NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his major-league leading 48th homer and Gerrit Cole allowed one hit in six innings to become the fourth active pitcher to reach 150 career wins as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-0 Thursday.
Judge homered for the third straight game and is on pace to finish with 61, two years after hitting 62 to break Roger Maris’ single-season AL record. Judge homered for the sixth time in seven games, seventh time in 10 games and 13th time in 23 games.
Judge hit his latest homer when he connected on a 2-1 changeup from Cleveland starter Gavin Williams (2-6) and lifted it to the right field seats. The 360-foot drive marked the third time this season Judge homered in a third straight game.
Cole (5-2) allowed a single to Steven Kwan on his second pitch and struggled with command at times. He tied a career worst by issuing five walks, struck out two and got eight outs on the ground, including a double play by rookie Jhonkensy Noel to end the sixth.
Cole joined Justin Verlander (260), Max Scherzer (216) and Clayton Kershaw (212) and reached the milestone in his 311th start.
NATIONALS 8, ROCKIES 3
WASHINGTON (AP) — Patrick Corbin pitched six innings to earn career win No. 100, Juan Yepez hit a three-run home run and Washington beat Colorado to take the rubber game of the series.
Luis Garcia Jr. and Jose Tena had two hits each for the Nationals, who have won three of their last four games.
In his sixth try for the milestone win, Corbin (3-12) allowed one run on four hits. He walked one batter and struck out a season-high eight.
Corbin went 14-7 with a 3.25 ERA for Washington in 2019 and was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the World Series. Since then, the 35-year-old left-hander is 30-69 with a 5.64 ERA as he nears the end of a six-year, $140 million contract.
Brenton Doyle and Jacob Stallings homered for the Rockies.
Starter Cal Quantrill (8-9) gave up two runs on two hits over five innings.
Colorado’s Bud Black managed his 1,160th game, passing Clint Hurdle for the most games managed in Rockies history. Hurdle leads Black in wins, 534-523.
CUBS 10, TIGERS 2
CHICAGO (AP) — Miguel Amaya hit his first career grand slam and drove in a personal-best five runs, and Chicago pounded Detroit to take the three-game series.
Justin Steele (4-5) struck out a season-high 10 in seven innings, and the Cubs came away with an easy win as they try to make up ground in the race for the National League’s third wild card. They are 11-7 in August.
Amaya gave the Cubs a 4-0 lead in the second with his drive to left against reliever Kenta Maeda (2-6). He also capped a four-run seventh with an RBI single off the ivy in left-center, though he got thrown out stretching for a double.
Cody Bellinger doubled and scored in the third. He also singled in a run in the fourth to make it 6-0.
Steele gave up two runs and four hits. He threw 94 pitches without a walk, helping the Cubs improve to 25-15 in interleague play.
Detroit’s Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run homer in the seventh. Maeda got tagged for six runs and nine hits in five innings, and the Tigers dropped two of three against Chicago after winning six of seven.
CARDINALS 3, BREWERS 0
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rookie Victor Scott II had three hits and scored the run that snapped a scoreless tie in the seventh, leading St. Louis to a victory over the Milwaukee.
Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson each added two hits apiece in the nine-hit attack for St. Louis.
The Cardinals won the final two games to take the series after losing seven of their previous nine games.
The Central Division-leading Brewers had won six consecutive games before the consecutive losses to the second-place Cardinals, who still trail Milwaukee by 10 games.
Milwaukee recorded just three hits, with only one after the first inning. After William Contreras, their third batter in the lineup, singled, the Brewers did not get another hit until the ninth inning with one out.
Andrew Kittridge (2-4) picked up the win with one inning of work. Ryan Helsley pitched the ninth to earn his major league-leading 39th save in 42 opportunities.
ATHLETICS 3, RAYS 1
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Osvaldo Bido struck out six in five inning and won his third straight start, leading Oakland to a victory over Tampa Bay.
Lawrence Butler, Miguel Andujar and Darell Hernaiz had two hits apiece to help Oakland split the four-game series.
Bido (5-3) has been one of the A’s top pitchers over the last two months and stepped up again against the Rays. He allowed one run and two hits while matching the longest winning streak by an A’s starting pitcher this season. JP Sears and Mitch Spence have also won three consecutive starts.
After walking two of the first three hitters he faced, Bido retired nine straight and extended his scoreless streak to 18 innings until José Caballero’s RBI double in the fourth inning.
Five A’s relievers combined for four scoreless innings. Mason Miller worked the ninth for his 20th save, the third-most by a rookie in franchise history.
PIRATES 7, REDS 0
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Skenes struck out nine in six dominant innings, Bryan De La Cruz hit a three-run double during a six-run fifth inning and Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati.
