Yankees' Cole shines in victory over Rays
Gerrit Cole took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning, Aaron Hicks hit a tiebreaking triple in the ninth and the visiting New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 on Monday night for their 50th win.
New York has won 17 of its last 19 games, and its 50-17 start is the best in the major leagues since the 2001 Seattle Mariners.
Cole struck out 12 and walked three, allowing one run and one hit in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out six in a row at one point and led 2-0 when Isaac Paredes grounded a slider on his 105th pitch off the mound and into center field.
Clay Holmes (5-0) blew a 2-0 lead and allowed his first run since opening day, ending a 31 1/3 inning scoreless streak.
The Yankees' Anthony Rizzo hit a first inning home run off Shane McClanahan.
With the score 2-2, Josh Donaldson singled off Jason Adam (0-2) with one out in the ninth and Hicks, batting .321 in June, drove a hanging changeup high off the rightfield wall.
PIRATES 12, CUBS 1 >> Newly promoted Oneil Cruz drove in four runs and Bligh Madris got three hits in his major league debut, sparking host Pittsburgh to a romp over Chicago.
Both rookies were called up from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier in the day and they delivered right away.
Cruz, considered Pittsburgh's top prospect, hit a three-run double to deep center field that capped a four-run third inning to push the Pirates' lead to 7-0. He was playing in the third big league game of his career.
The 6-foot-7 shortstop hit an RBI single in a five-run seventh as the Pirates set a season high for runs.
Madris hit a two-run single in the second inning in his first at-bat in the majors.
JT Brubaker (1-7) pitched six scoreless innings for his first win since last Aug. 24, a span of 14 starts.
METS 6, MARLINS 0 >> David Peterson pitched into the sixth inning with his wife expected to go into labor imminently, and New York blanked visiting Miami.
Peterson was prepared to leave the park if his wife, Alex, went into labor with the couple's first child, and the Mets had contingencies if he couldn't make the start.
The call didn't come, and Peterson (4-1) covered 5 1/3 innings with a season-high seven strikeouts on 100 pitches. He allowed six hits and two walks as the Mets won the four-game series by finishing their 11th shutout this season, tying the Yankees for the major league lead.