Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Framber Valdez implodes in Detroit, throws at Red Sox

Although Toronto regained the lead in the fifth, they again did so while shooting themselves in the foot. Valenzuela was thrown out at second trying to follow the lead runner on a deep fly out to center. Rookie Yohendrick Piñango drove in one run to make it 3-2, Jays, but that was all they mustered in the inning. They never scored again. It became a battle of the bullpens, and while Jeff Hoffman actually did his job in the seventh for Toronto, free-agent signing Tyler Rogers faltered for pretty much the first time all year after entering play with a 0.55 ERA in 16 games.

With one down, Jonathan Aranda doubled and scored the tying run on a ground-ball single to center by Yandy Díaz. Jake Fraley followed with a knock and offseason trade acquisition Ben Williamson sent one back up the middle for a hit to put the Rays ahead, 4-3.

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Neither Díaz nor Williamson hit the ball particularly hard in the eighth, but that doesn’t matter once the game’s in the books. And Cole Sulser did his part to quickly slam said book shut with a perfect ninth.

Other Games

Boston Red Sox (15-21) 10, Detroit Tigers (18-19) 3: The Tigers evidently saw the chaos of the Red Sox clubhouse and decided that they’d like to have some of that mess as well. The story of the game could’ve been Brayan Bello finding a mini-resurgence in a “bulk guy” role, entering after an opener and firing seven innings of four-hit, one-run ball as Ceddanne Rafaela, Willson Contreras, and Wilyer Abreu all went yard in a blowout. However, the man who coughed up those clouts is no stranger to making himself the story. (No pun intended.)

After Willson and Wilyer went back-to-back to make it 10-2, Framber Valdez hit Trevor Story in the back on his next pitch. The benches cleared and no punches were thrown, but he was ejected. The Red Sox were understandably furious in the postgame and even Tigers manager A.J. Hinch seemed to question Valdez’s intentions despite his pitcher’s denial. Now, Valdez might have gotten himself suspended with a Tigers rotation already reeling from losing ace Tarik Skubal for months due to his elbow surgery. Yikes.

Cleveland Guardians (18-19) 3, Kansas City Royals (17-19) 5: KC already looked dead in the water when the Yankees swept ’em in mid-April, but it helps to play in the AL Central. With just one hot streak—now a five-game winning streak—they’re right back in the mix of things, tied with the White Sox (!) at half a game back of the first-place tie between the Guardians and Tigers. Although Stephen Kolek had surrendered a three-run bomb to Cleveland’s Rhys Hoskins to put the Guardos ahead, Michael Massey immediately countered in the home half of the fourth with a two-run homer of his own off Gavin Williams. The latter got burned for another dinger by Isaac Collins and that was all she wrote.

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Seattle Mariners (17-20) 2, Atlanta Braves (26-11) 3: The Yankees were briefly tied with the Braves for the best record in baseball yesterday, but a couple hours after New York got even with Atlanta at 25-11, the scorching-hot Braves jumped ahead by a win. The M’s initially jumped ahead on a two-run homer by J.P. Crawford, but that was one of just two hits allowed by the resurgent Bryce Elder, who fanned nine in six innings. Mauricio Dubón quickly tied it up on a two-run double to plate Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies, and the powerful first baseman delivered a majestic, eventual-game-winning blow with a 412-foot shot in the ninth, his 13th of the season to pace the NL. Olson leads the majors with 15 doubles, 35 runs, 33, RBI, and 2.4 fWAR, his 190 wRC+ trailing only … Ben Rice (amazing).

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