MLB: Red Sox go up 2-games-0 at Yankees; Padres take game 1 over Dodgers

August 23, 2025 by CollegeFootballPoll.com staff

The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are in the middle of a 4-game week series with Boston taking the first two by scores of 6-3 on Thursday and 1-0 on Friday.

In last night's game, Brayan Bello (10-6) pitched 7 innings and surrendered just 3 hits and a walk.

The lone run of the game was scored in the top of the 7th after starting pitcher Max Fried was relieved by Mark Leiter, Jr. who took the loss (5-7). Nathaniel Lowe followed Ceddanne Rafaela's fly-out to left with a double to right and Connor Wong then doubled to left to score Lowe.

Boston only managed six hits themselves, half of which came off the bat of Alex Bregman on a 3-for-4 night.

The Red Sox will take a 7-game winning streak in the series into Saturday's 1:05 p.m. game with MLB Odds on FanDuel.com leaning to Boston by 1.5 and a total runs over/under of 8. Boston is -122 on the money line while the Yankees are +104. (All lines subject to change).

Boston now has a 1/2-game lead for the top wild card slot in the American League, but remains 5 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays who were 5-2 winners at the Miami Marlins.

The probable pitchers for Saturday's game are Garrett Crochet (13-5, 2.43 ERA) for the BoSawx while Will Warren (7-5, 4.25 ERA) will take the mound for the Yankees.

Meanwhile, the huge Dodgers-Padres weekend series continues after San Diego took Friday night's opener, 2-1, to pull the two clubs into a temporary first-place tie. It was a huge win for San Diego which was swept 3-0 at the Dodgers last weekend by scores of 3-2, 6-0 and 5-4. This win extended the Padres' winning streak to four games on the heels of a 3-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants.

San Diego is 42-21 at home, representing one of the best home marks in all of the major leagues, but the Padres are only 31-35 on the road.

The Dodgers had a 9-game lead in the division on July 3.

Tyler Glasnow (1-1, 3.12) is the scheduled starter for the Dodgers in today's game, and Nestor Cortes (1-2, 5.87 ERA) will have the ball in his hand for the Padres for the first pitch at 5:41 local time/8:41 p.m. eastern time. The line favors the Dodgers by 1.5 and has an over/under of 8.5.

Meanwhile, one of the top stories from Friday's other action was the debut of Carson Williams for the Tampa Bay Rays. He hit a 2-run homer in the seventh inning to lift the Rays to a 10-6 victory over the Cardinals at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Per the article by Brian Murphy "I just freaked out. I blacked out. … I hit it, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I've got to run. I started running and I was just, 'Go out, go out, go out! Then it went out, and I lost it."

Williams' homer helped the Rays score a 10-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. He had just been called up on Thursday from the triple-A Durham Bulls after an injury to o Ha-seong Kim.