AROUND THE HORN
Yankees: Yankees left fielder Andrew Benintendi went on the 10-day injured list Saturday with right wrist inflammation. Benintendi left in the third inning of Friday night’s 9-0 loss to the Rays after injuring the wrist on a swing. He shook his hand and immediately walked to the Yankees dugout. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Benintendi thought something popped on the wrist and that he had some finger numbness afterward. “We’ve got to get some more tests, more imaging and more opinions to kind of really narrow down exactly what it is,” Boone said. “There’s still some questions out there.”
Rays: Corey Kluber limited the Yankees to a pair of singles over seven shutout innings and the Rays withstood Aaron Judge’s 52nd home run, beating New York 2-1 Saturday night to cut their deficit in the AL East to four games. The first-place Yankees, who have seen their 15 ½-game advantage slip away, have lost six of seven. The Rays blanked them on five hits in the series opener Friday night, a 9-0 loss that Yankees manager Aaron Boone called “embarrassing.” This was the second of six games between the teams in a 10-day stretch. Yandy Diaz hit a two-run single in the third inning and the Rays made it stand up. Judge boosted his major league homer lead with a leadoff drive in the ninth inning off Jason Adam. But Adam retired the next three batters for his eighth save.
Red Sox: Brayan Bello pitched six scoreless innings in his first major league win and John Schreiber escaped a jam in the ninth, helping the Red Sox beat the Rangers 5-3 on Saturday. Bello (1-4) allowed three hits, struck out five and walked one in the longest of his eight big league appearances. The 23-year-old right-hander is one of the team’s top prospects. Rafael Devers drove in two runs in the Red Sox’s fourth straight win. Devers, Xander Bogaerts and Trevor Story each had two hits.
Giants: Joc Pederson drove in three runs, drawing a bases-loaded walk that broke a sixth-inning tie and sending the Giants over the Phillies 5-4. The Giants won their second in a row following a seven-game losing streak. The Phillies have lost five of six.
Royals: Kyle Isbel hit his first grand slam, Bobby Witt Jr. added a three-run home run and the Royals routed the Tigers 12-2 on Saturday night. Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez also homered for the Royals. Nate Eaton had four hits and drove in two runs. Winning pitcher Jonathan Heasley (3-7) gave up two earned runs and eight hits, with two walks and two strikeouts in seven innings. Isbel, a 25-year-old outfielder, hit his grand slam over the wall in right field off Jason Foley in the fifth to give the Royals a 9-1 lead. The slam was Isbel’s fourth of the season and fifth of his two-year MLB career.
Mets: Mets ace Max Scherzer exited with left side fatigue after five sharp innings and 67 pitches and the NL East-leading Mets lost to the Nationals 7-1 Saturday night. Scherzer, who missed almost seven weeks earlier this season with a left oblique strain, had his fastball clocked as high as 96 mph. He retired his final seven batters before heading straight to the tunnel leading to the Mets’ clubhouse following the fifth. The five innings pitched tied a season low for Scherzer.