2020 MLB Season: Simulating AL games, May 8-10

2020 MLB Season: Simulating AL games (May 8-10)

American League East

The Red Sox arrived in New York with a purpose and succeeded in shaving a game off the Yankees’ division edge. They tied into Masahiro Tanaka Friday for 10 hits and six runs inside of five innings of an eventual 8-4 victory.

Christian Vazquez, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Rafael Devers all homered, and starter Nathan Eovaldi fanned nine in six and one-third innings. Boston followed that with a  3-1 Saturday victory behind Collin McHugh, J.D. Martinez homering in the sixth off J.A. Happ and again in the eighth off Jonathan Holder.

The Yanks recovered on Sunday for a 6-1 victory halted by rain in the sixth inning. Gleyber Torres and Aaron Judge both drove in two runs as the surprising Jonathan Loaisiga ran his record to 5-1.

In Tampa-St. Pete, the Rays picked up Friday’s series opener against the Texas Rangers before everything went south. Austin Meadows homered twice in that Friday game, and Tyler Glasnow scattered nine hits into the seventh inning.

On Saturday, however, Lance Lynn limited the Rays to two hits through eight innings of a 4-3 victory. Texas wrapped up the series with a 4-0 shutout Sunday, Corey Kluber allowing just three singles. Joey Gallo drove in two runs for the Rangers.

                                W-L          Pct       GB

New York            24-17     .585        —

Boston                23-19     .548        1.5

Toronto               20-20     .500        3.5

Baltimore           16-25     .390        8

Tampa Bay        16-26     .381        8.5