Gardner lifts Yankees
Brett Gardner hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer off Jacob deGrom on an eighthinning changeup, and the New York Yankees beat the reeling Mets, 4-1, last night in the Subway Series opener at Citi Field after losing Masahiro Tanaka to hamstring problems when the pitcher sprinted home to score his first major league run.
Tanaka allowed one hit, a home run into the second deck in right by Brandon Nimmo on his second pitch. The 29-year-old righthander scored standing up on Aaron Judge’s sacrifice fly, then was replaced before the bottom of the sixth. The Yankees said Tanaka had tightness in both hamstrings.
Gardner’s home run, his fifth this season and fourth in his last 21 games, went just over the wall in rightcenter and followed Gleyber Torres’ second single off deGrom (4-1).
Giancarlo Stanton added a ninth-inning homer off Paul Sewald, his 22nd at Citi Field — the most among visiting players. It was the 100th home run of the season for the Yankees, the most in the major leagues.
A big league-best 41-18, the Yankees have won 32 of their last 41 games and are 23 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2012 season.
The Mets have lost seven straight and 12-of-14, and they have dropped nine straight home games. They are 16-34 following an 11-1 start.
Jonathan Holder, Chad Green (4-0), Dellin Betances each pitched an inning, and Aroldis Chapman finished the four-hitter for his 16th save in 17 chances.
Before the game, the Mets took two more hits to their already bang-up pitching staff when closer Jeurys Familia was put on the disabled list because of a sore right shoulder and ace Noah Syndergaard was scratched from a weekend start against the Yanks because of a strained ligament in his right index finger.
American League
Indians 4, Tigers 1 — Jason Kipnis hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the ninth inning and visiting Cleveland downed Detroit.
Jose Ramirez almost broke the tie earlier in the ninth, hitting Shane Greene’s 3-1 pitch just past the foul pole down the right-field line, but ended up drawing a walk. Yonder Alonso singled with two outs.
Kipnis connected off Greene (2-3) for a drive over the right-center field scoreboard for his fourth homer of the season.
Blue Jays 5, Orioles 1 — J.A. Happ allowed two hits in seven innings to earn his 100th career victory, Russell Martin homered and drove in two runs and host Toronto topped Baltimore to win consecutive games for the first time in more than a month.
Randal Grichuk and Kevin Pillar also homered as the Blue Jays recorded their first back-to-back victories since April 30 and May 1 at Minnesota.
Mariners 4, Rays 3 — In St. Petersburg, Fla., Marco Gonzales won his fourth straight start and surging Seattle edged Tampa Bay for its 16th win in 20 games.
National League
Giants 9, Nationals 5 — Nats pitcher Stephen Strasberg exited after two innings because of tightness in his right shoulder, and visiting San Francisco rapped eight extra-base hits to drop Washington.
Andrew McCutchen and Gorkys Hernandez homered for San Francisco.
Cubs 3, Pirates 1 — Kris Bryant had three hits and scored a run while batting leadoff for the first time in his career, Ian Happ made a spectacular diving catch near the left-field corner to end the game and host Chicago topped slumping Pittsburgh.
Bryant singled in his first three at-bats and scored in a two-run first inning, helping the Cubs win for the 10th time in 12 games.
Marlins 4, Padres 0 — Caleb Smith pitched into the sixth inning and had an RBI single for his first career hit to help host Miami blank San Diego.
Before the game, Padres reliever Jose Torres accepted a 100-game suspension without pay for the rest of the year due to his December arrest on domestic violence charges.
Brewers 12, Phillies 4 — Ryan Braun homered twice and drove in five runs, and visiting Milwaukee busted out of an offensive funk to romp Philadelphia and snap a three-game losing streak.
Elsewhere in baseball — Shohei Ohtani was put on the disabled list by the Los Angeles Angels with a sprained ligament in his pitching elbow, an ominous injury that will be reevaluated in three weeks and brought the two-way Japanese sensation’s remarkable rookie season to at least a temporary halt.
The Angels said Ohtani’s right ulnar collateral ligament has a Grade 2 sprain, which typically indicates some degree of damage but not a complete tear. His injury doesn’t always require surgery, while Grade 3 sprains are usually repaired by the Tommy John ligament replacement procedure that takes a year or more to recover from.