Yankees open with flourish, hammer Rays

Leadoff man Aaron Judge singled twice in a six-run first inning off Corey Kluber as the New York Yankees started with seven straight hits for the first time since 1990 and routed Tampa Bay 10-3 on Saturday.

Josh Donaldson homered early, and Giancarlo Stanton connected late off a lob pitch as both players returned to the lineup and helped the American League East leaders move to 4½ games ahead of the second-place Rays. New York also clinched the season head-to-head tiebreaker over Tampa Bay should the teams finish even atop the division.

Judge, leading the majors with 55 homers, hit three singles in raising his average to .307. He is the first Yankees player to reach base at least three times in seven straight games since Mickey Mantle in June 1957.

New York opened with seven straight hits — all singles — for the first time since starting a 15-3 win over Baltimore with eight hits in a row on Sept. 25, 1990. The Yankees hit six singles on the first 21 pitches by Kluber (10-8).

■ Phillies 8, Nationals 5: At Philadelphia, Bryce Harper homered for Philadelphia off fellow Las Vegas High product Erick Fedde (6-10), ending the longest homer drought of the reigning MVP’S major league career. Harper hadn’t homered since June 5, a span of 102 plate appearances that included a two-month injured list stint.

■ Angels 6, Astros 1: At Houston, Mike Trout homered in his franchise-record sixth straight game, a three-run shot, to back Shohei Ohtani (12-8), who allowed one run in five innings before exiting with a blister issue.

■ Red Sox 17, Orioles 4: At Baltimore, Rafael Devers had three hits and five RBIS, including a first-inning grand slam, and Michael Wacha (11-1) pitched six innings while extending his unbeaten streak to 11 starts.

■ White Sox 10, Athletics 2: At Oakland, Calif., Elvis Andrus hit a three-run homer against the team that cut him last month, backing Lance Lynn (6-5), who allowed two unearned runs on three hits in six innings.

■ Cardinals 7, Pirates 5: At Pittsburgh, Albert Pujols hit his 696th homer, tying Alex Rodriguez for fourth on the career list, and also doubled and hit a tying RBI single for St. Louis.

■ Brewers 5, Reds 1: At Milwaukee, Willy Adames and Andrew Mccutchen each hit a two-run homer to back Adrian Houser (6-9), who allowed one run on one hit in six innings.

■ Giants 5, Cubs 2: At Chicago, Joey Bart and David Villar each homered, doubled and drove in two runs to back Logan Webb (13-8), who allowed two runs in six innings.

■ Mets 11, Marlins 3: At Miami, Mark Canha hit a grand slam to cap New York’s eight-run fourth and back Carlos Carrasco (14-6), who allowed one run in six innings.

■ Guardians 6, Twins 4: At Minneapolis, Amed Rosario hit a two-run homer for Cleveland to back Triston Mckenzie (10-11), who pitched seven shutout innings.

■ Blue Jays 11, Rangers 7: At Arlington, Texas, Danny Jansen had a homer among his four hits for Toronto, which scored all of its runs in the first four innings.

■ Tigers 8, Royals 4: At Kansas City, Mo., Victor Reyes hit a tiebreaking RBI triple in the third and a two-run single in Detroit’s four-run fifth.

■ Rockies 4, Diamondbacks 1: At Denver, C.J. Cron hit a 457-foot three-run homer a night after launching a 504-foot blast.

The Associated Press Adam Hunger Aaron Judge hits an RBI single in his second first-inning at-bat Saturday afternoon as New York beat the Rays 10-3 at Yankee Stadium.