This American League wild-card race is getting intense.
Oakland is using a heck of a weekend against the AL West-leading Astros to cut into an already diminishing Rays lead on the second wild-card spot.
But fortunately for the Rays, they were able to get a 1-0 win over the Tigers to keep the Athletics at bay — the A's did beat the Astros, 8-4, for a third consecutive win over the 2017 World Series champs.
The lead though is small and it took every single thing possible from the Rays' pitching staff to maintain it. Tampa Bay now has just a half-game advantage over Oakland which is almost entirely because of the effort on the mound.
Ryan Yarbrough, Chaz Roe, Nick Anderson, Emilio Pagan, Diego Castillo and Colin Poche combined to strike out 24 Tigers batters in 13 innings of work. The Rays needed every single one of those K's because it took Tampa Bay 13 innings to score a run.
Before scoring that run in the 13th inning, Tampa Bay had gone 29 consecutive innings without scoring once. But again, it was a timely run because Oakland is not letting up.
The A's won their third straight game in a four-game series against the Astros and did so without hitting a homer for the third time this year. This was a revelation to the A's as they are now 3-26 in games in which they don't hit a long ball.
This was a far cry from their game Friday when every single one of their seven runs came courtesy of a dinger.
Either way, the A's have put the Rays on notice. They are coming for the wild-card spot and Tampa Bay needs to figure out some things at the plate if they want to hold off the streaking team out of Oakland.
Gleyber Torres went 2 for 4 with two home runs in the Yankees' 6-5 win over the Indians.
Miguel Sano went 3 for 6 with a home run and two RBIs in Minnesota's 12-7 win over the Rangers.
Eduardo Rodriguez threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings in Boston's 4-0 win over the Orioles.
Nationals closer Sean Doolittle blew a save by giving up four hits (three homers) and four runs in 1/3 of an inning against the Brewers.
Rockies center fielder Raimel Tapia was a thief in an 11-4 win over the Marlins.
Be On The Lookout: Stolen Home Run
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 18, 2019
Suspect last seen at the corner of 20th & Blake wearing purple pinstripes.
He is described as “Con Mucho Swagger” and responds to "El Cangrejo" ? pic.twitter.com/R6qu1WhxGT
Cardinals (64-57) at Reds (58-64) 1:10 p.m. ET — The Cardinals need every win they can get right now as they are tied atop the lead of the National League Central with the Cubs. The Reds aren't out of the playoff race either so they could use the win as well.
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