NEW YORK — James Paxton pitched one-hit ball for seven shutout innings, striking out 12 and winning his seventh straight start as the New York Yankees bounced back in a big way, routing the Texas Rangers 10-1 Tuesday night.
Gary Sanchez hit two home runs, Edwin Encarnacion added a two-run drive in his return from the injured list, and Didi Gregorius and Brett Gardner also connected. The five homers came a day after Mike Minor and the Texas bullpen ended New York’s streak of 220 games without being shut out.
Paxton (12-6) pitched quickly and began with 4 2/3 hitless innings. The left-hander gave up his only hit when Isiah Kiner-Falefa had a clean single to right field.
RAYS, ORIOLES SPLIT: Austin Meadows homered, seven Tampa Bay relievers combined on a five-hitter and the playoff-contending Rays blanked Baltimore 2-0 to split a doubleheader in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The Rays, who began the day with a slight lead atop the AL wild-card race, had their five-game winning streak stopped with a 4-2 loss in the opener.
The first game of the twinbill was originally scheduled for Wednesday night, but was moved up in advance as a precaution for Hurricane Dorian. The announced crowd was 6,844.
This was only the third doubleheader in the Rays’ 22 seasons at Tropicana Field. They split against Detroit in 2004 in a game rescheduled because Hurricane Frances and they split against Oakland in a regularly scheduled doubleheader in 2017.
Diego Castillo (3-8), the third pitcher in a bullpen day, allowed one hit over two scoreless innings.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
PHILLIES 6, REDS 2: Bryce Harper drove in his 100th run with a single, J.T. Realmuto had a pair of hits and a sacrifice fly, and visiting Philadelphia won its third in a row.
The Phillies began the day 2 games behind the Cubs for the final NL wild card.
Harper’s fifth-inning single made him the first Phillie since Ryan Howard in 2011 to have 30 homers and 100 RBIs in the same season. Harper hit his 30th homer in the series opener, a 7-1 Phillies win on Monday. The last Phillies outfielder to have 30 homers and 100 RBIs in a season was Pat Burrell in 2005.
CARDINALS 1, GIANTS 0: Jack Flaherty pitched one-hit ball over eight innings, Marcell Ozuna homered and St. Louis – with a fluky foul ball-turned-base hit – won.
Flaherty (9-7) carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and dominated with eight strikeouts and a walk. The 23-year-old right-hander threw a career-high 113 pitches, 84 for strikes, and lowered his ERA to 0.90 over his past 11 starts dating to July 7.
Mike Yastrzemski had San Francisco’s only two hits, the first a soft line drive with two outs in the sixth, and the second a single off closer Carlos Martinez in the ninth.
St. Louis only had five hits, including one by Paul DeJong that looked like a trick pool shot. DeJong hit a ball that rolled about 10 feet foul of the first base line before spinning all the way back into fair territory roughly 3/4 of the way to the bag. DeJong raced to first to load the bases with two outs in the first.
INTERLEAGUE
BRAVES 7, BLUE JAYS 2: Josh Donaldson doubled and drove in three runs, Mike Foltynewicz pitched five scoreless innings, and hostAtlanta won its sixth straight.
Ozzie Albies added an early RBI for the Braves, who are 14-2 since Aug. 16 and 32 games over .500 for the first time since the 2003 team finished 101-61.
The Blue Jays, who have lost 12 of 15 to fall a season-worst 30 games under .500.
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