Cole quiets Mariners as Yankees end losing streak
Gerrit Cole stared down José Caballero and wagged a finger at the Mariners’ dugout 15 times after striking out the side in the seventh inning, a pointed response to the rookie’s repeated stepouts during the Yankees’ 3-1 home win on Tuesday night that stopped a four-game losing streak.
After Caballero stepped out with an 0-and-2 count in the seventh, Cole threw a 97-mile-perhour fastball to the screen. The Yankees’ ace got Caballero swinging on a full-count fastball, stared at him as he walked off the mound, then turned to the Mariners’ dugout and wagged his right index finger over and over.
Plate umpire Dan Bellino then walked toward the New York dugout and had an intense discussion with manager Aaron Boone.
Cole (8-1) allowed one run and four hits in 7‚ innings with eight strikeouts and a walk. He received a standing ovation when he was replaced by Clay Holmes, then raised his right index finger and thumb to tip his cap to the crowd of 43,130 as he walked to the dugout.
Cole is 4-0 with a 1.87 ERA following a Yankees loss this season, and New York is 7-0 in those starts. Holmes got five straight outs for his ninth save in 11 chances, ending a game that took just 2 hours, 9 minutes.
Anthony Rizzo had an RBI double off the rightfield wall in the first against George Kirby (6-6), and Billy McKinney hit a 432-foot, two-run homer in the second, providing a boost to a Yankees offense that entered with major league lows of a .192 batting average and 49 runs in June.
New York is 5-8 since Aaron Judge injured his right big toe June 3. However, Judge appears to be responding to a second platelet rich plasma injection to his right big toe, although he has not resumed baseball activities.
Before the game, Victor Wembanyama, the 7foot-4-inch French player expected to be taken by San Antonio with the first pick in the NBA draft this week, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Reds run win streak to 10
TJ Friedl hit a three-run homer on a four-hit night, rookie Elly De La Cruz added a solo shot and the host Reds extended their winning streak to 10 games with an 8-6 victory over the Rockies.
Will Benson had a solo homer in the sixth, helping the NL Central-leading Reds to their longest winning streak since 2012. De La Cruz had three hits as fans chanted “Elly! Elly!”
The Reds scored two runs in the fifth with the help of three throwing errors by Colorado righthander Peter Lambert, two on attempted pickoffs at second.
Orioles almost blow 7-run lead
Aaron Hicks homered and had four RBIs as the Orioles beat the host Rays, 8-6, after nearly blowing a seven-run lead in a matchup of the top two teams in the AL East.
Anthony Santander and Ryan O’Hearn also went deep, and Kyle Bradish (3-3) gave up two runs and four hits over five innings for the Orioles, who moved within four games of the firstplace Rays. Félix Bautista, the fifth Baltimore reliever, got four outs to earn his 20th save on his 28th birthday.
Francisco Mejía had an RBI double off Bradish during a two-run fifth before Manuel Margot drove in two with a pinch-single in a four-run sixth against three Baltimore relievers as the Rays got within 7-6.
MLB to honor Negro Leagues
Major League Baseball will stage a Negro Leagues tribute game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., on June 20, 2024, between the Giants and Cardinals. The 10,800-seat stadium, opened in 1910, is the oldest professional ballpark in the United States — older than both Fenway Park and Wrigley Field — and a National Historic Site. The stadium was home to the Birmingham Black Barons from 1924-60.
The game will honor Hall of Famer Willie Mays, an Alabama native who began his professional career with the team in 1948.
Mays, 92, is generally considered baseball’s greatest living player. After playing with Birmingham, he signed with the New York Giants and was voted the 1951 National League Rookie of the Year as the Giants won the NL pennant.
Guardians call on Williams
Guardians starter Triston McKenzie will be shut down for up to six weeks — and possibly longer — with an elbow sprain that may require surgery. As a result, hard-throwing righthander Gavin Williams will make his major league debut Wednesday against the A’s. The 23-year-old Williams, Cleveland’s top pitching prospect, was a first-round draft pick in 2021 . . . The Reds designated outfielder Wil Myers for assignment after activating him from the 10-day injured list. The 32-year-old Myers, the AL League Rookie of the Year in 2013 with Tampa Bay and an All-Star in 2016 with San Diego, batted .189 with three homers and 12 RBIs in 32 games before he was sidelined . . . Former pitcher George Frazier, a World Series champion with the Twins who had a nearly three-decade run as a broadcaster, died Monday in Tulsa, Okla., at 68 after a recent illness . . . Dick Hall, the dependable reliever who was part of two World Series-winning teams with the Orioles, died Sunday. He was 92.