The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Masahiro Tanaka pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Aaron Judge broke out of his slump with two hits and two runs, and the New York Yankees rebounded from their worst home loss of the season with a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Friday night.
New York (82-42) clinched its 27th consecutive winning record since 1993, the second-longest streak in major league history behind the Yankees’ run of 39 seasons from 1926-64.
Center fielder Brett Gardner prevented Cleveland from tying it in the eighth with a running catch in deep right-center. Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres each had an RBI single for the AL East leaders, who increased their cushion to 10¢ games over Tampa Bay. They won for the 15th time in 18 tries and bounced right back from a 19-5 defeat Thursday night in the opener of this four-game series.
Jose Ramirez and Yasiel Puig homered for the Indians.
Cleveland, neck-and-neck with Minnesota atop the AL Central and leading the wild-card standings, lost for only the fourth time in its last 19 road games. The Indians are a big league-best 45-19 since June 4.
Tanaka (9-6) tossed 6 1/3 solid innings, allowing two runs and four hits — three to the red-hot Ramirez. The right-hander struck out two, walked none and got 10 outs on grounders.
It was the second straight strong outing for Tanaka, who modified his splitter grip after giving up 12 runs July 25 in Boston. He permitted seven runs over his first two starts following that 19-3 loss but threw eight-plus innings of three-hit ball Sunday in a 1-0 win at Toronto.
This time, Tanaka fired 27 splitters and got six groundball outs on them. He worked quickly and allowed just four baserunners.
Judge had his first multihit game since Aug 3, a night after going 0 for 5 with four strikeouts. He entered the game with three hits in his previous 31 at-bats but singled, doubled and reached safely three times.
New York held the Indians to four hits after giving up 24 the night before.
Dodgers 8, Braves 3
ATLANTA — Cody Bellinger hit his 41st home run, Max Muncy and Justin Turner connected against reliever Sean Newcomb in the seventh inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 8-3 Friday night in a matchup of NL division leaders.
It was nothing new for the powerful Dodgers, who set a major league record with 22 homers in a five-game span when Will Smith launched a two-run shot off Jerry Blevins in the eighth.
The Dodgers improved to 18-6 against Atlanta since 2016, using Muncy’s three-run homer and Turner’s solo shot to lead 6-3 after Newcomb (5-3) relieved starter Mike Soroka.
Muncy’s go-ahead homer sailed into the seats in right-center. Turner followed with a drive to the same part of the ballpark, the 14th time the Dodgers have gone back-to-back this season.
Adam Kolarek (5-3) earned the win as the NL West leaders improved to 13-3 since July 30.
Phillies 8, Padres 4
PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper homered for the third straight game, Roman Quinn and J.T. Realmuto also went deep as Philadelphia beat San Diego.
The Phillies had 12 hits, and tied their season-high winning streak at four while pulling even with the Chicago Cubs for the second NL wild-card spot.
San Digeo has lost four of five.
Blue Jays 7, Mariners 3
TORONTO — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Randal Grichuk hit back-to-back home runs, Jacob Waguespack won his third straight decision and Toronto beat Seattle.
Derek Fisher and Danny Jansen also went deep for the Blue Jays, who have hit 110 home runs since June 16. The New York Yankees entered play Friday with a major league-leading 112 homers in the same span. The Blue Jays have hit back-to-back homers 12 times this season, breaking the team record set in 1999.
Nationals 2, Brewers 1
WASHINGTON — Anthony Rendon hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the eighth inning, and Washington beat Milwaukee.
The Nationals’ five-game winning streak matched their longest of the season.
Red Sox 9, Orioles 1
BOSTON — Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland each hit RBI triples in the fourth inning, Rick Porcello held the Orioles to one run over six innings, and Boston beat Baltimore.
Porcello (11-9) allowed four hits and a pair of walks while striking out two.
Benintendi finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs, Mookie Betts hit a solo home run and Chris Owings drove in two for the Red Sox, who have won three straight games and six of their last 10.
