Red-hot Bombers win for 14th time in last 15
NEW YORK » Sonny Gray has learned to just say yes when he sees Austin Romine behind the plate.
Gray made his second straight strong start and won for the first time in a month, boosting the Yankees over the Cleveland Indians 5-2 Saturday for their 14th win in 15 games.
“I trust that guy completely, knowing whatever he puts down, shake your head yes and throw it with conviction,” Gray said.
Shortstop Francisco Lindor’s double error led to a pair of runs in a four-run fifth inning off previously unhittable Trevor Bauer.
New York is in its first 14-1 stretch since 1998 Yankees won 114 games during the regular season and then the first of three straight World Series
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
titles. The Yankees have outscored opponents 91-33 in that span and have won eight straight home games for the first time since 2010.
Gray (2-2) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts , working with more poise and polish to Romine, the Yankees’ backup catcher, than he has with AllStar starter Gary Sanchez.
“He had that look in his eye,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “like he expected it.”
Gray has a 3.72 ERA in five starts with Romine this year; his ERA is 15.63 ERA in two games with Sanchez.
“It’s the biggest compliment when a guy rolls with you, doesn’t shake much and really likes you when you catch back there,” Romine said. “This is his career. He’s throwing the pitches. It’s his ERA.”
Boone said before the game Romine will catch Gray “certainly Toronto at Tampa Bay Minnesota at Chicago White Sox Boston at Texas Houston at Arizona Baltimore at Oakland
L.A. Angels at Seattle
Sunday’s games
Cleveland (Clevinger 2-0) at N.Y. Yankees (German 0-1), 1:05 p.m.
Toronto (Estrada 2-2) at Tampa Bay (Archer 2-2), 1:10 p.m. Minnesota (Gibson 1-1) at Chicago White Sox (Shields 1-3), 2:10 p.m.
Detroit (Boyd 1-2) at Kansas City (Junis 3-2), 2:15 p.m.
Boston (Sale 2-1) at Texas (Fister 1-2), 3:05 p.m.
Baltimore (Cobb 0-3) at Oakland (Triggs 2-1), 4:05 p.m.
Houston (Verlander 4-0) at Arizona (Koch 1-0), 4:10 p.m.
L.A. Angels (TBD) at Seattle (Hernandez 4-2), 4:10 p.m. for the foreseeable future” even though Boone does not like personal catchers. Reminded that Bob Boone, the manager’s All-Star father, was displaced in Philadelphia when Steve Carlton started because the Phillies ace preferred to pitch to Tim McCarver, Aaron Boone quipped: “He didn’t hit like Gary, though.”
Gray has lowered his ERA from 8.27 to 6.00 in his last three outings.
“I’m a better pitcher than the first four, five starts,” he said. “I think throwing the ball with conviction — I think mindset maybe has something to do with it.” Chicago Cincinnati Arizona Colorado San Francisco Los Angeles San Diego
Friday’s games
Washington 7, Philadelphia 3 Cincinnati 4, Miami 1 Colorado 8, N.Y. Mets 7 San Francisco 9, Atlanta 4 Pittsburgh 6, Milwaukee 4 St. Louis 3, Chicago Cubs 2 L.A. Dodgers 4, San Diego 0 Houston 8, Arizona 0
Saturday’s games
St. Louis 8, Chicago Cubs 6, 10 innings Philadelphia 3, Washington 1 Colorado at N.Y. Mets
L.A. Dodgers vs. San Diego at Monterrey Miami at Cincinnati Pittsburgh at Milwaukee
San Francisco at Atlanta Houston at Arizona
Sunday’s games
16 8
W
21 18 17 15 11 14 24
L
11 15 15 17 22 .533 .250
Pct
2 1⁄2 11 1⁄2
GB
.656 _ .545 3 1⁄2 .531 4 .469 6 .333 10 1⁄2 Colorado (Freeland 1-4) at N.Y. Mets (Syndergaard 2-1), 1:10 p.m. Philadelphia (Arrieta 3-1) at Washington (Scherzer 6-1), 1:35 p.m.
San Francisco (Suarez 0-1) at Atlanta (McCarthy 4-0), 1:35 p.m. Pittsburgh (Kuhl 3-2) at Milwaukee (Anderson 3-2), 2:10 p.m. Houston (Verlander 4-0) at Arizona (Koch 1-0), 4:10 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Hill 1-1) vs. San Diego (Lauer 0-1) at Monterrey, 4:10 p.m. Miami (Straily 0-0) at Cincinnati (Finnegan 0-2), 4:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Lester 2-1) at St. Louis (Wacha 4-1), 8:05 p.m.
