Rays blast Yanks in plunk-filled fest

Corey Dickerson homered twice and the Tampa Bay Rays won their seasonhigh fourth in a row, beating the New York Yankees, 9-5, yesterday in American League play in St. Petersburg, Fla., in a game that included three hit batters, three ejections and one animated argument.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi used his hands to cover the plate with dirt after being tossed by umpire Scott Barry in the fifth inning. That came right after pitching coach Larry Rothschild was ejected by Barry during a mound visit.

Rays starter Matt Andriese hit Matt Holliday after giving up a home run to Gary Sanchez in the fifth. In the bottom half, Yankees reliever Tommy Layne plunked Dickerson, who had hit two home runs off Masahiro Tanaka (5-3).

Andriese (4-1) hit Aaron Judge with a pitch leading off the sixth and was thrown out. The 6-foot-7 Judge dropped his bat and calmly went to first base after being struck.

Tanaka struggled for the second consecutive start, allowing six runs and nine hits, including three homers, in three-plus innings. Orioles 7, Blue Jays 5 — Welington Castillo hit a go-ahead home run for the second consecutive game to lead host Baltimore past Toronto.

The Orioles improved to 15-3 at Camden Yards — the best mark in the majors — and can complete a threegame sweep today. Baltimore took over first place in the AL East by a halfgame over the Yankees.

Jose Bautista had given Toronto a 5-4 lead with a three-run homer off winning pitcher Mychal Givens in the seventh. Baltimore responded in the bottom half when Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo hit one-out singles. Castillo followed with the biggest blow when he hit an 0-2 pitch from Danny Barnes over the fence in left. Indians 3, Astros 0 — Mike Clevinger pitched no-hit ball into the seventh inning and Andrew Miller and Cody Allen completed the three-hitter to give Cleveland the victory in Houston.

Clevinger yielded two hits and struck out a careerhigh eight in seven-plus innings, the longest outing of his career. Houston didn’t get its first hit until Jose Altuve’s sharp ground single with no outs in the seventh.

Lonnie Chisenhall had two hits and homered for a second straight day with a solo shot off Mike Fiers in the fourth inning to help the Indians take their second straight in the series.

Before the game, the Astros placed ace Dallas Keuchel on the 10-day disabled list with a pinched nerve in his neck. The move is retroactive to May 17, which means he might only miss one start. Tigers 9, Rangers 3 — Alex Avila, Miguel Cabrera and J.D. Martinez hit consecutive home runs in the first inning, and host Detroit ended Texas’ 10-game winning streak.

Nicholas Castellanos added a three-run homer in the third, and Justin Verlander pitched seven solid innings for the Tigers. Royals-Twins ppd. — Minnesota postponed its game against Kansas City in Minneapolis because of rain, prompting a doubleheader today to finish the series.

Interleague

Mets 7, Angels 5 — Jose Reyes had three instrumental hits, including the 2,000th of his career, and Terry Collins made the right moves on a milestone night as New York held off Los Angeles.

New York gave up three runs in a nervous ninth inning before fill-in closer Addison Reed struck out pinch-hitter Danny Espinosa on a full-count fastball with the bases loaded for his sixth save.

Collins became the longestmanager in team history, passing Davey Johnson (1984-90) by reaching 1,013 games with the Mets.

Before the game, the Angels signed veteran righthander Doug Fister to a major league contract. Fister will report to extended spring training in Arizona to begin workouts..

National League

Braves 5, Nationals 2 — Rio Ruiz, Matt Kemp and Tyler Flowers hit home runs and host Atlanta again relied on its bullpen to hand Washington its fourth straight loss.

Before the game, the Braves made a trade with St. Louis for first baseman Matt Adams, hoping he can help fill the void left by injured star Freddie Freeman. The Cardinals sent Adams and cash to Atlanta for minor league infielder Juan Yepez. Giants 3, Cardinals 1 — Christian Arroyo’s two-run double broke a scoreless tie in the 13th inning and San Francisco won a marathon in St. Louis.

Arroyo’s double off the wall in left field scored Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford and came on the 12th pitch he saw from Cardinals reliever Kevin Siegrist (0-1). Posey, Crawford and Eduardo Nunez singled to load the bases, giving the Giants their first runners in scoring position in the game.

Reds 12, Rockies 8 — Scott Schebler’s homer completed host Cincinnati’s comeback from a five-run deficit to beat Colorado and end a seven-game losing streak.

Pirates 6, Phillies 3 — Ivan Nova pitched into the eighth inning for his first win in May, after being named NL Pitcher of the Month in April, leading host Pittsburgh over Philadelphia. Brewers, Cubs ppd. — The game between Milwaukee and host Chicago was rained out, and will be made up on July 6.