Rays win series in Bronx
Rookie left-hander Adam Kolarek pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning to lift the Tampa Bay Rays over the New York Yankees 3-1 yesterday to win their first series in the Bronx since 2014.
Tampa Bay had lost 12 straight series at Yankee Stadium, a record since the ballpark opened in 2009.
The Rays’ bullpen mostly cruised following Blake Snell’s five sharp innings until Sergio Romo allowed consecutive singles to Didi Gregorius and Gleyber Torres in the ninth. Torres’ bloop ended his 0-for-17 skid. Romo walked Neil Walker on four pitches, then was replaced by Kolarek, a side-arming lefty.
Lefty-hitting Greg Bird popped out in foul territory on Kolarek’s first pitch, and then Brett Gardner struck out. Kolarek then got Austin Romine to chase a high fastball for another strikeout, ending his first career save.
Tommy Pham helped the Rays jump on Masahiro Tanaka (9-3) with an RBI double during a two-run first inning, and Snell (14-5) and the bullpen took over from there.
The left-handed All-Star made his third start since a DL stint for left shoulder fatigue and struck out six over five innings of two-hit ball. He was coming off five perfect innings against Toronto, though he was pulled from that start after just 47 pitches. He threw 76 pitches yesterday.
The struggling Yankees lineup, still without injured sluggers Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, scored just six runs during the threegame series.
The Rays got to Tanaka with four straight hits to open the game. Mallex Smith lined a single the other way, stole second, then scored on Joey Wendle’s double to the right-center gap. After Jake Bauers’ single, Pham got his first hit with the Rays, driving a double off the wall in the left-field corner.
National League
Rockies 5, Braves 3 — Colorado snapped Ronald Acuna Jr.’s home run streak and host Atlanta’s five-game winning streak, rallying for three unearned runs in the ninth inning to win.
David Dahl homered in the third and capped the winning rally with a twoout, two-run single off Brad Brach. The Rockies took advantage of an error by shortstop Danby Swanson leading off the ninth to win for the fifth time in six games.
One night after being plunked in the left arm by Miami’s Jose Urena, Acuna was back in the lineup looking to extend his homer streak to six games. Wearing a red protective guard, the 20-year-old slugger received a standing ovation his first time up and lined the second pitch — one more than he saw the previous game — into center field for a single, extending his hitting streak to nine games.
Urena, meanwhile, received a six-game suspension from Major League Baseball.
Cubs 1, Pirates 0 — Jon Lester pitched six innings to win for the first time in just over a month and Ian Happ homered as Chicago beat host Pittsburgh.
Lester (13-5) allowed five hits, struck out eight and had no walks while improving to 3-1 against the Pirates this season. His previous victory came July 15 at San Diego and he had gone 0-3 with a 10.32 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break.
Steve Cishek, Carl Edwards Jr. and Pedro Strop each pitched one inning to complete the six-hitter. Strop hit David Freese with a pitch with two outs in the ninth but converted his 10th save in 13 opportunities.
Nationals 5, Cardinals 4 — Bryce Harper had three hits and drove in three runs, and a beleaguered bullpen held on as visiting Washington snapped a four-game losing streak with a victory over St. Louis.
Tanner Roark (8-12) gave up four runs, three earned, in six innings.
Mets, Phillies split — Rhys Hoskins hit a three-run homer, Scott Kingery had a solo shot and host Philadelphia beat New York 9-6 to split their doubleheader.
In the first game, Jose Bautista hit a grand slam and had a career-high seven RBI as the Mets set a franchise record for runs, prompting the Phillies to use two position players to pitch the final three innings of a 24-4 rout.
Elsewhere in baseball — Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has been suspended for two games and fined an undisclosed fine for fighting and inciting a bench-clearing incident against San Francisco.