Taillon adds to Yankees’ run of stellar pitching
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jameson Tallion pitched two-hit ball over eight shutout innings, following Nestor Cortes to give the Yankees their longest consecutive starts in nine years and leading New York over Tampa Bay 2-0 on Friday.
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 6½-game lead over the Rays by winning the first two games of the four-game series. The Yankees won their fourth straight following a three-game skid and improved to 3313, the majors’ best 46-game start since Seattle opened 34-12 in 2001.
Taillon (5-1) improved to 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA in his past seven starts, striking out five and walking none while throwing 62 of 93 pitches for strikes. The 30-year-old right-hander had not gotten an out in the eighth inning since Aug. 7, 2018, for Pittsburgh at Colorado, when he pitched his second big league complete game.
Taillon was sidelined from May 1, 2019, until the start of 2021 while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery.
Cortes threw eight-plus innings of one-run ball as New York won Thursday’s series opener 7-2. Yankees starters had not pitched eight innings in consecutive games since CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova against Kansas City on July 9 and 10, 2013.
■ Orioles 12, Red Sox 8: At Boston, Anthony Santander hit a two-run homer in the fourth and a go-ahead RBI single in the ninth for Baltimore, which overcame two six-run deficits. Boston had one hit after the fifth inning.
■ Twins 10, Royals 7: At Minneapolis, Jorge Polanco homered in Minnesota’s four-run first, and Carlos Correa hit a go-ahead homer in the Twins’ fourth. Bobby Witt Jr. was a double shy of the cycle for Kansas City.
■ Dodgers 6, Diamondbacks 4: At Phoenix, Edwin Rios and Mookie Betts hit consecutive homers in the Los Angeles second, and Trea Turner went deep in the Dodgers’ sixth.
■ Blue Jays 4, Angels 3: At Anaheim, Calif., Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had three hits and an RBI, and his single in the ninth was misplayed, allowing Toronto to score the go-ahead run.
■ Mariners 6, Astros 1: At Seattle, Julio Rodriguez, Kyle Lewis, Ty France and Taylor Trammell homered off Justin Verlander (6-2), who allowed six runs in six innings.
■ Padres 4, Pirates 3: At San Diego, Luke Voit hit a tying three-run homer in the San Diego sixth, and Wil Myers had a broken-bat RBI single in the Padres’ eighth.
■ Braves 6, Marlins 4: At Atlanta, Ozzie Albies blooped a go-ahead two-run double in the Atlanta seventh after the Braves had blown a three-run lead.
■ Cardinals 4, Brewers 2: At St. Louis, Paul Goldschmidt hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the St. Louis third to extend his hitting streak to 18 games.
■ Mets 8, Phillies 6: At New York, Pete Alonso hit a two-run homer, an RBI double and a sacrifice fly for New York, which led 7-0.
■ Reds 5, Giants 1: At Cincinnati, rookie Graham Ashcraft (1-0) pitched 6⅓ shutout innings and won in his second major league start.
■ Rangers 8, Athletics 5: At Oakland, Calif., pinch hitter Andy Ibanez had a two-out, two-run single in Texas’ three-run ninth.
■ Rockies at Nationals, ppd., rain: The game was rescheduled as part of a split doubleheader Saturday.
■ Guardians at Tigers, ppd., rain: The game was rescheduled as part of a split doubleheader July 4.