Taillon limits Rays to two hits in eight innings
AMERICAN LEAGUE
YANKEES 2, RAYS 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jameson Tallion pitched two-hit ball over eight innings, following Nestor Cortes to give the Yankees their longest consecutive starts in nine years and leading New York over the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 Friday night.
Gleyber Torres put the Yankees ahead with a home run in the fourth off Jeffrey Springs (2-2) and Matt Carpenter, in his second game with New York, homered later in the inning.
New York opened a 61 /2-game lead over the Rays by winning the first two games of the fourgame series. The Yankees won their fourth in a row following a season-worst three-game losing streak and improved to 33-13, the best start in the major leagues since the 2001 Seattle Mariners opened 34-12.
Taillon (5-1) improved to 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA in his last seven starts, striking out five and walking none while throwing 62 of 93 pitches for strikes. The 30-year-old right-hander had not gotten an out in the eighth inning since Aug. 7, 2018, for Pittsburgh at Colorado, when he pitched his second big league complete game.
Cortes threw eight-plus innings of one-run ball as New York won Thursday’s series opener 7-2. Yankees starters had not pitched eight innings in consecutive games since CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova against Kansas City on July 9 and 10, 2013.
“A couple of the starters last night were like, hey, let’s just all go seven or eight this series,’ ” Taillon said. “So I woke up feeling a little nervous, a little pressure there.”
Taillon retired his first 12 batters before Randy Arozarena’s leadoff single in the fifth. Manuel Margot stretched his hitting streak to 13 games with a sixth-inning double. “Just another great performance from one of our starters,” Manager Aaron Boone said. “I think they’ve been the best group, to this point, in the league, I caution that it’s early and we’ve got to keep doing it, but I’m not surprised that they pitching as well as they are.”
Clay Holmes struck out two in a perfect ninth for his sixth save in six chances, extending his scoreless streak to 24 innings and finishing the game in 2 hours, 23 minutes.
New York has pitched six shutouts, one shy of the big league high.
MARINERS 6, ASTROS 1 Rookie Julio Rodriguez hit the first of Seattle’s four home runs off Houston ace Justin Verlander, and the Mariners thumped the Astros.
ORIOLES 12, RED SOX 8 Anthony Santander hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning and also had a two-run home run, helping Baltimore overcome a pair of six-run deficits to beat Boston.
TWINS 10, ROYALS 7 Jorge Polanco homered in a four-run first inning and Carlos Correa hit a go-ahead home run in the fourth to power Minnesota over Kansas City.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
BRAVES 6, MARLINS 4 Ozzie Albies’ bloop double in the seventh inning drove in two runs to give Atlanta the lead, and the Braves recovered after blowing an early three-run advantage, beating Miami.
CARDINALS 4, BREWERS 2 Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run home run in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to 18 games and lead St. Louis over Milwaukee.
METS 8, PHILLIES 6 Pete Alonso homered, doubled and drove in four runs, taking over the major league RBI lead and powering New York past Philadelphia.
REDS 5, GIANTS 1 Rookie right-hander Graham Ashcraft (1-0) earned his first victory with six strong innings and the Cincinnati beat San Francisco following a political protest by Giants Manager Gabe Kapler and a scuffle between Tommy Pham and Joc Pederson.