Ageless Cruz’s historic start helps Twins to 5th win in row

José Berríos pitched six strong innings, Nelson

Cruz had three hits and the host Minnesota Twins beat the Pittsburgh 7-3 Tuesday in a game briefly delayed when an unauthorized drone flew over Target Field.

Cruz had a RBI single in the fourth. He has 17 hits, the most hits in MLB history through a season’s first 11 games by a player at least 40 years old.

The Twins won their fifth in a row and improved to 9-2 for the second time in the team’s 60-year history. The other was 2001.

Pittsburgh lost its fifth consecutive game and at 2-9 has baseball’s worst winning percentage at .182.

The game was delayed for nine minutes in the fifth inning and players were pulled off the field when the drone flew over center field. A few pitchers in the bullpen threw balls at the flying intruder, but missed.

Indians 4, Reds 2: Shane Bieber overcame two solo home runs to pitch into the eighth inning, Franmil Reyes hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer and Cleveland snapped a four-game skid. Reyes capped the Indians’ comeback from a 2-0 deficit with his first homer of the season after hitting 37 with San Diego and Cleveland last year. His shot in the eighth inning to deep rightcenter field against Nate Jones (0-1) followed a leadoff walk by Carlos Santana.

LATE MONDAY

Mets 7, Braves 2: Jacob deGrom struck out a season-high 10 in six innings and New York snapped a five-game skid in a win over the Braves that was overshadowed by a season-ending injury to Atlanta ace Mike Soroka.

Soroka tore his Achilles tendon in the third inning as he took a step toward first to cover the bag — a huge blow to the two-time defending NL East champions. Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos said Soroka, who turned 23 on Tuesday, is expected to have surgery within a week. Anthopoulos wouldn’t place a timetable on Soroka’s recovery period.

Robinson Cano had three RBI before leaving the game himself — one of three New York infielders who went down with injuries.

Yankees 6, Phillies 3: Gerrit Cole won his home debut for New York, extending his regular-season streak of victories to 19.

New York improved to 8-1 for the third time after 1988 and 2003 — but it’s the equivalent of 22-3 over a 162-game season. The streak of the major leaguebest Yankees is tantamount to a 19-game spurt.

Cole (3-0) allowed one run and five hits in six innings, struck out four and walked one on 91 pitches, leaving after a 1-hour, 7minute rain delay ahead of the seventh.

Cubs 2, Royals 0:

Chicago star Kris Bryant returned to the starting lineup and homered in the victory after missing two games with a stomach ailment.

ELSEWHERE

Cardinals: Catcher Yadier Molina said he was “saddened” to reveal that he was one of the seven players who tested positive for COVID-19. Through the team, five of his teammates also revealed that they had positive tests for COVID-19: All-Star shortstop Paul DeJong, relievers Junior Fernandez and Kodi Whitley, infielder Edmundo Sosa, and corner infielder Rangel Ravelo. The team had 13 members of the traveling party test positive for COVID-19. All 13 have returned to their

St. Louis-area homes.

Nationals: Juan Soto was reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list after missing the team’s first seven games of the season. Soto was not in the starting lineup Tuesday but was available to pinch-hit.