Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Rays lose zany extra-inning marathon in Baltimore

Give credit where it’s due! It was shaping up to be a disappointing Memorial Day for the Yankees. An early 2-0 lead in Kansas City fell by the wayside when the offense failed to tack on, and they fell behind in the bottom of the eighth, 3-2, on a solo shot from Bobby Witt Jr. But the Yankees mustered a rally against Lucas Erceg as the much-maligned Anthony Volpe drove in two with a sharp single to left, and David Bednar slammed the door on the 4-3 victory. Resiliency is important to build!

Here’s all the other notable AL activity from Memorial Day, with a wacky back-and-forth affair kicking us off, drawing the Yankees within 3.5 games of the Rays for first place in the AL East.

Tampa Bay Rays (34-17) 7, Baltimore Orioles (24-30) 9 – 13 innings

As MLB.com’s Sarah Langs loves to point out from time to time, the ol’ win expectancy chart can be a helluva rollercoaster. Indeed, the Rays and O’s went on some kind of journey yesterday afternoon at Camden Yards:

It didn’t seem like it would get that weird for most of the ballgame! Shane McClanahan and Kyle Bradish began the day with five scoreless innings apiece, allowing some hits and walks but holding down each opposing side until Jonathan Aranda broke the deadlock with a solo shot that barely cleared the right-center-field wall.

It was the only run allowed by Bradish in six innings, but while McClanahan never gave one up, he was done one out into the bottom of the sixth after a plunking of Gunnar Henderson and a walk to Adley Rutschman. Hunter Bigge preserved McClanahan’s pristine line with a pickoff and a groundout. After Yennier Cano stranded Chandler Simpson following his two-out double in the seventh, the O’s finally produced a run-scoring rally, with Bigge and fellow reliever Casey Legumina taking the damage.

Bigge walked the first hitter, Leody Taveras, and after the outfielder stole second, Bigge got burned by what helped him escape McClanahan’s jam: his pickoff move. They almost had Taveras dead to rights too far off the bag at second, but Bigge made a terrible throw that bounced off Taveras and went into center. Blaze Alexander then singled him in to tie it up. In came Legumina, and down on strikes went both Jackson Holliday and Colton Cowser, who entered as a pinch-hitter for the scuffling Tyler O’Neill. Taylor Ward delivered a two-out single to right and Alexander tried to go first-to-third. Victor Mesa Jr. airmailed it to third, and Alexander scored to make it 2-1, O’s.

Baltimore rookie Anthony Nunez didn’t hold the lead. Yandy Díaz hit a one-out double and went to third on Taveras’ own error. Richie Palacios promptly tied the game again by lacing a single to right. A bullpen battle was afoot.

Legumina got a scoreless eighth and Rico Garcia faced the minimum in the ninth for the O’s after Rutschman threw out Simpson trying to steal with two down. Bryan Baker sent this one to extras with his own 1-2-3 ninth, and given a second inning, Garcia had to bear down when a one-out walk to Oliver Dunn loaded the bases. He fanned Palacios and got Cedric Mullins to line out when he could have played the villain in the longtime Oriole’s first career game at Camden Yards as a visitor.

The O’s had a chance to win it by playing the automatic runner, Holliday, in the 10th. However, Cowser blew the sacrifice, bunting too hard back to the mound and forcing Holliday to freeze at second. Ian Seymour then struck out Henderson and got a Rutschman groundout to push this to 11. In said 11th, Mesa quickly atoned for his earlier error with a two-run clout off Tyler Wells for the erstwhile Marlins prospect’s first homer as a Ray, and it was 4-2, Tampa Bay.

Skipper Kevin Cash turned to Seymour for a second inning to see if he could lock it down. No dice! Pete Alonso singled in the zombie runner Rutschman when Simpson’s throw home went wild for an error. Alonso went to second and scored the tying run on Jeremiah Jackson’s own knock to left. Jackson ended up at third with one out and again, Baltimore could have won it then and there. But suddenly. Seymour got back on track, striking out Holliday and getting Cowser to fly out.

The Rays scored their 12th-inning Manfred Man in unremarkable fashion with two deep fly outs. Cash tapped Jesse Scholtens for the save that would not come. Ward joined the fly ball party to move zombie runner Cowser to third. Henderson then smashed one to first that Aranda made a good play on, throwing home to Nick Fortes, who acrobatically retired Cowser at the plate … until he didn’t. Replay review ruled that Cowser snuck his hand in, and it was a 5-5 ballgame.

