This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Juan Soto hit a game-ending single to open the 10th inning and the New York Yankees outlasted the visiting Boston Red Sox for a 2-1 victory Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.
Soto gave the Yankees their fourth walk-off win this season when he hit a 2-2 sinker from Josh Winckowski (4-2) under shortstop Trevor Story’s glove into left field to score pinch runner Jon Berti, who replaced automatic runner Gleyber Torres.
Soto’s game-winner lifted the Yankees to their fifth win in seven games and moved them two games ahead of the idle Baltimore Orioles atop the American League East. New York matched its largest lead in the division since regaining first place on Aug. 21.
Danny Jensen hit a solo homer for the Red Sox, who are 4 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the final wild card in the American League.
Rockies 4, Tigers 2
Jacob Stallings doubled twice and drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth as Colorado snapped host Detroit’s four-game winning streak.
Jordan Beck supplied a solo homer for the Rockies. Seth Halvorsen (1-0) notched his first career win with an inning of scoreless relief and Tyler Kinley pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his 12th save.
Detroit starter Tarik Skubal allowed one run and four hits with six strikeouts in six innings. Spencer Torkelson drove in both runs for the Tigers with a fourth-inning double.
Cardinals 6, Reds 1
Brendan Donovan hit a two-run home run and Masyn Winn homered and scored twice to help host St. Louis beat Cincinnati.
Cardinals starter Sonny Gray (13-9) allowed one run on two hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out nine. This was quite a reversal for Gray, who lost his two previous starts against the Reds this season while allowing 12 runs (nine earned) on 12 hits in 9 1/3 innings. JoJo Romero got the final four outs to earn his first save.
Reds starter Jakob Junis allowed one run on three hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked none. Reliever Carson Spiers (5-6) took the loss.
Astros 6, Athletics 3
Jon Singleton ripped a go-ahead RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift host Houston past Oakland to avoid a three-game sweep.
After Singleton came through in the clutch, Jake Meyers helped Houston salvage the finale of a three-game series with an RBI double. Jason Heyward was then intentionally walked before Mauricio Dubon brought home two more runs with a single to put away Oakland.
The Astros’ eighth-inning rally came against T.J. McFarland (2-3) and Grant Holman. McFarland got just one out and Holman recorded two, and each reliever was charged with two runs. Houston starter Framber Valdez was in line for his seventh win in nine starts until Brent Rooker tied the score at 2-all with a one-out solo shot in the eighth off reliever Ryan Pressly (2-3).
Marlins 6, Nationals 3
Jonah Bride and Connor Norby each drove in two runs as Miami overcame an early three-run deficit to defeat host Washington.
Jake Burger collected three hits and Xavier Edwards had two after entering the game in the eighth. Three relievers did not allow a hit and struck out six over four scoreless innings for the Marlins, who benefited from three errors by the Nationals to snap a three-game skid.
Washington’s Jose Tena had a two-run double and Dylan Crews added a run-scoring single during a three-run first to highlight his two-hit performance. Crews added a nifty sliding catch in the gap in right-center field to end the sixth for the Nationals, who have lost three of their last four games.
Rays 5, Guardians 2
Cole Sulser and four other relievers combined to allow one hit over seven scoreless innings, and Jose Caballero had two hits with an RBI, as visiting Tampa Bay beat Cleveland.
Brandon Lowe homered in the first and Jonny DeLuca delivered a tiebreaking single in the fourth for the Rays, who bounced back after being swept in a three-game set at Philadelphia this week. Right-hander Ryan Pepiot started for the Rays, but was pulled after just two innings, allowing two runs, two walks and four hits.
Gavin Williams (3-9) allowed three runs and seven hits, while walking two and striking out five, in 5 1/3 innings for the Guardians, who had just swept a three-game road set from the lowly Chicago White Sox.
-Field Level Media
