UNDATED (AP) — Nelson Cortes and the New York Yankees continue to flourish.
Cortes carried a three-hit shutout into the ninth inning of the Yankees’ third straight win, 7-2 over the Rays. He was reached for one run and four hits over eight-plus innings as the Yanks improved to a major league-best 32-13, tying the second-best 45-game start in team history.
Cortes improved to 4-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.70. He’s allowed three runs or fewer in 18 consecutive starts since last season.
Aaron Judge had pair of RBIs to raise his total to 36.
The Yankees opened a 5 1/2-game lead over the Rays by winning the opener of a four-game series, the first of 10 games between the teams in a 28-day span.
Elsewhere on major league diamonds:
— Trevor Story kept up his hot hitting with a three-run homer and four RBIs in the Red Sox’s 16-7 pounding of the White Sox. Story has seven homers and 21 RBIs in his last seven games, raising his season totals to nine home runs and 32 ribbies. Alex Verdugo had a pair of doubles among four hits as Boston outscored Chicago 33-13 in taking two of three in the series.
— Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered off Shohei Ohtani for the first time, and George Springer hit a leadoff home run in the Blue Jays’ 6-3 victory over the Angels. Bo Bichette hit a two-run double and Santiago Espinal had an RBI single in the third inning for Toronto. Ohtani struck out 10 but surrendered five runs over six innings in his eighth mound start of the season.
— Miguel Cabrera’s third hit of the night was a walk-off single in the ninth inning to send the Tigers past the Guardians, 4-3. Jonathan Schoop hit a one-out double in the final inning, advanced on a wild pitch from Trevor Stephan and scored on Cabrera’s 3,029th career hit. Cabrera also poked an RBI single that put the Tigers ahead, 3-0 in the second inning.
— Adolis García doubled home the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning and Nathaniel Lowe followed with a two-run home run in the Rangers’ 4-1 verdict over the Athletics. García and Kole Calhoun each had two hits as the Rangers won their second straight after dropping three in a row. Chad Pinder had two hits for Oakland, which has dropped 12 of its last 14 home games.
— Whit Merrifield fueled the Royals’ three-run eighth in a 3-2 comeback over the Twins. Merrifield laced a two-run double and scored on Bobby Witt Jr’s two-base hit as Kansas City halted a seven-game skid. Scott Barlow escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and stranded two on base in the ninth to earn his fifth save.
— Freddie Freeman highlighted a five-RBI, four-hit night with a three-run homer as the Dodgers crushed Arizona, 14-1. Chris Taylor had a two-run homer in the eighth, one of the Dodgers’ 24 hits. Los Angeles won for the 10th time in 12 games and joined the Yankees as the first major league teams to 30 victories this season.
— The Brewers came away with a 4-3 win over the Cardinals as Josh Hader escaped a ninth-inning jam in his 37th straight scoreless appearance. Tyrone Taylor drove in a run for the seventh straight game and Luis Urías homered as the NL Central leaders increased their edge over the second-place Cardinals to 4 1/2 games. Paul Goldschmidt homered and extended his hitting streak to 17 games for St. Louis.
— Aaron Nola struck out 10 while pitching shutout ball into the ninth inning for his first victory since opening day, leading the Phillies to a 4-1 decision over the Braves. J.T. Realmuto homered to support his batterymate, who entered with a 6.60 ERA with eight homers allowed over his last six starts in Atlanta. Philadelphia had lost each of Nola’s last eight starts, but he had a 3.69 ERA over that stretch.
— Patrick Corbin ended a 10-start winless streak, allowing three runs over 7 1/3 innings to lead the Nationals over the Rockies, 7-3. Corbin had been 0-7 this season and hadn’t won since last September against Cincinnati. César Hernández singled, doubled, walked and scored twice for Washington, which took a 4-0, first-inning lead and improved to 7-17 at Nationals Park.
— The Reds racked up their highest run total in 23 years by collecting 20 hits in a 20-5 thrashing of the Cubs. Kyle Farmer had four hits, including two home runs and five RBIs. Nick Senzel also had four hits, while Brandon Drury, Tommy Pham and Albert Almora Jr. had three each.
