SHUFFLE
favor of Aroldis Chapman with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning of Monday’s 2-1 victory.
In nine appearances since Aug. 31, Betances has coughed up seven earned runs (8.22 ERA) and walked eight over 7.2 innings.
Might the Yanks temporarily switch the four-time All-Star to lower-leverage situations, as they did last month with Chapman before he regained the closer’s role?
“I still have a lot of confidence in Dellin,” Girardi said. “Sometimes when to use a guy is easy to determine and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s based on need. I consider him still a late-inning guy. We’ve just got to get him right…We’re going to do whatever we can to get him right, just like we did with Chappy.”
STAR TURN
Starlin Castro had batted .146 (6-for-41) over his previous 10 games, but the All-Star second baseman tied a season high by reaching base four times with three singles, a walk and an RBI.
“I feel much better,” Castro said. “I’ve been trying to have the same approach I had at the beginning of the year. I feel like I got my confidence back.” TORONTO — Kansas City outfielder Alex Gordon’s solo home run off Toronto’s Ryan Tepera in the eighth inning Tuesday night was the 5,694th of this major-league season, breaking the record set in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era. The record was broken with just less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.
Marcus Stroman pitched seven innings to win for the first time in six starts as the Blue Jays beat the Royals, 5-2.
There were 5,610 homers last year, an average of 2.31 per game, and this year’s average of 2.53 entering Tuesday projects to 6,139. That would be up 47% from 4,186 in 2014. “A pretty cool thing to be a part of,” Gordon said. “I didn’t hit many this year but I guess I made one count.”
Gordon, who has eight home runs this season, didn’t intend to keep the ball from his milestone homer. “I’m going to give it to Cooperstown,” Gordon said. “I figured they’d probably have much more reason to have it than I do. I don’t really want to remember too much about this season, so I’ll probably just give it away and let them take care of it.”
RED SOX 1, ORIOLES 0 (11): Jackie Bradley Jr. scored the game’s lone run on a wild pitch by Brad Brach in the 11th as visiting Boston used six pitchers to silence Baltimore.
Boston has won 10 of 13 to move a season-high 23 games over .500 (87-64) and draw closer to clinching a postseason berth.
It was the second straight tight, lengthy game between these AL East rivals. Boston won in 11 innings on Monday night and is 15-3 in extra-inning games.
With a runner on second and two outs in the 11th, Brach (4-5) walked Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts to load the bases for Mitch Moreland, who sidestepped a bouncing pitch from Brach that enabled Bradley to score without a throw.
CUBS 2, RAYS 1: Mike Montgomery took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning, Kyle Schwarber hit his 28th home run and Chicago extended its winning streak to a seasonhigh seven in manager Joe Maddon’s return to Tropicana Field.
Maddon managed the Rays from 2006-14, then left to manage Chicago and last year led the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908. Chicago maintained its 31/2-game lead over second-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.
Montgomery (7-8) allowed one hit in six innings, a one-out homer in the sixth by Brad Miller. Montgomery struck out six, walked one and hit his first batter, Kevin Kiermaier.
BREWERS 1, PIRATES 0: Chase Anderson had eight strikeouts in six innings as visiting Milwaukee shut out the Pirates for the second straight day. The Brewers won for the ninth time in 11 games, keeping pace in the NL Central and wild-card races.
PHILS 6, DODGERS 2: Rhys Hoskins notched four RBI, including a tiebreaking, three-run double off Pedro Baez in seventh inning for host Philadelphia. L.A.’s magic number to clinch its fifth straight division title was reduced to two thanks to Arizona’s loss. The Dodgers have lost three consecutive games and 19 of 24.
PADRES 6, D-BACKS 2: Travis Wood pitched six efficient innings and contributed two RBI for host San Diego. Arizona failed to gain ground in the NL wild-card race despite A. J. Pollock’s two homers and a double. The loss reduced the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the NL West to two.
Wood (4-6), who surrendered a career-high nine runs in his last start, rebounded to win for the first time since Aug. 19. The southpaw was the benefactor of three double plays as he allowed two runs, three hits and two walks.
Arizona has won 20 of its last 28 games since Aug. 21.