NEW YORK (AP) — Dellin Betances threw a full-count breaking ball with no bite to Russell Martin that sailed well high and outside, forcing in the go-ahead run with his fourth walk of the eighth inning.
The All-Star reliever swiped at the toss back from catcher Austin Romine as manager Joe Girardi walked to the mound and fans booed on another long afternoon for the New York Yankees.
“The team is fighting. You can’t put the blame on those guys. I’ll take the blame,” Betances said after Wednesday’s 7-6 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning off Michael Pineda, who also allowed Kevin Pillar’s leadoff homer in the fourth that put the Blue Jays ahead 5-0.
Aaron Judge started a comeback with his major league-leading 29th homer, a two-run homer in the fourth.
The Yankees surged ahead 6-5 when Ji-Man Choi hit a two-run homer in the fifth and Didi Gregorius’s two-run double later in the inning chased Marco Estrada, who was pitching on his 33rd birthday.
Judge’s homer tied Joe DiMaggio’s Yankees rookie record , set in 1936, and Choi’s came in his New York debut.
Martin tied the score 6-6 with a seventh-inning homer against Chad Green, then walked to drive in the go-ahead run in the eighth.
With a runner on first, Roberto Osuna struck out Judge for the final out.
“Our best against their best,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said, “and our best won.”
Miguel Montero, making his Blue Jays debut, fouled off a pair of 3-2 pitches leading off their eighth against Betances (3-4) before taking an inside curve. Worried about a bunt, Betances walked Pillar on four pitches, then put on No. 9 hitter Ryan Goins with four more. He started Jose Bautista with another ball — his 10th in a row— before recovering to throw a called third strike past the slugger.
Betances fell behind Martin 2-0, evened the count, and missed with a pair of curves.
“In the short term I’m concerned about him. Long term I’m not,” Girardi said.
Betances has walked 17 of his past 55 batters, including 11 of his past 22. He’s rushing his lower body, causing him to fly open.
“I’m between two different deliveries, and it’s not helping me when I’m out there,” he said.
Betances, a 6-foot-8 right-hander picked for his fourth straight All-Star Game, admitted he was frustrated.
“It’s a big body,” Romine said. “It’s hard for him to get stuff going the way he needed to go.”
Adam Warren relieved, threw a called third strike past Smoak, then retired Morales on a flyout.
Last-place Toronto took two of three from New York and won consecutive games for the first time since June 18-19.
Leading the AL East by four games on June 13 with a 38-23 record, the Yankees have lost 16 of their past 22 and are 0-6-1 in their past seven series.
Athletics 7, White Sox 4
OAKLAND, Calif. — Sonny Gray pitched six mostly sharp innings for Oakland to beat Chicago for the second time in two weeks.
Jed Lowrie had three hits and two RBIs, Bruce Maxwell doubled in two runs and Jaycob Brugman homered to help the A’s to their second straight home win following eight consecutive losses at the Coliseum.
Gray (4-4) allowed a two-run homer to Matt Davidson, the only blemish during an otherwise strong outing. Todd Frazier also homered for the White Sox, a two-run shot in the ninth.
White Sox starter Mike Pelfrey (3-7) retired 10 batters and allowed four runs, falling to 0-6 in six career starts at Oakland.
Angels 2, Twins 1
MINNEAPOLIS — Parker Bridwell tossed six scoreless innings, Kole Calhoun hit his 12th home run and Los Angeles edged Minnesota to avoid a road sweep.
Bridwell (3-1) outpitched All-Star Ervin Santana while scattering four hits and stranding seven runners.
Cameron Maybin stole home on a double steal in the sixth, giving the Angels a two-run cushion that helped end their three-game losing streak.
Santana (10-6) allowed seven hits in his fourth complete game this season, most in the majors. He lost consecutive starts for the first time this year.
Brian Dozier’s run-scoring single in the seventh was all the Twins could muster on offense.
Bud Norris earned his 12th save in 14 opportunities.
