Cole guides Pirates to win over Cards
Pittsburgh pitcher becomes major leagues’ first 13-game winner as Royals shut out Blue Jays and Twins overrun Tigers
Pittsburgh’s Gerrit Cole pitched seven strong innings to become the major leagues’ first 13-game winner and lead the Pirates to a 5-2 win against St Louis on Friday, edging within 4½ games of the Cardinals for the National League lead.
American League leader Kansas City also boasts a 4½ game lead after shutting out Toronto, while nearest rival Houston lost at Tampa Bay. Minnesota shored up its second place behind the Royals in the AL Central by dramatically overrunning Detroit.
Pittsburgh’s Cole (13-3) allowed two runs — both on Matt Carpenter’s third-inning home run.
Neil Walker had a two-run homer among his three hits for the Pirates, who have won six of their past seven.
Kansas City’s Danny Duffy pitched six sharp innings to pick up his first victory in more than two months and guide the Royals to a 3-0 win against Toronto.
Duffy (3-4) shut down a Blue Jays offence which leads the majors with 470 runs.
Eric Hosmer went four for four, his first four-hit game of the season and his eighth career game with at least four hits as the Royals won their sixth straight game.
Tampa Bay’s Erasmo Ramirez pitched six strong innings to get his sixth win in seven starts and steer the Rays past Houston 3-1.
Ramirez (8-3) gave up a solo homer to Colby Rasmus in the second inning and struck out five. It was Ramirez’s eighth straight start giving up two runs or fewer.
Brandon Guyer homered for the Rays.
Minnesota’s Brian Dozier hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to cap a seven-run rally and give the Twins a memorable 8-6 win against Detroit.
The Twins scored seven times in the ninth off Tigers closer Joakim Soria (3-1) and Bruce Rondon after being limited to one run up to that point.
After missing out on an All-Star nomination earlier in the day, Dozier had two hits and four RBIs, and hit his second game-winning homer of the week.
Baltimore also left it late for victory as Jonathan Schoop hit a game-winning solo homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Orioles a 3-2 win against neighbour Washington.
Schoop drove a 2-2 pitch from Tanner Roark (4-4) over left field.
Adam Jones also homered for the Orioles, who trailed 2-1 in the eighth.
New York’s Alex Rodriguez hit a home run in the first inning to set up a 5-1 win for the Yankees at Boston, ending a five-game winning streak for the Red Sox.
Yankees starter Michael Pineda (9-5) gave up only a solo homer over six 2/3 innings in his second start at Fenway Park since he was ejected last year for having pine tar on his neck.
Boston’s clay Buchholz (7-7), who had won his previous four starts to spur Boston’s recent turnaround, left with elbow tightness in the third inning, and New York scored three unearned runs after his departure thanks to two infield errors.
The Yankees’ crosstown rival, the New York Mets, also won as Noah Syndergaard struck out a career-high 13 in eight overpowering innings to lead the hosts to a 4-2 win against Arizona.
Syndergaard (4-4) gave up a sacrifice fly in the first and then dominated the Diamondbacks, allowing only one run for the third consecutive start.
Lucas Duda and Michael Cuddyer both hit homers for New York. Duda’s 408-foot shot drove in three runs and was only his second in six weeks after hitting 30 last season.