FILE PHOTO: Apr 24, 2021; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) delivers in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Gerrit Cole struck out 12 in six dominant innings, Aaron Judge homered in consecutive at-bats and the New York Yankees cruised to a 10-0 victory over the visiting Detroit Tigers on Friday.
Cole (4-1) allowed four singles and walked none while easily winning his second straight start. He became the first Yankee to record at least 10 strikeouts in three consecutive games since David Cone did it from Sept. 2-13, 1998. He ended the night with 62 strikeouts, the most ever by a Yankees pitcher in April.
Judge recorded his second multi-homer game of the season and the 12th of his career after being held out of the starting lineup in the previous two games due to lower-body soreness.
The Tigers lost their third straight and fell to 2-13 in their past 15 games. Tarik Skubal (0-4) allowed four runs on five hits and two walks in three innings. He struck out one.
Reds 8, Cubs 6
Joey Votto hit his 300th career homer and drove in three runs as Cincinnati snapped a four-game home losing streak by hanging on for a victory over struggling Chicago.
Eugenio Suarez and Nick Senzel also homered for the Reds, who scored three in the third inning and four in the fourth. Wade Miley (2-3) gave up two runs in five innings pitched.
Cubs starter Jake Arrieta (3-3) lasted just 3 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs and seven hits, including three homers. He walked one and struck out two.
Red Sox 6, Rangers 1
J.D. Martinez homered twice, Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers also went deep and visiting Boston thumped Texas.
Martinez, who was originally not expected to play after exiting Thursday’s series opener due to migraine symptoms, had three hits and four RBIs to complete a monster month of April as the Red Sox won for the fourth time in five games. Nathan Eovaldi (4-2) allowed one run in six innings to take the win.
Brock Holt had two hits and an RBI for the Rangers, who have dropped six of eight.
Nationals 2, Marlins 1 (10 innings)
Kyle Schwarber hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th and Washington beat visiting Miami.
Josh Bell started the inning on second base and Schwarber hit an 0-1 fastball to right-center off Yimi Garcia (2-2), for his second walk-off homer of the season. Brad Hand (2-0) pitched two innings for the win.
The Marlins took a 1-0 lead when Garrett Cooper’s single scored Jose Devers in the top of the 10th. Marlins starter Pablo Lopez shut out the Nationals for seven innings. He allowed six hits and two walks, while striking out two over 79 pitches.
Orioles 3, Athletics 2
Left-hander John Means pitched seven strong innings to cap a stellar month as Baltimore began a Western swing with a victory over host Oakland.
In beating the A’s for the second time in six days, Means (3-0) gave up two runs on three hits. He struck out nine and walked one. Means finished the month with a 1.70 ERA, the second-best mark ever for an Oriole with six or more starts in April.
All the Athletics’ scoring came on solo home runs by Sean Murphy in the second, his fourth of the season, and Mitch Moreland in the seventh, his third.
Mariners 7, Angels 4
Mitch Haniger, Dylan Moore and Tom Murphy hit home runs and Seattle’s bullpen combined for five innings of two-hit relief as the Mariners defeated visiting Los Angeles.
Shohei Ohtani homered for the Angels in the opener of a three-game series. It was his eighth of the season, one below the major-league-leading total of the Boston Red Sox’s J.D. Martinez.
Mariners right-hander Chris Flexen didn’t stick around long enough to get the victory. He allowed three runs on four hits in four innings, with one walk and no strikeouts.
Diamondbacks 7, Rockies 2
Arizona won for the ninth time in its last 11 games as Josh Rojas hit a home run for the second straight game against visiting Colorado.
Veteran left-hander Madison Bumgarner (3-2) allowed four hits and one run with six strikeouts and a walk in five innings for the Diamondbacks, who rallied for four runs, three of them earned, against Colorado starter Jon Gray (3-2) in the third inning to take a 4-1 lead. Gray allowed nine hits in six innings and had three strikeouts with one walk.
Colorado, 1-10 on the road this season, has lost four of its last five games, including the first two this weekend against Arizona.
Cardinals 7, Pirates 3
Matt Carpenter’s three-run pinch-hit homer in the sixth inning helped lift visiting St. Louis to a win over Pittsburgh.
