Taillon pitches the Yankees past Rays
Jameson Taillon 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 homer 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 6 1/2-game lead over the Rays by winning the first two games of the four-game series. The Yankees won their fourth straight 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. Taillon was sidelined from May 1, 2019, until the start of the 2021 season while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery. 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.
ALSO >> Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays with back soreness, and teammate Anthony Rendon sat with a right wrist issue . ... Milwaukee Brewers righthander Brandon Woodruff left a start Friday night against the St. Louis Cardinals with right ankle discomfort . ... New York Mets reliever Yoan López had his three-game suspension cut to one game and served the penalty Friday night when New York played the Philadelphia Phillies. López had appealed after MLB ruled that he intentionally threw at Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber on May 1, an inning after Mets star Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch . ... Josh Donaldson was placed on the 10-day injured list by the New York Yankees on Friday due to right shoulder inflammation. New York made the move retroactive to May 24. The 36-year-old third baseman had been on the COVID-19 injured list and has not played since Sunday.