Rangers 8, Red Sox 2
ARLINGTON, Texas — Andrew Cashner held a hot Boston lineup hitless into the sixth inning, Rougned Odor hit an early two-run homer and Texas ended the longest winning streak in the majors at six games with a rain-delayed victory over the Red Sox.
Cashner (4-7) retired 10 straight batters before first baseman Pete Kozma’s error on a dropped throw kept the sixth going. The next batter, Xander Bogaerts, ended the no-hit bid with a two-run homer.
The right-hander allowed three hits, three walks and two unearned runs with four strikeouts in seven innings.
Boston, which had at least 10 hits and six runs in every game during the winning streak, missed a chance to be the first team to sweep a season series of more than three games against the Rangers since they moved to Texas in 1972. The Red Sox won the first five meetings this year.
After a delay of nearly 90 minutes to start the game, Odor’s 16th homer put Texas ahead 2-0 in the second. Carlos Gomez had a solo shot in the third.
Odor scored three times before leaving with a bruised left hand after the fifth inning, when he was hit by a pitch.
Doug Fister (0-2) gave up six runs — four earned — over 3 2/3 innings in his third start since Boston claimed him off waivers from the Angels.
Royals 9, Mariners 6, 10 innings
SEATTLE — Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer in the 10th, Alex Gordon added a two-out RBI single later in the inning and Kansas City completed a three-game sweep with a win over Seattle.
Perez drove the second pitch from reliever James Pazos (2-2) out to right field for his 17th homer. It was the third home run of the game for Kansas City, adding to earlier two-run shots by Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain.
Mike Minor (5-1) pitched the ninth to get the victory and Kelvin Herrera threw the 10th for his 19th save. Minor had a scare when Mike Zunino led off the ninth with a flyball to deep left field that Gordon caught one step in front of the wall.
Kansas City won for the sixth time in seven games and handed Seattle its seventh straight loss at home.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Dodgers 1, Diamondbacks 0
LOS ANGELES — Alex Wood pitched three-hit ball over seven innings to start the season 10-0 and NL West-leading Los Angeles beat second-place Arizona.
Wood became the first Dodgers starter to reach 10-0 since Don Newcombe in 1955, when the Brooklyn Dodgers won the first of the franchise’s six World Series championships.
The 26-year-old left-hander hasn’t lost since May 30, 2016 — a span of 13 starts. Wood struck out 10 and walked two.
Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his 20th save in as many chances. He put the potential tying run on with a two-out single to Brandon Drury before striking out Chris Herrmann to end the game.
Arizona’s Zack Godley (3-3) gave up one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Rockies 5, Reds 3
DENVER — Jon Gray hit his first career homer an estimated 467 feet — the farthest by any Rockies player this season — and pitched effectively into the sixth inning as Colorado beat Cincinnati on a sweltering night.
Pat Valaika had a career-high three hits, including a two-run homer and a run-scoring single with two outs in the eighth.
Gray’s two-run drive in the second was the longest among pitchers since MLB’s Statcast began tracking distances in 2015. Gray (2-0) also was solid on the mound, going 5 2/3 innings and allowing three runs, two earned, in his second start since a broken bone in his left foot sidelined him for two months. Greg Holland threw a shaky ninth for his 28th save to help the slumping Rockies win for the third time in 14 games.
The game-time temperature of 97 degrees tied for the second-hottest home contest in Rockies history.
Pirates 5, Phillies 2
PHILADELPHIA — Gerrit Cole pitched six strong innings and drove in his first runs of the season with a tiebreaking two-run single to lead Pittsburgh over Philadelphia.
Cole (7-7) rebounded from a poor outing Friday against San Francisco and a shaky first inning against the Phillies, allowing two runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts and one walk. The right-hander struck out the side in his final inning.
Felipe Rivero, pitching on his 26th birthday, recorded his fifth save by striking out the side in a scoreless ninth.
Marlins 9, Cardinals 6
ST. LOUIS — Giancarlo Stanton homered twice, his 22nd career multihomer game, and Marcell Ozuna and Justin Bour also went deep as Miami beat St. Louis.
