AROUND THE HORN
Yankees: Gerrit Cole shook off rare control problems to pitch four-hit ball over seven innings and give the Yankees their most dominant stretch of starting pitching in 89 years, leading the Yanks over the White Sox 7-0 Saturday for a five-game winning streak. Cole (6-2) allowed four singles, struck out seven and walked as many as three for the first time since Aug. 31. Rebounding from his worst outing this season, he lowered his ERA to 1.81 and ended the day with a 100.8 mph fastball that Andrew Vaughn took for a called third strike, Cole’s fastest pitch this season and the fourth-fastest of his big league career. Cole extended the scoreless streak by Yankees starters to 30 innings. Following Corey Kluber’s no-hitter at Texas and outings by Domingo Germán’s against the Rangers and Jordan Montgomery i n Friday night’s series opener, Cole gave the Yankees four straight starts of seven shutout innings for the first time since May 11-16, 1932 (Johnny Allen vs. the St. Louis Browns, George Pipgras and Red Ruffing vs. Chicago and Lefty Gomez vs. Cleveland).
Pirates: Pirates righthander Trevor Cahill was placed on the 10-day injured list on Saturday with left side discomfort. Pirates manager Derek Shelton said Cahill “hadn’t seen a ton of improvement” and was placed on the IL to “give him a chance to get it right.” The move with Cahill was retroactive to Thursday, a day after he left a start against the Cardinals in the second inning. Shelton said no decision has been made on who will fill Cahill’s next scheduled start on Tuesday against the Cubs. Cahill (1-5, 6.81 ERA) is in his first season with the Pirates. Cahill, 33, is 86-99 with a 4.26 ERA in 13 seasons. Right-hander Kyle Crick was activated off the 10-day IL. Crick returns from a right triceps injury.
Blue Jays: The Blue Jays put third baseman Cavan Biggio on the 10-day injured list with a cervical spine ligament sprain on Saturday. Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo expects Biggio to be ready to return when eligible to come of the IL. “It’s real nagging,” Montoyo said. “He gets loose and then he’s fine but then the more he plays it gets too uncomfortable. The best thing for him is just take the 10 days so we can get rid of that pain and be ready to come back after 10 days.” Biggio was out of the starting lineup Friday night with neck soreness but did pinch hit.
MLB: There was a big number reached in Major League Baseball during the Padres’ 16-1 blowout over the Mariners, and it had nothing to do with runs. Because when Mariners backup catcher José Godoy made his big league debut Friday night, he became the 20,000th player in MLB history. There was no fanfare at Petco Park when Godoy came in to catch in the bottom of the sixth inning with the Mariners trailing 12-1. The 26-yearold from Venezuela who signed with the Cardinals in 2011 and joined the Seattle system last winter grounded out and walked in his two plate appearances. But to fans who had been tracking the procession to 20,000 on the Twitter postings by the web site Céspedes Family BBQ, it was a big deal. The list of big leaguers began in 1871 and ranges from A to Z — there has never been a player whose last name started with X, although there have been several with first names that start that way, including Red Sox star Xander Bogaerts.