Red-hot Rays keep Yankees reeling with 3-1 victory

NEW YORK (AP) – Rich Hill finished May with the lowest monthly ERA in 75 years of a pitcher in his 40s, and the Tampa Bay Rays won for the 16th time in 17 games by keeping up their domination of the reeling Yankees with a 3-1 victory Monday. Hill (4-2), a 41-year-old left-hander who is the oldest player in Rays’ history, improved to 3-0 against the Yankees this season. Hill was 3-1 with a 0.78 ERA in six May starts. Miguel Andújar homered in the seventh, just his second since 2018. J.P. Feyereisen, acquired May 21 from Milwaukee for shortstop Willy Adames, finished a five-hitter for his third save. The AL East-leading Rays (35-20) improved to 7-3 against the Yankees this season. New York (29-25) limped to the season’s one-third mark with its fourth straight defeat and sixth in seven games. Jameson Taillon (1-4) lost to Hill for the second time this year. He allowed three runs and five hits in five-plus innings. Manuel Margot hit an RBI double in the third. Austin Meadows homered into the right-field short porch in the fourth and Randy Arozarena had an RBI single in the fifth. ASTROS 11, RED SOX 2 HOUSTON (AP) – Kyle Tucker had a season-best three hits and tied a career high with four RBIs as Houston handed former bench coach Alex Cora and the Boston Red Sox their most lopsided loss of the season. This was the first time Cora, now managing the Red Sox again, had faced the Astros since being suspended last year for his role in Houston’s illegal sign-stealing scheme in 2017. Cora helped Houston win the 2017 World Series as bench coach, then managed Boston to the 2018 championship. He was let go by the Red Sox following Major League Baseball’s investigation into the Astros, then suspended by MLB through the 2020 postseason before getting rehired in Boston last November. Jose Urquidy (4-2) did his part in ending Boston’s three-game winning streak. He yielded three hits and one run, striking out nine in six innings in his return from the injured list. Urquidy, who had been out since May 12 with shoulder inflammation, won his career-best fourth straight decision. Eduardo Rodriguez (5-4) allowed a season-high six runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings to extend his losing streak to a career-long four games. Jose Altuve hit a two-run homer and Alex Bregman drove in two runs for Houston. CUBS 7, PADRES 2 CHICAGO (AP) – Javier Báez and Patrick Wisdom each homered twice, helping Kohl Stewart and Chicago beat San Diego. Stewart pitched five innings of one-run ball in his first major league win since July 21, 2019, for Minnesota against Oakland. Stewart (1-0) opted out of last season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kris Bryant also went deep as Chicago won for the seventh time in eight games. San Diego dropped to 4-4 on its 10-game road trip. Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his 16th homer and Wil Myers drove in a run, but that was it for the Padres. Chris Paddack (2-4) allowed five runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings in his first loss since April 27. The right-hander struck out six and walked one. WHITE SOX 8, INDIANS 6 CLEVELAND (AP) – Adam Eaton hit a two-run homer and José Abreu had a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to give Chicago a win over Cleveland in the first game of a doubleheader. Indians starter Triston McKenzie struck out eight straight hitters, two short of the major league record. Eaton, who returned to the lineup after missing several games with a tight hamstring, followed Abreu’s fly with his fifth homer, a shot to right-center off James Karinchak (2-2). The AL Central-leading White Sox won their fourth straight and improved to 7-1 in their past eight.