Saturday, 4 a.m.
Even in a year when the New York Yankees are pretty bad, Gerritt Cole is still pretty good.
Cole, the ace of the New York staff, put a stop to the high-flying offense of the Tampa Bay Rays in Friday night’s 6-2 victory. It stopped a streak of seven games where the Rays had scored at least five runs.
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Against Cole, they managed just four hits on the night. Cole went 7 2/3 innings and struck out 11.
For the Yankees, it was a relief after 10 losses in their previous 11 games. The Yankees, in the American League East cellar, got two home runs (and three hits) from D.J LeMahieu.
The Rays got a good starting job from Zach Eflin, who gave up just two earned runs in his six innings. But in two innings, reliever Trevor Kelley gave up four hits and walked two. The Rays, trailing 2-1 when Eflin left, soon fell behind by five.
The Rays’ first run came on a homer by Yandy Diaz, his 17th of the year. Brandon Lowe drove in the final run with a single to right, his second hit of the night.
The Rays and Yankees play again today at 4:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Tyler Glasnow will start for the Rays against Clarke Schmidt.