Cleveland
Lindor ss Kipnis 2b Ramirez 3b Brantley lf Encarnacion dh Alonso 1b Naquin rf-cf Perez c Zimmer cf Guyer rf
Totals New York
Gardner lf Judge dh Hicks cf Stanton rf Walker 1b Andujar 3b Torres 2b Romine c Torreyes ss
Totals Cleveland New York
Lindor 2 (7); Cleveland 5, New York 3; Ramirez (9), Encarnacion (2), Zimmer (5), Romine (3); Lindor (8), off Gray; Lindor (19), Encarnacion (20), Gardner 2 (9), Romine (7), Torreyes (6); Gardner;
Cleveland 3 (Ramirez 2, Naquin), New York 2 (Judge 2);
E: 2B: 2 2 13 BI BB SO 000 011 000 000 040 10x RBIs: AB 32 AB 28 LOB: SF: scoring position:
3 4 4 3 4 4 4 3 3 0 3 4 4 4 3 2 3 2 3
R H BIBBSO
1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 R
0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 0
5
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
5 H
1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
4
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
4 HR:
1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
3 — —
0 2 1 2 0 4 1 2 1 0 0 3 1 2 1 0 2 1 1
11 2 5 Avg
.284 .188 .291 .337 .203 .207 .318 .116 .234 .173
Avg
.202 .295 .225 .227 .182 .284 .333 .286 .362
52 40 Runners left in RISP:
Cleveland 0 for 6, New York 2 for 6;
Brantley, Encarnacion; Home, Tony Randazzo, First, Lance Barrett, Second, Lance Barksdale, Third, Tim Timmons; 2:31; 43,075 (54,251).
moved up: Umpires:
Bauer, L, 2-3 Taylor
Gray, W, 2-2 6 4 Green, H, 3 2 0 Robertson, S, 1-31 1
Philadelphia
Hernandez 2b Hoskins lf Neris p Herrera cf Santana 1b Franco 3b Williams rf-lf Kingery ss Ramos p Hunter p Garcia p a-Altherr ph-rf Velasquez p Florimon ss Knapp c
Totals Washington
Harper rf Rendon 3b Adams 1b Kendrick 2b Stevenson lf Severino c b-Turner ph Bautista cf
6 2
AB
5 3 0 3 4 4 3 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 3
32 AB
4 2 3 4 4 0 0 3
2 2
T: R H BI BB SO
1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 R
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 1
2 0 0
2 3 8 102 2.53 1 03 27 2.70
2 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
7 H
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 6 11 BIBBSO
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
A:
7 4 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 3 1 0
93 6.00 24 2.08 15 3.12. 2 1 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
Avg
.282 .286 .000 .322 .167 .271 .190 .212
—
—
— .212 .364 .222 .180
Avg
.255 .276 .284 .283 .308 .250 .282 .000 Solis p Suero p c-Wieters ph Roark p Taylor cf Difo ss
Totals Philadelphia 200 001 000 — Washington 000 010 000 —
a-walked for Garcia in the 9th; b-walked for Severino in the 9th; c-popped out for Suero in the 9th.
Philadelphia 8, Washington 8; Santana (1); Hoskins (5), off Roark, Difo (2), off Velasquez; Hoskins 2 (22), Franco (25), Difo (11);
Philadelphia 4 (Hoskins 3, Santana), Washington 2 (Adams, Difo); Philadelphia 2 for 8, Washington 0 for 3;
Knapp; Hernandez, Velasquez, Bautista; Philadelphia 2 (Franco, Santana), (Hernandez, Santana), Washington 2 (Kendrick, Difo, Adams), (Difo, Adams); Home, Mike Muchlinski, First, Sean Barber, Second, Mike Winters, Third, Rob Drake; 3:13;
34,687 (41,313).
LOB: left in scoring position: up: A: 27 RISP: GIDP: DP: RBIs: Runners Runners moved Umpires:
Velasquez, W, 2-4 5 92 5.14 Ramos, H, 2 1 Hunter, H, 2 11⁄3 Garcia, H, 5 2⁄3 Neris, S, 6-7 1
Roark, L, 2-3 Solis Suero
3 3 9 115 3.65 0 1 1 20 4.05 0 2 1 25 0.00 Garcia 1-0, Velasquez (Roark);
Inherited runners-scored: HBP:
Solis 1-0; Neris.
HR:
0 0 1 1 1 4
61⁄3 12⁄3 1 1 0 0 0
6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
1
1
0 0 0 0
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2
1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1
1
1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0
8
4
1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
7 3 70 1 20 T: 3B:
4
15 23 5 17
—
— .208 .143 .198 .287 0.64 3.18 2.70 2.77
WP: