After the Yanks bludgeoned Boston Sunday, it was time to scoreboard watch. Most notably, could the Padres do us all a solid and knock off the Rays? To the surprise of absolutely no one, the answer was no. So while the Yankees put more distance between themselves and Boston and clinched the season series between the two eternal rivals, there was no ground gained on Tampa.

Elsewhere, a former Baby Bomber achieved a career milestone while a future Hall of Fame hurler further stated his Cooperstown case.

Tampa Bay Rays (82-54) 5, San Diego Padres (72-65) 4 (F/11)

Bloody Devil Magic. The Padres looked to have this game wrapped up, with a ninth-inning lead and Mason Miller on the mound. Since joining the Padres last season, the All-World closer had surrendered precisely two home runs over 79.2 frames as he took the mound Sunday. So, of course he promptly gave up a game-tying two-run blast to Johnny DeLuca. But hold on. This was no run of the mill home run.

As I said, bloody Devil Magic. After a scoreless 10th, the Dads took a lead in the 11th. But it was all for naught. A DeLuca ground ball to Xander Bogaerts ended in an error and re-tied the game. Then, former Yankee farmhand Jorge Mateo ended it with a walk-off single.

Chicago White Sox (72-64) 1, Minnesota Twins (65-72) 5: For all intents and purposes, this one was over before the opening frame came to a close. Minnesota plated three in the home first, more than enough for starter Zebby Matthews. Matthews took a shutout into the ninth before the Pale Hose managed to scrape across a run. Matthews’ day ended with 8.1 innings allowing that lone run. That continues a strong run, as he has pitched to a 3.21 ERA in his last seven outings, averaging 6 IP/start.

Houston Astros (69-68) 6, New York Mets (61-76) 3: LaMonte Wade, Jr. was Sunday’s hero for Houston. His pinch-hit two-run home run gave the Astros a lead they never surrendered. The victory keeps H-town two games ahead of their intra-state rival Rangers.

Texas Rangers (67-70) 7, Milwaukee Brewers (85-52) 4: Texas won Sunday to stay in the mix in the AL West and Wild-Card races. But for Yankees fans, Gary Sánchez was the story. The Kraken clubbed the 200th home run of his career, 138 of which came in pinstripes, in defeat. Sigh. We’ll always have the second half of 2016.

Cleveland Guardians (69-68) 11, Kansas City Royals (62-76) 1: Welcome to the José Ramírez Show. The Cleveland third baseman has been mired in his worst offensive season since 2015. Not Sunday, however. Ramírez homered and drove in four as the 3-4-5 batters for Cleveland combined to plate 10 runs.

Baltimore Orioles (68-69) 8, Athletics (53-84) 5: Gunnar Henderson has had a rough 2026. But on Sunday, he looked every bit the young superstar. Four hits, two of which left the yard, led to three runs scored and five batted in as the Os swept the As.

Toronto Blue Jays (68-70) 7, Seattle Mariners (64-73) 0: For one day at least, Max Scherzer was “Mad Max” again. While tossing seven frames of one-hit shutout ball, Scherzer punched out 10. The last of those moved him ahead of Gaylord Perry for ninth all-time on the career strikeout list.