Skenes (8-2), the rookie who started last month’s All-Star game, allowed just two hits and one walk after going 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in his previous three starts. Through 17 starts and 92 innings, Skenes has struck out 110.
Ben Heller pitched two innings and Chris Stratton worked the ninth to finish the five-hit shutout, the Pirates’ ninth of the season. The Reds were blanked for the 11th time this season while losing for the fifth time in their last seven games.
De La Cruz had two doubles and a single. He entered the game with no extra-base hits in 66 plate appearances since the Pirates acquired him on July 30 in a trade with Miami.
Nick Lodolo (9-6) shut down the Pirates on one hit over the first four innings before being chased with two outs in the fifth. He was charged with five runs, while striking out nine and walking three.
BRAVES 3, PHILLIES 2
ATLANTA (AP) — Rookie Spencer Schwellenbach retired 19 hitters in a row and Atlanta took two of three in their series with NL East-leading Philadelphia.
After Schwellenbach (5-6) surrendered a one-out single to Bryce Harper in the first, he didn’t allow another hitter to reach safely until Bryson Stott’s infield hit off the pitcher’s glove with two outs in the seventh.
J.T. Realmuto followed with a run-scoring double to the gap in right-center, cutting into Atlanta’s 3-1 lead and ending Schwellenbach’s night. Pierce Johnson struck out Brandon Marsh to end the threat and worked around two walks in the eighth, retiring Trea Turner on an inning-ending double play.
Raisel Iglesias struck out the side in the ninth for his 28th save in 30 chances.
Adam Duvall homered for the Braves, whose streak of six straight division titles is in serious jeopardy. They still trail the Phillies by six games, with the rivals set to collide again in a week for a four-game set at Philadelphia.
Schwellenbach, a surprise contributor to a rotation that lost ace Spencer Strider to a season-ending injury, struck out nine — all of them swinging — over 6 2/3 innings.
BLUE JAYS 5, ANGELS 3
TORONTO (AP) — Ernie Clement homered for the third time in his last three games and the Toronto Blue Jays used a five-run second inning to build an early lead and beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 on Thursday night.
Clement’s homer came on an out-of-the-strike zone, eye-level fastball from right-hander Mike Baumann. According to MLB, it was the second-highest pitch hit for a home run since pitch tracking began in 2008.
The Blue Jays, who swept a three-game road series against the Angels last week, have won four straight meetings and eight of 10.
Niko Kavadas hit a three-run home run, his first, off Toronto right-hander Tommy Nance with two outs in the ninth inning, but the Angels lost for the eighth time in 10 games hours after they announced a two-year contract extension for general manager Perry Minasian.
Reliever Ryan Burr started for the Blue Jays, who pushed all their regular starters back a day to give them extra rest. Toronto and Boston are scheduled to resume a suspended game in the top of the second inning Monday before playing a second game later that day.
The right-handed Burr allowed two hits, exiting after Jo Adell singled to lead off the second. Adell finished 3 for 4.
ASTROS 6, ORIOLES 0
BALTIMORE (AP) — Spencer Arrighetti outpitched Corbin Burnes, Ben Gamel drove in two runs in his Houston debut and they extended their lead in the AL West to a season-high 5 1/2 games with a victory over Baltimore.
Arrighetti (6-11) allowed three hits in six innings, striking out six with one walk. Burnes (12-6) permitted five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in the second straight rough outing for the Baltimore ace. He allowed a career-high eight runs in his previous start against Boston.
Houston has won nine straight road games, its longest streak since an 11-game run in 2018.
Gamel, acquired off waivers from the New York Mets, delivered RBI singles in the fourth and sixth, when Houston did all its scoring. The Astros are 62-39 since their 7-19 start, and they’ve opened a comfortable lead over second-place Seattle in the AL West. Houston was 10 games behind after losing to the Chicago White Sox on June 18.
The Orioles, meanwhile, fell 1 1/2 games behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees.
METS 8, PADRES 3
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Luis Severino outdueled Dylan Cease and New York beat San Diego in the opener of a four-game series between NL playoff contenders.
Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil had three hits apiece and Mark Vientos drove in three runs for the Mets, who improved to 4-0 against the Padres this season and have won six of nine overall. The Mets had 17 hits.
The Padres came into the day tied with division rival Arizona for the top wild card spot while the Mets were two games behind the Atlanta Braves for the final spot.
Coupled with Wednesday’s 11-4 loss to Minnesota, the Padres have dropped consecutive games for the first time since the All-Star break. They are 22-8 in that span.
The Padres eliminated the 101-win Mets in the wild-card round in 2022 en route to an appearance in the NL Championship Series.
The Mets blew open a 3-1 game by scoring five runs in the ninth against Logan Gillaspie, who was recalled earlier in the day from El Paso after knuckleballer Matt Waldron was optioned to the same Triple-A club.