Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Royals and Tigers clinch, Astros help out Yankees

The Yankees did hold a lead on Friday night against the Pirates, but they never much looked like winning, trotting out a hangover lineup the night after celebrating an AL East championship and looking a little lifeless. Even if they've earned a bad night, they still have some work to do if they want to clinch the top seed in the American League. They entered Friday with a magic number of two for the number-one seed, with the Guardians hosting Houston for the weekend. Let's see what happened in Cleveland, as well as elsewhere around the AL, with a number of teams looking to clinch.

Houston Astros (87-73) 5, Cleveland Guardians (92-68) 2 This was the game with the most direct importance to the Yankees' fortunes, what with Cleveland and New York still vying for the top seed in the American League. For once, the Astros did the Yankees a favor, dominating the Guardians for most of the night.

Houston's pitching smothered the Guardians lineup, allowing just one hit through the first eight innings. Ronel Blanco started and tossed five shutout, while Spencer Arrighetti followed with 2.1 shutout of his own. Joey Cantillo started for Cleveland and struggled, yielding three runs over just 3.2 innings.

Alex Bregman started the scoring in the first, driving in Jose Altuve with a sac fly. Houston tacked on two more in the fourth, with Grae Kessinger leading off with a walk and Altuve doubling for the second time. A wild pitch scored Kessinger, and Kyle Tucker singled to bring home Altuve.

Houston brought the thump in the next inning. With Eli Morgan on in relief of Cantillo, Victor Caratini homered to make it 4-0, his eighth of the year. Rookie Zach Dezenzo went back-to-back with his second career dinger to push the lead to five:

The Astros would continue to put traffic on in the later innings but would fail to add to their lead. But the Guardians hardly threatened, putting a few runners on via walk but unable to find a key hit anywhere. Cleveland didn't score until Josh Hader came in for the ninth with a five-run lead and allowed two runs to make the final score more respectable. Hader's got a 3.80 ERA as an uneven regular season for the star closer nears an end.

The Astros are locked into the three seed as AL West champs, and the Guardians are now tending toward the two seed. The Yankees' magic number to clinch the top seed in the AL is just one, meaning any Yankee win or Cleveland loss today or tomorrow will give New York home field advantage through the AL bracket.

Baltimore Orioles (89-71) 7, Minnesota Twins (82-78) 2 With the Twins fighting for their playoff lives, the Orioles drove the final nail in the coffin. Minnesota's collapse is complete after a lifeless loss to Baltimore at home.

Cade Povich went for the Orioles and had one of the best starts of his young career, keeping the Twins quiet over 5.2 innings of two-hit, shutout ball. Pablo López did his best for the Twins, holding the Orioles to two runs over 5.2 innings, striking out eight.

But it wasn't enough. Ryan O'Hearn's two-run homer in the second, his 14th of the year, gave Baltimore a lead they would never relinquish.

The Twins hung in from there, López fighting gamely. Caleb Thielbar relieved López in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs, escaping the jam to briefly preserve the Twins' hopes. But Thielbar allowed a solo shot to Colton Cowser in the seventh as the hole deepened:

Baltimore broke things open with a four-spot in the seventh, and it was over for Minnesota. The Twins ended the shutout with two in the bottom of the ninth, but it was far too little, too late. Minnesota's playoff odds per FanGraphs were above 95 percent as recently as September 5th, when they had a 5.5-game lead over the Tigers. They've collapsed since, going 6-12 and watching the Tigers and Royals run past them.

Other GamesDetroit Tigers (86-74) 4, Chicago White Sox (39-121) 1

What happens when an unstoppable force meets the most movable object you've ever seen? The answer is that the Tigers win and clinch a playoffs spot. Garrett Crochet was excellent for Chicago, but over just four shutout innings, giving way to a parade of relievers that yielded to Detroit. The Tigers got two off of Jared Shuster in the fourth, and tacked on two more in the seventh on Riley Greene's RBI double and on a wild pitch by Fraser Ellard. The Tigers deployed an opener/bullpen game, as they've done through much of the second half. Brant Hurter, who has excelled as a follower, pitched four innings of one-run ball to provide some bulk behind Brenan Hanifee, who opened with two shutout.

With that, the Tigers' stunning run to the playoffs is complete, and the White Sox death march to futility is too. Detroit has a Wild Card, and the White Sox have lost more games than any team in history.

Atlanta Braves (87-71) 3, Kansas City Royals (85-75) 0: The Royals entered the game with a magic number of one, but they lost to a Braves team in desperate need of wins. Max Fried dazzled, very nearly completing the shutout. Fried retired the first two batters of the ninth, but was removed after allowing a double and a walk. Raisel Iglesias came on to record the final out, preserving Fried's line of 8.2 scoreless with three hits, two walks, and nine strikeouts.

Sean Murphy homered off Brady Singer in the fourth to provide the bulk of the scoring. Singer was solid, holding the Braves to two runs over six, but it wasn't enough. Even so, the Royals clinched a Wild Card with the Twins' loss. That marks an incredible turnaround, with Kansas City bouncing back from a 106-loss 2023 campaign to make the playoffs.