New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies
FINAL SCORE: PHI 7-6 NYM | WP Jeff Hoffman (1-1) | LP Tylor Megill (0-1)
Game two at Citizens Bank Park did not disappoint in the slightest, delivering a late walk off thriller with the Phillies tying the series up at one game to one. The game started out quick with both Christopher Sanchez and Luis Severino making quick work of the batting order besides a Mark Vientos double in the top of the first.
Sanchez bounced back from a Jose Iglesias single and got out of the second inning unharmed. Luis Severino worked a quick one, two, three inning striking out Bryson Stott and JT Realmuto.
The Mets would break the scoring open in the third, when a Francisco Lindor single was followed by a Mark Vientos two-run home run that got the Mets off to a massive 2-0 lead. Severino was threatened after Johan Rojas singled and stole second base, but he managed to work out the inning to maintain the Mets lead.
The Philly left hander would bounce back after giving up the home run in the third. Sanchez would work a quick inning striking out both Francisco Alvarez and Starling Marte. Severino got out of the fourth despite a Bryson Stott single, where he would later be caught stealing at second.
In his first at bat following his home run, Mark Vientos would walk but that’s ultimately all of the inning. JT Realmuto went down on strikes again, and the Phillies went down in order in the fifth. The sixth is where things got really interesting.
Pete Alonso would give the Mets another run with a solo home run, and after a couple of singles the Phillies would get out of it, going into the bottom half of the sixth down 3-0. With two outs, the Phillies would fight all the way back after a Trea Turner single was followed up by back to back bombs from Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos to tie the game at 3-3.
The Mets would retake the lead back in the seventh with a Brando Nimmo solo home run, and the Phillies would be unable to respond in the seventh. Carlos Estevez came in for the eighth and shut down the Mets order.
The Phillies would then retake the lead in the bottom half of the eighth, after Bryson Stott tripled scoring Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos to take a 5-4 lead. After JT Realmuto grounded into a fielder’s choice, Stott scored to make it a 6-4 game.
The Mets wouldn’t back down in the ninth. After another Francisco Lindor single, Mark Vientos came to the plate again and delivered the biggest hit of his young career, a game-tying two-run home run to even the score at 6-6.
When the game appeared it may be going to extras, the Philadelphia offense gave their fans something to go home smiling about. Trea Turner and Bryce Harper would get on base with a pair of walks, and Nick Castellanos came up and laced a walkoff single to win the game 7-6.
San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers
FINAL SCORE: SD 10-2 LAD | WP Yu Darvish (1-0) | LP Jack Flaherty (0-1)
After a brutal game one loss for the Padres, they answered back with six home runs of their own and a win in blowout fashion to return back to San Diego with the series knotted one game to one.
Fernando Tatis Jr. continued his hot streak at the plate this postseason with a home run in the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead. Yu Darvish started to carve the Dodgers order in the first, striking out Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the first.
The Dodgers would use the longball again in the second, with a David Peralta two-run home run that drove in him and Jackson Merrill to give San Diego and Darvish a lead to work with early. The Dodgers would end up getting one back with a Gavin Lux sacrifice fly-out that scored Teoscar Hernandez to cut the score to 3-1.
The Padres failed to capitalize on a Fernando Tatis Jr. double, but Darvish got a one, two, three inning out of the Dodgers to keep the score at 3-1. Jack Flaherty would continue to work through the Dodgers order in the fourth, but Darvish was well settled into the game at this point, setting the Dodgers down in order.
The score would stay locked in the fifth but the sixth offered a run courtesy of a Jackson Merrill single that scored Fernando Tatis Jr. The Dodgers would keep the lead at three, until the eighth inning where San Diego exploded for three more runs.
In the top of eighth, Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts went back to back to give the Padres a comfortable 7-1 lead heading into the bottom half. The Dodgers wouldn’t be able to add any additional runs in the eighth, as the game started to slip away.
In the ninth the Padres would add three more runs, as Kyle Higashioka slugged yet another postseason home run and Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his second homer of the night, making the score now 10-1.
Max Muncy would add a solo home run in the ninth but that was all the Dodgers had in the tank, and San Diego evened the series at 1-1.
Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Guardians
FINAL SCORE: DET 3-0 CLE | WP Will Vest (1-0) | LP Emmanuel Clase (0-1)
After a blowout loss in game one of the ALDS, the Tigers needed a game two win with Tarik Skubal on the mound. That’s exactly what they got, after some late game heroics from Kerry Carpenter.
Tarik Skubal would deal in his start. The American League triple crown winner went a strong seven innings only allowing three hits, and striking out eight. His control was nothing short of elite, as he went 92 pitches with no walks, throwing 65 strikes.
The Cleveland pitching staff was incredible for the entire game, Matthew Boyd against his former ball club went 4.2 innings of four hit baseball, striking out five. Cade Smith followed that up with a near strong two innings letting up no hits and striking out two.
The game would be changed when most would’ve least expected it. When Stephen Vogt turned to star closer Emmanuel Clase in a tie ball game, the thought of all Guardians fans was they would have a chance to win it in the ninth. The Tigers offense had some other plans.
With two outs, Jake Rogers would single, and rookie Trey Sweeney would come up in a huge spot and rope a single to move Rogers to third. Kerry Carpenter now came to the plate with the go ahead run at third base.
Carpenter did the impossible, he worked a long at bat against Clase and turned it into a game winning three-run home run that went 423 feet over the right field wall. The swing ultimately won it for Detroit, and they now head home ready to have a chance at a series lead.
Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees
FINAL SCORE: KC 4-2 NYY | WP Angel Zerpa (2-0) | LP Carlos Rodon | SV Lucas Erceg (3)
After a close back and forth game in game one, the Royals bats came ready to hit against left hander Carlos Rodon. While the Yankee bullpen gave the Bronx Bombers chances to get back into this game, the Royals stayed strong to even the series, making every Division Series now tied at 1-1.
The game started out strong for the Yankees. Carlos Rodon looked solid striking out the side but after Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto walked to get on base, the offense provided no run support. They would take an early lead, when Giancarlo Stanton reached on an infield single to score Gleyber Torres in the third.
The fourth is where the wheels fell off for the Yankees. Salvador Perez would get the inning started off with a big 402 foot solo home run. Yuli Gurriel would single and Tommy Pham would single as well which brought in a second run.
Pham would come around to score after a Garrett Hampson single, and after a Maikel Garcia single, the Royals would score their fourth and final run of the game. They now held a 4-1 lead in the top of the fourth.
Cole Ragans would work through the four more Yankee hitters but that would be the end of his start. He’d go four innings allowing three hits and one run. He struck out five but obviously struggled with the walks early on with four total.
Angel Zerpa would then come in and rebuild his confidence back, setting the Yankees down in order in the fifth, earning the win.
The Yankees would get one back in the ninth with a Jazz Chisholm Jr. home run that was an attempt at sparking the lineup, but that was all the runs for the game, and the Yankees fell 4-2. Lucas Erceg would pick up his third save of the postseason.