Yankees starting pitcher Jameson Taillon allowed two hits in eight scoreless innings to lift New York to a 2-0 win over Tampa Bay on Friday in St. Petersburg, Florida. Scott Audette/Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jameson Taillon pitched two-hit ball over eight innings, following Nestor Cortes to give the Yankees their longest consecutive starts in nine years and leading New York over the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 Friday night.

Gleyber Torres put the Yankees ahead with a homer in the fourth off Jeffrey Springs (2-2) and Matt Carpenter, in his second game with New York, homered later in the inning.

New York opened a 6 1/2-game lead over the Rays by winning the first two games of the four-game series. The Yankees won their fourth straight following a season-worst three-game losing streak and improved to 33-13, the best start in the major leagues since the 2001 Seattle Mariners opened 34-12.

Taillon (5-1) improved to 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA in his last seven starts, striking out five and walking none while throwing 62 of 93 pitches for strikes. The 30-year-old right-hander had not gotten an out in the eighth inning since Aug. 7, 2018, for Pittsburgh at Colorado, when he pitched his second big league complete game.

Taillon was sidelined from May 1, 2019, until the start of the 2021 season while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery.

Cortes threw eight-plus innings of one-run ball as New York won Thursday’s series opener 7-2. Yankees starters had not pitched eight innings in consecutive games since CC Sabathia and Iván Nova against Kansas City on July 9 and 10, 2013.

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NATIONAL LEAGUE

BRAVES 6, MARLINS 4: Ozzie Albies’ bloop double in the seventh inning drove in two runs to give Atlanta the lead, and the Braves recovered after blowing an early three-run advantage, beating Miami in Atlanta.

Miami led 4-3 before Ronald Acuña Jr. tied the game with a pinch-hit double down the left-field line off Anthony Bass (1-2). Matt Olson, who led off the seventh with a walk, scored from first base on the double.

After Bass walked Dansby Swanson, Albies hit a blooper that fell into shallow left field. As Marlins left fielder Jorge Soler held the ball too long, Acuña easily scored the go-ahead run and Swanson ran through third-base coach Ron Washington’s stop sign to also score.

Perhaps thinking Swanson would stop at third base, Soler threw the ball to a cutoff man instead of throwing to the plate.

METS 8, PHILLIES 6: Pete Alonso homered, doubled and drove in four runs, taking over the major league RBI lead and powering New York past visiting Philadelphia.

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Down 7-0 to Carlos Carrasco, the Phillies made it close by scoring six times in the sixth inning, capped by Garrett Stubbs’ three-run homer.

Mets relievers Drew Smith, Joely Rodríguez, Seth Lugo and Edwin Díaz held on, helping the NL East leaders beat Philadelphia for the seventh time in 10 games this season. Díaz got his 11th save in 14 chances.

Alonso has 45 RBI this season and has especially battered the Phillies, with five home runs and 17 RBI in 10 games against them.

CARDINALS 4, BREWERS 2: Paul Goldschmidt homered to extend his hitting streak to 18 games and lead St. Louis to a win at home.

Dakota Hudson was pulled after 4 2/3 innings with the bases loaded in the fifth, after allowing five hits and four walks. Drew VerHagen (2-0) got Andrew McCutchen to ground into a forceout that ended the fifth.

Milwaukee had loaded the bases in the third before McCutchen grounded into an inning-ending double play.


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