AP Photo/Julio Cortez
The screws are tightening in the American League Wild Card race heading into the final two days of the regular season.
After their 4-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday night at Nationals Park, the Boston Red Sox have moved within one game of the New York Yankees for the top spot.
The Yankees lost 4-3 at home to the Tampa Bay Rays, who have already clinched the AL East title.
The Toronto Blue Jays were able to stay within one game of the Red Sox thanks to their 6-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre.
The Seattle Mariners are hosting the Los Angeles Angels in their final series of the regular season. The first game got underway at 10:10 p.m. ET. The Mariners will remain tied with the Red Sox in the second wild-card position with a win tonight.
Updated AL Wild Card Standings
1. New York Yankees (91-69)
2. Boston Red Sox (90-70; 1 GB)
3. Seattle Mariners (89-70; 1.5 GB)
4. Toronto Blue Jays (89-71; 1 GB of No. 2 WC)
Coming into Friday’s games, the Yankees had an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth. They would have needed to defeat the Rays and see a loss by either the Red Sox or Mariners.
Even though the Red Sox have one of the easiest matchups of the weekend among the contenders, they were coming off five losses in their past six games, including two of three to the Orioles earlier this week.
Baltimore Orioles @Orioles
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Boston’s offense got off to a slow start against Nationals starter Josh Rogers before breaking through with four runs in the top of the sixth. Hunter Renfroe and Bobby Dalbec hit back-to-back homers to provide all of the scoring for the Red Sox.
Red Sox @RedSox
Hello, here is…
𝗛𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗗. pic.twitter.com/4DiYk35pNZ
In the Bronx, the Rays and Yankees looked like they were going to play a high-scoring affair after trading runs in the first inning and Tampa added a run in the top of the second.
Tampa Bay Rays @RaysBaseball
And we’re off to a BOOMING start pic.twitter.com/P8bZuFW53z
Tampa’s pitching staff did a fantastic job of limiting the Yankees for most of the game after the first. The Bronx Bombers didn’t get a runner into scoring position over the next seven innings.
New York did bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. Joey Gallo and Brett Gardner drove in runs with RBI singles. Gary Sanchez, who was pinch-hitting for Kyle Higashioka with runners on first and second, went down swinging for the second out.
Rays closer Andrew Kittredge got Rougned Odor to strike out to end the game.
The Blue Jays looked like they were going to cruise to victory after taking a 6-0 lead going into the top of the seventh. Danny Jansen and Corey Dickerson each hit homers in the game.
Baltimore was able to make things interesting with four runs in the top of the eighth. Kelvin Gutierrez and Pat Valaika homered, and Trey Mancini drove in a run with an RBI single. Jordan Romano closed out the contest with a perfect ninth inning.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s games, the Yankees will send Jordan Montgomery to the mound against Rays rookie Shane Baz at 1:05 p.m. ET. The Orioles have ace John Means going against Toronto rookie Alek Manoah at 3:07 p.m.
The Red Sox have yet to name a starter for their game against the Nationals at 4:05 p.m. The Mariners will have the luxury of knowing where everyone stands when their showdown with the Angels starts at 9:10.
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