NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie Miguel Andujar flared an RBI single with two outs in the 10th inning and the New York Yankees, after blowing two late leads, beat the Cleveland Indians 7-6 Friday night for their 13th win in 14 games.
Gleyber Torres, at 21, became the youngest Yankees player to hit a home run since 1969. He connected in the first matchup between these teams since New York won the decisive Game 5 of the AL Division Series in Cleveland last October.
Aaron Judge homered, doubled and drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth that put the Yankees ahead 6-5. Cleveland tied it in the ninth, scoring on the second wild pitch of the inning by Aroldis Chapman (1-0), who showed frustration after the ball got by catcher Gary Sanchez.
Giancarlo Stanton doubled off Alexi Ogando (0-1) to begin the Yankees ninth, and closer Cody Allen relieved. With two outs and runners on second and third, Andujar looped a single to shallow right-center field.
Down 5-0 in the eighth, the Indians suddenly pulled even. Bradley Zimmer hit a three-run shot off Chasen Shreve, and Jose Ramirez launched a two-run drive off David Robertson.
It was Aaron Judge Jedi bobblehead night as the Yankees, like many pro teams, played up the “Star Wars” theme on May the Fourth. Back home after a 6-1 trip, the slugger also doubled in his own Return of the Judge-I.
Judge walked on a full-count pitch with two outs from Ogando. The veteran right-hander pitched in South Korea last year, started this season in Triple-A and was called up by Cleveland earlier in the day.
The Indians needed relief help after a splitting a high-scoring, rain-delayed doubleheader against Toronto on Thursday. The AL Central leaders arrived at their New York hotel around 3:30 a.m.
Yankees starter CC Sabathia pitched six shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and struck out seven.
Red Sox 5, Rangers 1
ARLINGTON, Texas — Mookie Betts hit his MLB-best 13th homer and Rick Porcello struck out eight in six innings while matching the AL lead with his fifth victory to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers.
Rafael Devers hit two of the four solo homers off 44-year-old right-hander Bartolo Colon (1-1).
J.D. Martinez also went deep for the Red Sox, whose 23-9 record is the best in the majors.
Betts homered for the fifth time in three games, putting Boston up 3-1 with his leadoff shot in the sixth. He has gone deep in each of the first two games at Texas after his three-homer game Wednesday at Fenway Park against Kansas City.
Nomar Mazara homered in his fourth consecutive game for Texas, a career-best streak for the 23-year-old slugger who has seven homers this season. That was the lone run, and one of only three hits off Porcello (5-0) in his six innings. Mazara also had a double.
Rays 6, Blue Jays 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Relief pitcher Ryan Yarbrough made his case for a spot in Tampa Bay’s injury-depleted rotation by throwing five scoreless innings in a win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Johnny Field homered off J.A. Happ (4-2) and Brad Miller added a two-run shot to put it out of reach in the eighth. Wilson Ramos, Denard Span and Adeiny Hechavarria also drove in runs for the Rays, who’ve won 10 of 13 after a slow start.
Yarbrough (2-1) is a 26-year-old rookie who may wind up in the rotation after allowing a single to the first batter he faced — Dalton Pompey in the third inning — then retiring 15 in a row.
Royals 4, Tigers 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jorge Soler drove in the go-ahead runs with a two-out single in the eighth inning, bailing out a chagrined ballboy and giving the Kansas City Royals a victory over the Detroit Tigers.
The Tigers had taken a 2-0 lead in the top half of the eighth when the ballboy down the first-base line mistakenly picked up a fair ball, resulting in a ground-rule double.
Blaine Boyer (1-0) walked Victor Martinez before serving up JaCoby Jones’ hard-hit double to left field.
The Royals’ answered when Francisco Liriano, who was stingy all night, walked Cheslor Cuthbert to start the eighth.
Liriano was lifted for Daniel Stumpf (1-1), who gave up a pair of singles and was yanked for reliever Joe Jimenez, who promptly threw a wild pitch to score a run.
Whit Merrifield knotted the game moments later with a sacrifice fly, and Soler’s single through the left side of the infield brought home two runs — and gave that embarrassed ballboy a bit of relief.
Royals closer Kelvin Herrera worked a perfect ninth, getting some help from Soler’s spectacular catch in foul territory down the right-field line, to pick up his sixth save.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Rockies 8, Mets 7
NEW YORK — Charlie Blackmon homered as Colorado raced to a big early lead, and the Rockies hung on to beat the New York Mets 8-7 on Friday night for their third straight win.
Hours after the Mets said they are cutting ties with former ace Matt Harvey, another New York starter struggled. Zack Wheeler (2-2) allowed eight runs and 10 hits in six innings, raising his ERA to 5.79.
Antonio Marquez (2-3) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings with eight strikeouts and no walks, retiring 15 of 17 batters in on stretch.
Down 8-2, the Mets closed with two runs in the eighth and three in the ninth. With runners on second and third, Wade Davis struck out Michael Conforto for his 12th save in 13 chances.
While the Rockies improved to 13-8 on the road, the Mets lost their fourth in a row and have dropped 12 of 18 after an 11-1 start.
Giants 9, Braves 4
ATLANTA — Jose Bautista doubled in his first at-bat of the season and Atlanta set a SunTrust Park attendance record in Ronald Acuna Jr.’s home debut, but the San Francisco Giants snapped the Braves’ five-game winning streak.
Freddie Freeman put Atlanta ahead 2-0 with a two-run homer in the first, then Bautista followed with a double off the wall, thrilling a crowd of 41,807 on hand to see the division-leading Baby Braves following a stellar road trip. That’s the most fans since the Braves opened their new park last season.
It was all San Francisco after that.
Gregor Blanco hit a two-run triple during a six-run second inning against Mike Foltynewicz (2-2), and Chris Stratton held Atlanta in check over six innings.
Stratton (3-2) gave up six hits, three runs and two walks and struck out six to recover from a 15-6 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in his previous start. He mostly shut down the Braves, who began the night in first place in the NL East and leading the majors in slugging percentage.
Nationals 7, Phillies 3
WASHINGTON — Bryce Harper hit two more homers from the leadoff spot and the Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies for their sixth straight win.
Harper opened the Washington first by lining a fastball from Nick Pivetta (1-2) to the opposite field for his 11th homer of the season.
With a runner on first in the third inning, Harper crushed a changeup 473 feet to dead center.
He has four homers in four games as the leadoff batter. After flying out to deep right-center in the third, Harper flied to deep center in the sixth and to left in the eighth.
Matt Adams added a two-run homer for Washington and made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Maikel Franco of at least extra bases.
The game was delayed 39 minutes by rain in the bottom of the fourth.
Gio Gonzalez (4-2) worked five scoreless innings, allowing two hits with five strikeouts.
Carlos Santana and Maikel Franco hit back-to-back homers in the sixth for the Phillies.
Reds 4, Marlins 1
CINCINNATI — Eugenio Suarez hit a three-run homer, extending his surge since he returned from a broken thumb, and Sal Romano made another barehand play on the mound, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a victory over the Miami Marlins.
The Reds ended a three-game losing streak and improved to 8-24, their worst start since the Great Depression.
