Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Orioles smash Tigers, Twins regain Wild Card spot

We're coming down the home stretch, with magic numbers tumbling down and teams across the league within reach of the playoffs. The Yankees did their job last night, outlasting the Athletics to whittle their magic number down to four. They've almost got the AL East locked up, but there's still work to do, and the streaking Tigers could help the Yankees out if they can take some games in Baltimore. Let's see what else happened on Friday night.

Baltimore Orioles (86-68) 7, Detroit Tigers (80-74) 1 The Orioles finally cooled off the red-hot Tigers, with heroes likely and unlikely stepping up to hand Detroit their first loss in a week.

In truth, Detroit was in a tough spot from the start, as they were using an opener-follower strategy with Tyler Holton and Keider Montero to counter Corbin Burnes. Baltimore's ace was too much for the Tigers, mowing through them for seven shutout, striking out eight and yielding just three hits.

Meanwhile Holton, tasked with getting through the meat of the Baltimore order before giving way to Montero, got hit quick. It was Anthony Santander in the first, with his 43rd dinger of the year putting the Orioles up 2-0:

Montero would fare no better. The Orioles would get Montero for four homers to give them five total on the night. Each of Colten Cowser and James McCann had two-homer nights. That's a shocking result for the latter, as he carries a 73 OPS+ over his last four seasons combined.

Former Yankee prospect Trey Sweeney knocked a run in the ninth off Jacob Webb to avoid the shutout, but otherwise, it was a dull night for Detroit. That's a second straight win for the Orioles, who needed these wins to stem the tide after a long stretch of futility.

Cleveland Guardians (90-65) 5, St. Louis Cardinals (77-77) 1 It was all José Ramírez as the Guardians closed in on an AL Central title. The superstar contributed in every facet of the game in support of another solid Ben Lively start to push Cleveland to seven games clear in the division.

Ramírez opened the scoring with an RBI single in the third, lining a 3-0 pitch from Kyle Gibson to right. Cleveland built a picket fence from there. Daniel Schneemann added an RBI single in the fourth. In the fifth, Ramírez smashed a bullet solo home run, his 36th of the year:

And in the sixth, Andrés Giménez added a solo shot of his own, giving Cleveland one run scored in four straight innings and a 4-1 lead.

Ben Lively had a typical start, striking out just two but limiting hard contact, allowing one run and three hits over five. He was aided by some slick defense, including this smooth play from Ramírez:

For good measure, Ramírez swiped third in the seventh, giving him 40 steals on the year. His stellar power/speed combination would be generating a little more buzz this year if it weren't for a particular DH putting on a show in the Senior Circuit.

Houston Astros (84-70) 9, Los Angeles Angels (62-92) 7 The Astros survived a slugfest with the Angels on a day that came with good news and bad news for them. Houston whittled down their magic number, but also saw Justin Verlander get knocked around again, leaving their playoff rotation still in question.

There was just a whole lot of hitting early on in this one. Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the third, Kyle Tucker singled and Alex Bregman smashed a two-run homer, his 24th:

After a single and an error, Jake Meyers opened things up, a three-run homer off Tyler Anderson making it 6-1:

But the Angels just kept coming at Verlander. Former Yankee farmhand Eric Wagaman knocked in a run with a single in the fourth, as did Jack López to make it 6-3. Houston added two more of their own in the home half, only for Verlander to get touched up again in the fifth. Wagaman doubled with two out and two on:

Matt Thaiss followed with a single off of Bryan King, with two runs scoring and being charged to Verlander. The veteran was left with a six-run, 4.2-inning line, and with his ERA inflated to 5.55. It's hard at this point to envision Houston giving Verlander much to do in the playoffs.

The recently returned Kyle Tucker added some insurance with a solo shot in the seventh, and the Houston bullpen held on for a 9-7 win. Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader were perfect in the eighth and ninth respectively as Houston maintained their stranglehold on the AL West.

Other GamesMinnesota Twins (81-73) 4, Boston Red Sox (76-78) 2 (12 innings): The Twins finally stopped the bleeding, pulling out an extra-innings to move back into sole possession of a Wild Card spot. Richard Fitts shut out Minnesota over five and left with a 1-0 lead, but the Twins tied the game in the seventh on a Carlos Correa RBI groundout. The game went to extras, and the two sides were held scoreless into the 12th. There, Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner roped RBI singles, and Willi Castro added a sac fly, with Cooper Crispwell yielding all three runs and taking the loss. The Twins now stand one game ahead of the Tigers in the Wild Card race.San Francisco Giants (75-79) 2, Kansas City Royals (82-72) 1: Reeling from a sweep at the hands of the Tigers, the Royals were once again listless, getting shut down by rookie right-hander Mason Black. Black carried an ERA over 6 into the game, but tossed 5.2 shutout in Kansas City. Michael Wacha kept the Giants to two runs over 5.2 innings, but it wasn't enough. KC had a chance in the ninth, putting the first two runners on with walks, but Tommy Pham struck out to end the game with the tying run on second.Seattle Mariners (79-75) 8, Texas Rangers (73-81) 2: Their playoff hopes on life support, Seattle has pulled out a couple wins to stay alive. George Kirby did what he had to do, tossing six innings of two-run ball, striking out four and walking none. Julio Rodríguez starred, smashing two dingers off of Jack Leiter: Leiter was pitching in relief of Jacob deGrom, who looked sharp again. The star right-hander only lasted three innings, but struck out five and gave up one run, sitting nearly 98 mph on his fastball.