AROUND THE HORN
Yankees: The offensively challenged Yankees made plenty of noise Saturday. Just not with their bats. Ace Gerrit Cole twice banged the dugout roof, shouting in frustration and getting booed after a rough inning. After a 15th loss in 19 games, 5-2 to the Blue Jays, manager Aaron Boone pounded the podium with his right hand while talking about his team’s struggles. “We can ask all these questions in regards (to our slump) until we’re blue in the face,” Boone said. “We got to go out and do it. I got to quit answering questions about this date and this perplexion. We got to play better, period. And the great thing is right in front of us. It’s right here and we can fix it.” “It’s there and we can run away with this thing and we got the dudes in there to do it and we got to do it,” he said. The AL East-leading Yankees fell to 9-20 since entering the All-Star break with a 64-28 record. After holding a 15 ½-game bulge on July 8, their margin over the second-place Blue Jays is down to seven games.
Tigers: Tyler Alexander pitched six strong innings and the Tigers’ bullpen finished off a 4-3 win over the Angels on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers had lost two straight and 10 of 12. Alexander (3-7) allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk in six innings, notching his first win in eight starts this season. The Tigers’ bullpen then pitched three hitless innings, with Gregory Soto throwing the ninth for his 23rd save.
Red Sox: Former Red Sox star Bill Lee collapsed in the bullpen while warming up for a Savannah Bananas exhibition game Friday night, but the 75-year-old pitcher walked off the field with assistance. “He was able to leave the stadium with medical attention and was taken to a local hospital,” team president Jared Orton said in an email to The Associated Press. Lee, a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame and fondly nicknamed “Spaceman,” was in the right-field bullpen when the episode occurred. Lee has pitched for the Bananas, a popular club known for its bright yellow uniforms and entertaining antics on and off the field.
Rays: Drew Rasmussen took a no-hit try into the sixth inning in his first start since making a serious perfect game bid, and the Rays beat the Royals 5-2 on Saturday. Rasmussen, who lost his perfect game last Sunday when the Orioles’ Jorge Mateo opened the ninth with a double, walked MJ Melendez leading off the Royals first. Melendez got the Royals’ first hit when he lined a single into center past Rasmussen with one out in the sixth. Bobby Witt Jr. doubled before Ramussen’s final batter, Salvador Perez, hit a sacrifice fly. Rasmussen gave up two runs, two hits and one walk along with eight strikeouts in 5 innings.
Cubs: Willson Contreras hit an RBI single to cap a two-run rally in the 11th inning and the Cubs kept coming back, beating the Brewers 6-5 on Saturday for their fifth straight win. Contreras had a two-run homer in the fifth. He hit his third home run in three games and 20th this year. The Cubs scored once in the ninth to tie, once more in the 10th to keep it even and finally won in the 11th. Patrick Wisdom doubled home automatic runner Nico Hoerner to make it 5-all. Wisdom was later thrown out at the plate trying to score on Nick Madrigal’s grounder, but Contreras singled off Peter Strzelecki (1-1) to end it.