MLB Playoff Wrap: Yankees, Astros Hopes Fading

A week from today we will have some clarification as to which teams will be participating in the MLB playoffs, barring any tiebreaker scenarios (?!). In the American League, teams are starting to separate themselves from the pack, while in the National League nobody seems to want to claim a spot.

The New York Yankees dropped the second game of their series with the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon, have lost three straight, and are 2-8 in their last ten. Yesterday’s 3-0 defeat in Toronto was the third straight game in which the Yanks have failed to score a run. All of this has them 4.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles with eight games left on the schedule and three teams between them and the O’s. With Masahiro Tanaka not at 100 percent with a slight forearm strain, an already shaky Yankee rotation likely won’t have enough ammunition to hold down the offenses of the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Orioles over their final eight games.

The Houston Astros were dealt a big blow on Saturday as Ken Giles was hit on the right wrist while going about his pre-game routine in the outfield during the team’s batting practice. Giles had given up six runs in the final frame of Friday night’s loss, and the Astros bullpen followed up that stinker by giving up nine over the final two innings of last night’s 10-4 loss to the Angels. Each pitcher that was mentioned by manager A.J. Hinch as high leverage options with Giles down was used, and each gave up at least a run. The Astros now sit three back of Baltimore for the second wild card spot, and the seemingly soft schedule they have to wrap-up the regular season is suddenly looking like a gauntlet with four more games against the Angels in store.

The Mariners will be the other Houston opponent before season’s end, and after their 3-2 loss to the Twins sit 2.5 back in the MLB playoff race. Seattle was shut down by Tyler Duffey, not to be confused with Royals emerging ace Danny Duffy, Tyler has a 6.18 ERA. He held the M’s offense in check for seven innings, allowing two earned on four hits while striking out four. Duffey did give up one of the longest home runs of Nelson Cruz‘s career and the second-longest home run of the year, but he still walked away with the win.

Detroit, who opened the day with a half-game lead over the Orioles for the second wild card, had a throwback game (don’t worry, no jersey were injured) in that their bullpen imploded in the ninth inning at home against the Royals. With a 4-2 lead to begin the frame, Francisco Rodriguez came on and gave up a pair of singles with an Alcides Escobar fly out in between. K-Rod then struck out Daniel Nava to record the second out with runners on first and second. Then the floodgates opened.

Paulo Orlando doubled home both runs to tie the game, Cheslor Cuthbert walked, and Eric Hosmer ultimately gave the Royals the win with a three-run homer. The Tigers have one game left with the Royals today before facing off with Cleveland from Monday through Thursday and traveling to Atlanta to finish out the regular season.

Over in the Senior Circuit, the insanity continued. The New York Mets, who were swept by the Braves to start their week before rebounding with a dramatic extra-inning win against the Phillies on Thursday and a more convincing win on Friday, saw their comeback fall just shy Saturday. Trailing 10-0 after four, the Mets made things extremely interesting by scoring four in the 5th, two in the 6th, a single run in the 8th. In the 9th after Jay Bruce hit a solo homer, Eric Campbell and Michael Conforto drew walks and represented the tying runs with one away.

Lucas Duda, who had scored three times in the game already, popped out to shortstop Freddy Galvis, and Travis d’Arnaud followed that up with a grounder to the pitcher to end the game. Even with all of the injuries that the team has been facing, the Mets still have the inside track on one of the two wild card spots with four left against the Phillies (three in Philadelphia to close out the season) and three in Miami.

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The St. Louis Cardinals hung ten on the Chicago Cubs, but it was not “far out” or “groovy,” dude. Instead, Cubs starter Jason Hammel gave up six in just 2 1/3 innings to give the Cardinals an early 6-3 lead after three, which ended up being plenty for Red Bird rookie Alex Reyes, who struck out six in his five innings of work.

The Cardinals win put pressure on the Giants to match, or be relegated to the outside looking in, and for a minute it looked as though the San Francisco bullpen would melt under the pressure once again, which they did to a degree. After being spotted a 6-0 lead heading to the bottom of the 4th, Madison Bumgarner surrendered a home run to Padres power-hitting rookie Hunter Renfroe, the first of his career.

Bumgarner then gave up a two-run job to Derek Norris, who has always hit lefties better than righties, and another two-run homer to another former Oakland Athletic in Adam Rosales in the bottom of the 6th. The bullpen entered with a 6-5 lead, and of course they gave it up the first chance they got.

This one ended up going into extras with the score tied at six, where the Giants would plate three in the 10th on a Kelby Tomlinson RBI single followed by a Denard Span two-run homer.

With the win, the Giants retain their half-game lead over the Cardinals and move into a tie with the Mets for the top spot. The Giants will take on the Rockies for three at AT&T before welcoming Vin Scully and the Dodgers to finish out their regular season. The Cardinals will be facing the Reds and their terrible pitching staff, and the Pittsburgh Pirates who may give them a little trouble, but not more than the Dodgers will give the Giants. If there is one team the Dodgers will try to beat, it’s the Giants–always.

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The Washington Nationals clinched the NL East with their win and the Mets loss, while the Dodgers trimmed their magic number to clinch the West to just a game with their 14-1 win over the Rockies. Clayton Kershaw went seven scoreless and gave up just three hits while striking out six. Both the Dodgers and Indians have a chance to clinch their respective divisions on Sunday. Los Angeles just needs a win or a Giants loss, while Cleveland needs to win their own game and get another Royals victory against Detroit.

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