Tyler O’Neill added a solo homer among three hits, and Nolan Arenado hit two RBI doubles for St. Louis, which has won six of its past eight games. Cardinals starter John Gant (2-2), in five innings, gave up one run and three hits, with five walks and two strikeouts.
Kevin Newman hit an RBI single for the Pirates, who had won three of four. Pittsburgh starter J.T. Brubaker (2-2) pitched five innings. He allowed a season-high three runs, along with seven hits, seven strikeouts and no walks.
Phillies 2, Mets 1
Chase Anderson tossed five shutout innings for his first win in five starts as host Philadelphia defeated New York.
The Phillies, who managed only three hits, scored two unearned runs on a passed ball by James McCann in the second inning to secure the victory. Anderson (1-3) allowed five hits and no runs, struck out six and walked two.
J.D. Davis had a pair of hits for the Mets, who were 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Mets starter Marcus Stroman (3-2) gave up three hits and two runs, both unearned, in five innings. He struck out eight and walked one.
Brewers 3, Dodgers 1
Jackie Bradley Jr. belted a two-run homer and Freddy Peralta tossed six strong innings as Milwaukee edged visiting Los Angeles.
The Brewers took the lead for good in the second inning. Avisail Garcia led off with a single and scored on Bradley’s one-out blast to right field off Edwin Uceta (0-1), who was making his major league debut. Peralta (3-0) escaped a first-inning jam, then retired 10 consecutive batters in the victory.
The Dodgers were held to two hits and scored three runs or fewer for the ninth time in their past 13 games.
Indians 5, White Sox 3
Jose Ramirez had two hits, including a solo home run, and three RBIs to back six strong innings from Shane Bieber and lift visiting Cleveland to a victory against Chicago.
Bieber (3-2) scattered seven hits and three runs in six innings with one walk and 11 strikeouts for the Indians. He established a new major league record with his strikeout total, fanning at least eight batters for the 18th successive start dating to last season.
White Sox starter Dallas Keuchel fell to 1-1 after spacing four runs, four hits, four walks and four strikeouts in six innings. Keuchel closed his outing by retiring 10 of the last 11 hitters he faced.
Astros 9, Rays 2
Tampa native Lance McCullers Jr. returned home to craft seven scoreless innings, Michael Brantley and Carlos Correa notched four-hit games and visiting Houston routed Tampa Bay.
McCullers (2-1) surrendered just three hits while fanning nine and walking three in his 111-pitch gem for the Astros. Spraying the ball to all fields, Brantley (three runs, RBI) went 4-for-5 — all singles — to raise his average from .317 to .345. Correa was 4-for-5 with two doubles, lifting his average from .277 to .303.
Brandon Lowe registered two of the Rays’ six hits, and Willy Adames had a two-run single in the ninth.
Twins 9, Royals 1
Alex Kirilloff hit the first two home runs of his career as Minnesota defeated Kansas City in Minneapolis.
Kirilloff, who drove in four runs, came into the game hitting .115 (3 of 26), with just one extra-base hit. Michael Pineda (2-1) picked up the win for the Twins. He allowed just one run on three hits in five innings, but took a line drive from Michael A. Taylor off his right wrist in the fifth inning. He finished the inning but that was it for the game.
Brady Singer (1-3) took the loss. He lasted just two innings, partly because of ineffectiveness and partly because of injury after being struck by a batted ball in the second inning. He allowed one run on two hits in two innings. Royals pitchers walked 10 batters and hit another.
Padres 3, Giants 2
Jurickson Profar snapped a tie with a two-run single in the sixth inning as host San Diego defeated San Francisco.
Yu Darvish (3-1) picked up the win, allowing one run on four hits and three walks with 12 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Mark Melancon picked up his ninth save with a perfect ninth, lowering his ERA to 0.69.
The Giants went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, squandering numerous chances in the second half of the game. San Francisco got a solo homer from Buster Posey.
Blue Jays 13, Braves 5
Alejandro Kirk led a six-homer barrage with a pair of two-run blasts, and Toronto defeated visiting Atlanta at Dunedin, Fla.
Teoscar Hernandez added a three-run homer, Bo Bichette had a two-run drive while Randal Grichuk and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit solo shots for the Blue Jays, while Robbie Ray 1-1 threw 6 2/3 strong innings in the victory.
Ozzie Albies hit a two-run homer for the Braves.