Rivalry Roundup: O's fall back to Earth, Soto carries Mets over Astros
03/29/2025 08:45 AM
The Yankees' top rivals suffered a tough second day of the season.
After an optimal start to the 2025 season, the Yankees had the day off on Friday as they prepare to wrap up their interleague series with the Brewers this weekend. The rest of the American League East was in action however, and for the most part, the scales were balanced here for the early going. Let's take a look at how things shook up on day two of the regular season.
Toronto Blue Jays (1-1) 8, Baltimore Orioles (1-1) 2
After a resounding Opening Day win, the Orioles fell back to Earth in game two. If nothing else, the Yankees should hope for plenty of in-fighting in the East, and they're getting exactly that in this early series. The Orioles did start on the right foot, however, when 21-year-old Jackson Holliday launched his first homer of the season on a truly impressive swing, inside-outing a pitch into left-center.
Blue Jays' starter Kevin Gausman allowed another run in the top of the fourth, when Tyler O'Neill managed a sac fly to put Baltimore up 2-0, but that was largely the extent of the damage from the O's lineup. Gausman finished going six strong innings, allowing just those two earned runs while racking up four strikeouts.
The Jays made their statement in the bottom half of the fourth, with a big assist from Charlie Morton, who was not sharp in his O's debut. The 41-year-old issued a bases-loaded walk to Nathan Lukes and allowed an Alan Roden sac fly to tie things up, while a wild pitch ultimately gave them the lead. Toronto continued to pile on as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and former Orioles masher Anthony Santander both contributed with RBIs before the inning was over, and in a flash the Jays were up 5-2.
Bo Bichette plated another run for Toronto in the sixth, and an Ernie Clement double in the following inning made this an 8-2 ballgame. The Orioles went scoreless in their final five chances, and the game remained 8-2 to the end. It was a good comeback win for the Blue Jays, and perhaps a humbling moment for the Orioles after a dream start.
New York Mets (1-1) 3, Houston Astros (1-1) 1
The Mets rebounded nicely on Friday night, and it was their shiny new superstar who led the way against the Astros after striking out to end Opening Day's loss.
New York took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning thanks to RBI knocks from Mark Vientos and Jesse Winker, which also gave some breathing room to Mets starter Tylor Megill. The right-hander ultimately turned in a more-than-solid 2025 debut, allowing just one run on three hits, while fanning six Astros.
The Mets were also able to add to their score in the third inning, when Juan Soto belted his first homer in the blue and orange. He took a high fastball from Hunter Brown and quickly deposited it into the right field seats in Houston, an area he's familiar with dating back to the '19 World Series.
The Astros hit the scoreboard in their half of the fourth, when Yordan Alvarez plated a run via sac fly, but they couldn't get much going outside of that lone run. The combination of Megill and four Mets relievers kept the Astros to three hits and just the one run. Edwin Díaz sealed the deal in the ninth, as the Astros took their first loss of 2025, and the Mets their first win.
Other games:
Texas Rangers (1-1) 4, Boston Red Sox (1-1) 1: Jonah Heim powered the Rangers to their first win of the 2025 campaign. He opened their scoring in the third inning with his first home run of the season, and then regained the Ranger lead in the fifth with his second blast of the game. The Red Sox only plated one run against Jack Leiter and company, as the 2021 second-overall pick earned his first big-league win in five excellent innings of work. The Sox join the Jays and Orioles as 1-1 teams in the sure-to-be competitive AL East.
Tampa Bay Rays(1-0) 3, Colorado Rockies (0-1) 2: Lastly, we're not tracking the Rays in the Rivalry Roundup feature just yet because we don't want to stretch ourselves thin in trying to cover every possible AL contender from the jump, but it is worth saluting the weirdness of the Rays hitting a walk-off home run in their home debut at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Kameron Misner, as 27-year-old rookie, did the honors to walk off the Rockies with his first career homer, though the victory was somewhat marred by Josh Lowe's possible oblique injury.
