Jameson Taillon pitched two-hit ball in eight innings, emulating Nestor Cortes to give the Yankees their longest consecutive outings in nine years, and New York beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 on Friday night.
Gleyber Torres put the Yankees ahead with a home run in the fourth off Jeffrey Springs (2-2) and Matt Carpenter, in his second game with New York, homered later in the inning.
New York opened a 6 1/2-game lead over the Rays by winning the first two games of the four-game series. The Yankees won for the fourth straight time after their worst three-game losing streak of the season and improved to 33-13, the best start in the majors since 2001 when the Seattle Mariners started 34-12.
Taillon (5-1) improved to 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA in his last seven starts, striking out five and allowing just one walk while posting 62 strikes on 93 pitches. The 30-year-old right-hander hadn’t gotten an out in the eighth inning since Aug. 7, 2018, when he played for Pittsburgh in Colorado and completed his second game in the majors.
For the Yankees, Venezuelans Gleyber Torres, 4-1 with a run scored and an RBI, and Marwin González 3-0; and the Dominican Miguel Andújar 4-1.
For the Rays, the Dominicans Manuel Margot 3-1, Vidal Brujan and Wander Franco 3-0 and Francisco Mejía 1-0; Cubans Randy Arozarena 3-1 and Yandy Díaz 3-0.
Cardinals 4
Brewers 2
Paul Goldschmidt homered to extend his hitting streak to 18 games as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 on Friday.
Dakota Hudson was removed from the game after 4 2/3 innings, with the bases loaded and after giving up five hits and walking four.
Drew VerHagen (2-0) grounded out Andrew McCutchen for a force out that marked the end of the fifth inning.
Milwaukee had packed the bases in the third before McCutchen grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Ryan Helsley struck out Mike Brosseau and retired Kolten Wong on a groundout for three saves and snapping Milwaukee’s three-game winning streak.
Helsley has not allowed an earned run in 14 appearances this season.
Brandon Woodruff (5-3) allowed two runs on two hits. He was removed in the fifth episode with a sore right ankle.
For the Brewers, the Mexican Luis Urías 4-1. The Venezuelan Omar Narvaez 4-2.
For the Cardinals, the Dominican Albert Pujols 4-0. The Venezuelan Juan Yépez 3-1 with an RBI. Panamanian Edmundo Sosa 1-1 with a run scored and an RBI.