In the top of the 13th, Dietrich Enns allowed Palacios to reach on a bunt single, and given another opportunity to stick it to his original team, Mullins twisted the screws with an RBI single to left. Mesa bunted the runners over, and Fortes plated an insurance run with a sacrifice fly to center. Tampa Bay was up, 7-5, and for the third time in three innings, the O’s would have to fight to tie it.

Fortunately for the Charm City faithful, Scholtens got smoked. The righty allowed an RBI double to Taveras and a sharp single by Alexander sent him to third. Holliday knotted this game up one last time with a sacrifice fly. Cowser stepped up to bat, ready for another chance to play hero — as he did the previous day on a walk-off homer against the Blue Jays. Lightning struck twice for the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up, as he clobbered a 425-foot blast to center, sending the Baltimore fans home happy. What a ballgame.

I don’t normally link to the full MLB.com Video recap because we like to focus in on some individual plays, but trust me: This whole saga should be enjoyed. It’s three minutes and worth your time.

Other Games

Houston Astros (24-31) 9, Texas Rangers (24-29) 0: Did you know that there hadn’t been a no-hitter in the majors since September 2024? Well if you did, you’ll need to update your fun fact. It’s probably not that much of a fun fact anyway since the aforementioned September 2024 no-no was a less interesting combined effort from the Cubs against the Pirates, and this one was also a combined no-hitter. Enthralling. NPB signing Tatsuya Imai walked three of the first four hitters he faced in the ballgame, settled down to pitch six scoreless, hitless innings, and turned the ball over to Steven Okert and the debuting Alimber Santa to finish it off (failed ABS challenge from Brandon Nimmo on the last pitch notwithstanding, creating a weird scene). Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker both homered in the blowout.

The Rangers stink and we’re just about done with them in the Rivalry Roundup for the time being, especially with Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford both on the IL.

Seattle Mariners (27-29) 9, The Athletics (27-27) 2: We feel like a broken record, but maybe this is the time that the defending division champs wake up in 2026 and regain control of the division from the upstart A’s, who are still in first place despite a .500 record (oh, AL West) . The M’s tore into Aaron Civale during a six-run third that saw Luke Raley and Dominic Canzone both hit two-run homers. J.P. Crawford and Randy Arozarena also socked dingers later in the ballgame. The M’s are still working out kinks, as Luis Castillo was frustrated with the “piggyback” decision to pull him after four scoreless for fellow normal starter Bryce Miller. Seattle has a crowded rotation at the moment (Bryan Woo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, and Emerson Hancock have the other spots), so they’re seemingly doing what they can to give both Castillo and Miller extended outings.

Toronto Blue Jays (25-29) 2, Miami Marlins (26-29) 8: The Yankees have mostly seen Jays rookie Trey Yesavage at his best during his young career, but the Marlins got to see him on a day in which he wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Yesavage wobbled some through five innings of two-run ball before taking it on the chin from the Fish in the sixth — though his defense did him no favors. With Liam Hicks on first after a walk from Yesavage, Kyle Stowers hit one in the air that probably should have been snagged by left fielder Yohendrick Piñango or shortstop Andrés Giménez. Instead, it caromed off Piñango’s foot for an RBI double, and following a free pass to Jakob Marsee, Piñango didn’t take the best route to a Javier Sanoja drive that went over his head for a two-run two-bagger. Tyler Rogers had a bad day out of the bullpen too, and with the Toronto offense not doing much against former Yankees farmhand Janson Junk and company, this one was all Miami.

Cleveland Guardians (32-24) 2, Washington Nationals (28-27) 10: Guardians fans will likely take the Cavaliers’ loss to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals worse, but their baseball team had a bad day, too. Tanner Bibee would no doubt like to put this holiday behind him in a hurry. The Cleveland righty was awful yesterday, as a leadoff homer by James Wood set the tone for an afternoon that saw him cough up five homers to the Nats in three innings. CJ Abrams, Jacob Young, Luis García Jr., and Curtis Mead all took him yard as well, and Mead declared himself the superior Australian to rookie Travis Bazzana on this day with a second homer off Matt Festa. This is the latest in a season the Nats have been over .500 since early July 2021. Yowza.