuff, with his four-seamer rarely cracking 90 mph, but he stayed ahead in the count against Toronto and tried to induce weak contact.

For 22 batters, he was successful. Before the eighth inning, just three Blue Jays were able to muster batted balls that had better than even odds of going for a hit, per Statcast. When Toronto did finally get to Alexander, though, they did get their money’s worth. Danny Jansen ended the perfect game with a bloop single in the eighth, and Davis Schneider followed with a two-run dinger. Alexander allowed one more single before getting yanked, with Manuel Rodríguez allowing the inherited runner to score and further mar Alexander’s line.

That left Tampa with a 4-3 lead, one the Rays just barely held onto. Rodríguez, facing George Springer with the bases loaded and one out, escaped after Springer grounded into a double play.

The Rays had gotten on the board in the sixth after Chris Bassitt had shut them out over the first five. Jonathan Aranda managed an RBI groundout, and Richie Palacios did the most damage with a two-run dinger. Yandy Díaz provided what proved to be the winning run the next inning with an RBI single.

Alexander’s line may not have ended up being incredibly impressive by the end, but it was still a night to remember for the fairly low-profile hurler. We’ll see if the Rays can continue to coax big performances out of him.

Los Angeles Angels (17-28) 9, Texas Rangers (23-23) 3

It was a good day for veteran left-handed starters named Tyler. Tyler Anderson gave the Angels one of their best performances the season as Anaheim blew out the defending champs.

A solo homer from Jonah Heim in the second was the only blemish Anderson’s line, who gave up just two hits over seven innings of one-run ball. Anderson had a terrible debut campaign with the Angels last season after signing a three-year contract, but he’s looked like the pitcher they were hoping for in 2024. His outing on Friday lowered his season ERA to 2.72.

Meanwhile, the Angels had constant pressure on a former Halo in Andrew Heaney, knocking him out by the fourth having allowed three runs. Reliever Grant Anderson didn’t fare better, allowing three more to score in just one inning of work. Zack Neto led the way with a two-run homer, while Willie Calhoun went 4-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.

With Mike Trout injured and Shohei Ohtani gone, there hasn’t been much fun to watch with the Angels this year. Their pitching staff is littered with guys you probably forget were in the league (Matt Moore, Hunter Strickland, and Carson Fulmer relieved Anderson in this one). Every once in a while, though, even shoddy teams can put in a complete effort. They dropped the division rival Rangers to .500 as Texas still tries to find its stride.

Houston Astros (20-25) 5, Milwaukee Brewers (26-18) 4

It was a bit of a slugfest in Houston, with the two teams trading blows and exclusively scoring on home runs. When the dust settled, the Astros had a narrow win, extending their streak to six games.

Jake Bauers got things started with a solo shot off Hunter Brown in the second. A fellow Jake responded, with Meyers hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the second off Freddy Peralta to put Houston in front.

The Brewers kept traffic on the bases the next couple innings against Brown, and landed another big swing in the fourth, with Joey Ortiz going oppo for a three-run homer:

Yet the Astros came right back again, this time in the fifth. With two on and one out, Jeremy Peña thrust Houston into the lead with a three-run shot into the Crawford Boxes:

The beleaguered Houston bullpen, 27th in fWAR entering the day, was able to see this one through. Clinging to a 5-4 lead, Tayler Scott, Rafael Montero, Bryan Abreu, and Josh Hader each pitched a scoreless inning to clinch the win. Hader picked up his first-ever save against his former team in the process.

Even with this hot streak, the Astros are still five games under .500, speaking to how poorly they got out of the gates in 2024. But the tide appears to be turning.

Other Games

Cleveland Guardians (28-17) 3, Minnesota Twins (24-20) 2: The Twins continue to scuffle, dropping their fourth straight after getting swept by the Yankees. Simeon Woods Richardson was solid for Minnesota, allowing one run over 5.1 innings, but Triston McKenzie held the Twins down with 6.2 innings of one-run ball. With the game tied at two in the eighth, Cleveland turned to their superstar, and José Ramírez did superstar things:

Ramírez’s 10th of the season came against the fire-balling Jhoan Duran, and put the Guardians up 3-2. Emmanuel Clase came on from there to shut things down for his 13th save.

St. Louis Cardinals (19-25) 10, Boston Red Sox (22-23) 6: This was a back-and-forth affair, with both starters getting touched up. Brayan Bello couldn’t make out of the fifth and gave up five runs, while Kyle Gibson gave up five of his own over six innings. Boston’s lack of pitching depth reared its head, with Cam Booser and Chase Anderson the relief options that came in after Bello. They combined to give up five runs in 3.2 innings of relief. Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson, Nolan Gorman, and Mason Winn all homered for St. Louis.