Cortes takes no-hit bid into 8th to lead Yanks
Nestor Cortes took a nohit bid into the eighth inning before Eli White singled, and Anthony Rizzo doubled in a run in the bottom half to lift the New York Yankees over the Texas Rangers 1-0 Monday for their sixth straight series win.
A 27-year-old left-hander making his 22nd big league start and sixth this season, Cortes pitched a careerhigh 7 1/3 innings, walked four and struck out 11, one shy of his high. He threw 68 of 103 pitches for strikes.
White, the Rangers’ No. 9 batter lofted a 2-2 fastball into short center field for a clean hit on Cortes’ final pitch. Clay Holmes (40) relieved and got Marcus Semien to ground into a double play.
Aaron Judge singled in the eighth off Brett Martin (0-3) and Rizzo, in a 2-for31 slide, lofted a curveball to the opposite-field gap in left-center.
Aroldis Chapman allowed a two-out single to Jonah Heim in the ninth, then retired Nick Solak on a flyout to finish the twohitter for his seventh save. PIRATES 5, DODGERS 1 >> Jose Quintana pitched six scoreless innings for his first win since 2019 and the first victory by a Pittsburgh starting pitcher this season.
The Pirates also ended a 16-game losing streak against the Dodgers dating to 2018 and snapped Los Angeles’ six-game winning streak.
Quintana (1-1) allowed four hits and four walks while striking out five. His previous win came on Sept. 5, 2019 at Milwaukee while pitching for the Chicago Cubs.
ORIOLES 6, ROYALS 1 >> Tyler Wells pitched six strong innings to earn his first victory of the season and Baltimore used a six-run fifth inning to surge past Kansas City.
Baltimore has won four of five for the first time this season and finished its homestand 5-4. Kansas City has lost seven of its past nine to fall a season-high eight games under .500. ATHLETICS 2, TIGERS 0>> Paul Blackburn threw 6 2/3 strong innings to improve to 4-0 as Oakland beat Detroit to snap a season-high nine-game losing streak.
Tony Kemp hit a solo home run in the third and Chad Pinder added an RBI single in the fourth.
Blackburn gave up four hits and struck out three before leaving in the seventh inning. Despite walking two batters, rookie Dany Jiménez escaped damage and earned his fifth save to finish off the four-hitter.