Cole and Carpenter help Yanks blow out Guardians
Gerrit Cole brushed off giving up back-to-back home runs and worked six strong innings, leading the New York Yankees to a
13-4 romp over the Cleveland Guardians in the first game of a split doubleheader on Saturday in Cleveland.
Cole (7-2) was tagged for consecutive homers in the second inning by Josh Naylor and Franmil Reyes before settling in. The right-hander allowed Cleveland just one other hit and struck out six.
Matt Carpenter homered twice — his second was off utilityman Ernie Clement in the ninth — and had four RBI. DJ LeMahieu added a solo shot off rookie Kirk McCarty (0-2) for the Yankees.
Jose Trevino also connected off Clement, giving New York a major leagueleading 131 home runs.
In winning 24 of its last 30 games, New York improved to 57-21, tying the 2001 Seattle Mariners for the second-best start after 78 games since 1930. Only the 1998 Yankees (58-20) were better.
Another humdrum win for the Yankees did have a hiccup. Reliever Aroldis Chapman’s first major league outing May 22 didn’t go well.
The left-hander, who was activated Friday after being sidelined with Achilles tendinitis, came in for Cole to start the seventh and walked three straight batters before being pulled by manager Aaron Boone after 19 pitches.
This is the sixth doubleheader for the rain-soaked Guardians, and what will be their third twinbill in less than a week with another scheduled for July 4 in Detroit. Cleveland split two with Minnesota on Tuesday.
LeMahieu triggered New York’s four-run third with his eighth homer, a shot into the right-field seats.
McCarty then got himself into trouble with a pair of walks before Miguel Andujar, recalled as the 27th man for the doubleheader, delivered an RBI single and Aaron Hicks drove in two with a base hit to make it 4-2.
Naylor and Reyes connected for their homers in a four-pitch span off Cole in the third.
Naylor drove his 10th homer into the bullpen in center. Reyes followed with an opposite-field shot to right for his fifth.
The Yankees added four runs in the sixth on Carpenter’s seventh homer and a two-run single by Gleyber Torres.
• Rays 6, Blue Jays 2: Shane McClanahan allowed one run in seven innings, lowering his ALleading ERA to 1.74, Wander Franco and Isaac Paredes hit solo home runs, and Tampa Bay snapped a season-long four-game losing streak by beating host Toronto in Game 1 of their doubleheader.
• Twins 4, Orioles 3: Jorge Polanco hit a tying homer and Jose Miranda delivered a game-ending single as host Minnesota again rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and beat Baltimore. A day after Byron Buxton hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Jorge López for a 3-2 victory, Minnesota came back once more. Polanco began the ninth with a home run against López that made it 3-all. Alex Kirilloff doubled with one out, Gary Sánchez singled and Miranda followed with a single to win it.
• Tigers 4, Royals 3: Victor Reyes and Riley Greene hit back-to-back homers in the ninth inning to give host Detroit the win over Kansas City.
• Astros 9, Angels 1: Martín Maldonado homered twice and Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker and Chas McCormick added a home run each as host Houston built a big lead early and didn’t let up to rout Los Angeles, for its fifth consecutive win.
• Mariners 2, Athletics 1: Pinch-hitter Justin Upton homered to tie it in the eighth inning and Abraham Toro singled home the winning run in the ninth to lift host Seattle over Oakland. The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth when Lou Trivino walked Eugenio Suarez, Carlos Santana singled and Cal Raleigh reached on shortstop Nick Allen’s error. Toro then singled home pinch-runner Marcus Wilson for the victory.
INTERLEAGUE
• White Sox 5, Giants 3: Gavin Sheets doubled twice and drove in two runs, and Chicago held on at San Francisco Giants. Dylan Cease allowed one run in five innings for his third consecutive win. The major league leader in strikeouts per nine innings, Cease had only four against San Francisco, his fewest since May 24.
• Rangers 7, Mets 3: Kole Calhoun homered twice and drove in four runs, Martín Pérez won his seventh straight decision and Texas won at New York. Calhoun hit a three-run shot off spot starter Trevor Williams in the second inning and third-year catcher Jonah Heim followed with his career-high 11th home run.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
• Pirates 7, Brewers 4: Oneil Cruz collected his 12th RBI in 13 games this season to host Pittsburgh bounce back from a 19-2 blowout loss to beat Milwaukee Brewers. The 23year-old prospect put the Pirates up 4-1 with two outs in the fourth on a 392-foot solo blast to right with a 112.3 mph exit velocity that chased Brewers starter Aaron Ashby.
• Braves 4, Reds 1: Spencer Strider allowed one hit over six innings and matched a career high with 11 strikeouts, Austin Riley homered for the second straight game and drove in two runs and Atlanta won at Cincinnati.