Stanton went 3 for 4 with a walk while driving in four runs. He has five hits in his last two games after starting the Marlins’ road trip in a 1-for-17 funk.
Dustin McGowan (5-0) gave up a run in 1 1/3 innings of relief. AJ Ramos earned his 15th save in 16 attempts.
INTERLEAGUE
Cubs 7, Rays 3
CHICAGO — Jon Jay connected for his third career pinch-hit homer and Ian Happ hit a tiebreaking, two-run single an inning later, helping the Chicago Cubs rally for a victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Cubs appeared to be headed for their sixth loss in eight games before Jay drove a 1-2 pitch from Erasmo Ramirez (4-3) over the wall in left-center for a tying three-run shot with two outs in the sixth. Jay then popped out of the dugout for a curtain call, obliging the crowd of 39,855 on a picturesque day at Wrigley Field.
Happ got his big hit in the seventh, driving in Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo with a bouncer up the middle against Tampa Bay’s drawn-in infield.
Pedro Strop (3-2) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win. Carl Edwards Jr. and Koji Uehara worked the eighth, and All-Star Wade Davis got three outs.
Brewers 4, Orioles 0
MILWAUKEE — Matt Garza pitched into the seventh inning and Keon Broxton hit a two-run homer to lift Milwaukee to a three-game sweep of Baltimore.
Garza allowed five hits and two walks with four strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings for his first scoreless outing of the season.
Oliver Drake, Jared Hughes and Corey Knebel completed the shutout with 2 2/3 innings.
Garza (4-4) ran into trouble in the second inning after the Orioles loaded the bases with no outs. The veteran right-hander escaped by striking out Ruben Tejada and pitcher Jayson Aquino (1-2) before getting Seth Smith to fly out to right field.
Giants 5, Tigers 4
DETROIT — Ty Blach took a shutout into the seventh inning, and San Francisco held off a late Detroit rally.
The Giants led 5-0 before the Tigers scored four times in the seventh. Blach (6-5) was pulled after allowing a two-run single to Victor Martinez, and San Francisco needed three relievers to get through the inning. The Giants used five relievers in all, with Hunter Strickland pitching the eighth and Sam Dyson finishing for his third save.
The last-place Giants have won seven of their last eight games — after losing 12 of 13 before that.
Padres 6, Indians 2
CLEVELAND — Cory Spangenberg hit a two-run homer, Luis Perdomo won his third straight start and San Diego got another rare road win, beating Cleveland as the Indians played again without manager Terry Francona.
Perdomo (4-4) allowed one earned run in five innings and continued his turnaround after a rough start this season. The right-hander didn’t get his first win until his 11th start and is 4-1 since June 12.
Carlos Asuaje drove in two runs and the Padres did just enough against starter Trevor Bauer (7-7) to improve to 14-26 on the road.
Francisco Lindor had three hits and two RBIs for the Indians, who dropped their second straight to the Padres, fell to 18-23 at home and are 2-11 in interleague play.
Francona missed his second consecutive game as he remains hospitalized at the Cleveland Clinic.
Francona, who was hospitalized twice last month, has been undergoing tests to determine what has been causing light-headedness and increasing his heart rate recently.
Team president Chris Antonetti said Francona will be away at least “a couple more days” and it’s possible he’ll miss the remainder of the team’s homestand before the break.
Astros 10, Braves 4
ATLANTA — George Springer drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, Josh Reddick and Marwin Gonzalez each had three RBIs and streaking Houston beat Atlanta.
Houston has won four straight and 12 of 15 to improve to 58-27 overall, best in the majors. The first three batters — Springer, Jose Altuve and Reddick — went 8 for 15 with six RBIs in this one and hit a combined .581 in the two-game series with 15 RBIs in 31 at-bats.
Norichika Aoki doubled to begin the three-run seventh and chase Braves starter Jaime Garcia (2-7). Springer followed with a single, Altuve with a double and Gonzalez with a single to make it 7-4.
