New York Yankees starter Gerrit Cole kept the Baltimore Orioles in check over six innings and Aaron Judge finally homered again as the visiting Yankees won 4-1 in a matchup of American League East front-runners on Friday night.
Judge’s majors-leading 33rd home run was his first long ball in nine games. Cole (2-1) allowed one run on five hits to beat Cade Povich (1-4), who surrendered three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
There was tension with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning when Orioles manager Brandon Hyde became enraged after Yankees reliever Clay Holmes hit Heston Kjerstad in the head with a pitch. The dugouts emptied and there was some pushing and shoving. Hyde was ejected, and Holmes got a grounder and a strikeout to complete his 21st save.
The Yankees won for only the sixth time in their last 21 games, but it was enough to pull them within a game of first-place Baltimore.
Mets 7, Rockies 6
Jose Iglesias and Harrison Bader each hit two homers for host New York, which staved off a Colorado comeback attempt to win the opener of a three-game series.
Mark Vientos also went deep for the Mets, who have won the first four games of a six-game homestand to assure themselves a winning record at the All-Star break. New York (48-45) is three games over .500 for the first time since it was 12-9 on April 21.
Michael Toglia and Brenton Doyle each hit a two-run homer for the Rockies, who also got solo shots from Brendan Rodgers and Charlie Blackmon. Colorado trailed 7-2 en route to its fifth loss in six games.
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