UNDATED (AP) — Gerrit Cole put a career-worst pummeling behind him with six sharp innings, and the New York Yankees capitalized on shaky defense by the Tampa Bay Rays for a 2-0 victory. The AL East-leading Yankees won their fifth straight as they played the first of six games in nine days against third-place Tampa Bay. New York entered Tuesday nine games ahead of the two-time defending division champs and eight up on the Blue Jays, who will host the Yankees for three games this weekend.
In other Tuesday action:
—Albert Almora Jr. tripled home the go-ahead run in the 12th after Tyler Mahle pitched nine brilliant innings, and the Cincinnati Reds outlasted the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3. Mahle pitched three-hit ball and became the first pitcher since 1900 to not win while throwing nine or more scoreless innings on the road with at least 12 strikeouts and no walks, according to STATS. He threw a career-high 119 pitches. Arizona’s Zach Davies allowed six hits in seven scoreless innings, walked none and struck out seven.
—Tony Gonsolin tossed 6 1/3 strong innings, Mookie Betts hit his 17th home run and the Los Angeles Dodgers held off the Los Angeles Angels 2-0 in their Freeway Series opener. Gonsolin remained undefeated with his National League-leading eighth victory and lowered his ERA to 1.42. He struck out six and walked two. The right-hander has allowed two runs or fewer in all 12 starts this season. Shohei Ohtani singled and doubled for the Angels. Mike Trout singled in the ninth for the Angels’ third hit. The Angels have lost 17 of 19 overall.
—Logan Webb pitched five-hit ball over seven scoreless innings to win for the first time in a month, and the San Francisco Giants stretched their winning streak to five with a 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals. Webb struck out a season-high nine and walked three. He had been 0-1 in five starts since a May 13 win at St. Louis. Camilo Doval pitched the ninth for his ninth save. Kansas City has lost 12 of 16. At 20-41, the Royals have the worst record in the major leagues.
—Eugenio Suárez and Ty France each clubbed a two-run homer, Logan Gilbert and three relievers combined on a four-hitter and the Seattle Mariners emerged from their offensive slump with a 5-0 win over the Minnesota Twins. Suárez hit his team-leading 12th long ball of the season in the fourth and France launched his 10th homer an inning later to chase Minnesota’s Joe Ryan, who made his first start since being placed on the COVID-19 injured list May 25 and lasted 4 2/3 innings.
—José Ramírez doubled home the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, lifting the Cleveland Guardians to a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies. Ramírez also had a two-run single and Josh Naylor doubled twice and had an RBI hit for Cleveland. Charlie Blackmon hit his 10th home run of the season, a tying two-run drive in the bottom of the seventh inning, and C.J. Cron had a run-scoring triple for the Rockies.
—Rafael Devers hit a three-run homer, Nick Pivetta pitched eight strong innings and the Boston Red Sox beat the slumping Oakland Athletics 6-1. JD Martinez also homered for Boston, which was back at home after going 8-2 on a West Coast road trip that started with a three-game sweep at Oakland.
—Miles Mikolas was one strike from a no-hitter when he gave up a double to Cal Mitchell with two outs in the ninth inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals routed the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 to sweep a doubleheader. Mitchell drove a 2-2 curveball over the head of Gold Glove center fielder Harrison Bader. The hit came on the 129th pitch from Mikolas, a career high. The Pirates lost their ninth straight.
—Kyle Tucker extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, and the AL West-leading Houston Astros rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Rangers. Texas reliever John King retired only one of the five batters he faced. That was an RBI groundout by Yordan Álvarez on the pitch before Tucker hit his 12th homer of the season, a two-run shot that capped the four-run outburst.
—Dylan Cease allowed one run in five innings to remain unbeaten in 10 decisions against Detroit, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Tigers 5-1. Cease allowed one unearned run on seven hits and a walk. He struck out eight while improving to 10-0 with a 1.91 ERA in 11 career starts against the Tigers. He’s the first pitcher to win his first 10 decisions against an opponent since Jamie Moyer started 10-0 against the Marlins in 2006-08. Andrew Vaughn had four hits and Luis Robert drove in a pair of runs for the White Sox.
—Ryan Mountcastle hit a two-run home run, Austin Hays had a solo shot and the Baltimore Orioles held on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5. Mountcastle went 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles and scored twice. Jordan Lyles allowed five hits and four runs in 5 1/3 innings to win for the first time in four starts as the Orioles snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Blue Jays.
—Jesús Aguilar homered, drove in four runs and hit a go-ahead double in the ninth inning to lead the Miami Marlins to a wild 11-9 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Jazz Chisholm Jr., Avisaíl Garcia and Jacob Stallings also went deep for Miami, which has won six of eight. Rhys Hoskins hit two homers, had four hits and drove in six runs for the Phillies, who lost for the second time in their last 12.
—Luke Voit hit a two-run homer and a three-run double as the San Diego Padres rallied from a five-run deficit to hand the Chicago Cubs their eighth straight loss, 12-5. The Padres have won six of eight. Willson Contreras homered twice, drove in three runs and scored three times on a 3-for-4 night for the Cubs.
—Chris Bassitt pitched eight sharp innings of three-hit ball, Pete Alonso drove in two runs and the New York Mets beat the struggling Milwaukee Brewers 4-0. It was the third time Bassitt has thrown eight scoreless innings and the first since his lone shutout, a two-hitter for Oakland against the Los Angeles Angels in May 27 2021. Milwaukee has dropped nine of 10, getting shut out four times during that span.
