Harvey cheered by fans, routed by Mets in Queens return

NEW YORK (AP) – Matt Harvey was greeted warmly by Mets fans in his return to Citi Field and harshly by New York’s hitters as the Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-1 Wednesday. Harvey pitched against his former team for the first time and allowed Kevin Pillar’s two-run triple in a three-run second inning that carried the Mets to their seventh straight win. Wearing orange and black instead of blue and orange, Harvey (3-3) gave up a season-high seven runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, and his ERA rose from 3.60 to 4.81 as the last-place Orioles lost for the fifth time in six games. Taijuan Walker (3-1) lowered his ERA to 2.20, allowing one run and four hits over seven innings as part of a five-hitter. Dominic Smith had three hits and two RBIs for the NL East-leading Mets, who completed a two-game sweep that finished a 5-0 homestand. New York is on its longest hot streak since winning eight straight from Aug. 3-10, 2019. YANKEES 1, RAYS 0 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Gerrit Cole struck out 12 over eight stellar innings, Aaron Hicks had a sacrifice fly and New York beat Tampa Bay amid a coronavirus outbreak that sidelined shortstop Gleyber Torres. Cole (5-1) scattered four hits and has five starts this season of at least 10 strikeouts and no walks to break Mike Mussina’s single-season team record set in 2001. Aroldis Chapman completed the four-hitter to get his ninth save. Torres was kept out of the starting lineup as a precaution as the number of confirmed positive COVID-19 tests among the team’s coach and support staff reached seven. Six of the seven are asymptomatic. All are fully vaccinated, which Boone said was blunting the effects of the virus. Jeffrey Springs replaced Ryan Thompson (2-2) with runners on second and third with one out in the seventh and gave up Hicks’ sacrifice fly. PADRES 5, ROCKIES 3, Game 1 ROCKIES 3, PADRES 2, 8 innings, Game 2 DENVER (AP) – Josh Fuentes capped a big night with a two-out, walk-off single in the eighth inning after earlier hitting a two-run homer and Colorado salvaged a doubleheader split against virus-hampered San Diego. The Padres, missing starters Fernando Tatis Jr., Eric Hosmer, Wil Myers and two others because of COVID-19 concerns, won the opener 5-3. Austin Nola, who’s normally a catcher but was playing second base for short-handed San Diego, made a nifty catch with the bases loaded for the final out. In the nightcap, Fuentes drove a changeup from reliever Nick Ramirez (0-1) to deep center to set off a celebration near second base as the Rockies snapped a five-game skid. Fuentes’ bat provided all the run production – he homered in the second. Yency Almonte (1-1) got the win in the late game. Victor Caratini lined a two-out grand slam in sixth to put the Padres ahead in the first game. It came on a belt-high fastball from reliever Robert Stephenson, who was summoned after starter Jon Gray (4-3) loaded the bases. Emilio Pagán (3-0) picked up the win with a scoreless fifth inning. Mark Melancon earned a five-out save. BREWERS 4, CARDINALS 1 MILWAUKEE (AP) – Travis Shaw hit a tiebreaking double and Avisaíl García added a two-run homer in the eighth inning as Milwaukee capitalized on some good fortune to defeat St. Louis. The decisive rally that snapped the Cardinals’ four-game winning streak came after it appeared Ryan Helsley (3-1) would retire the side in order. An apparent inning-ending strikeout of Daniel Vogelbach was foiled when the third strike got past catcher Yadier Molina for a wild pitch, enabling Vogelbach to reach first. The Cardinals tied it in the top of the eighth on Tyler O’Neill’s homer to right off Brandon Woodruff, who struck out 10 and gave up just three hits and one walk in 7 2/3 splendid innings.