MLB ROUNDUP: Yankees survive Aaron Judge exit, Shohei Ohtani falls just short of historic cycle

Gerrit Cole got his fifth win after setting a career-long scoreless streak, DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres hit back-to-back home runs , and the New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 4-2 on Thursday night.

The series opener marked Aaron Judge’s first game in Texas since breaking Roger Maris’ single-season American League record with his 62nd homer at the Rangers’ ballpark in October. Judge struck in his only two at-bats in his return before departing because of right hip discomfort.

‘Just a little grab in the hip area. After that headfirst dive the other night, just kind of whole right side has been a little locked up,’ Judge said. ‘It wasn´t until the second-to-last swing of that at-bat I felt something grab, and they thought it would kind of best just to shut it down and see how we feel after a couple of days.’

Manager Aaron Boone said Judge would be re-evaluated Friday, but that initially there were no tests planned for the Yankees captain and reigning AL MVP.

On his 31st birthday Wednesday in Minnesota, Judge jammed his right hand, and apparently entire right side, on an awkward slide while trying to steal a base in Minnesota. He had three hits and drove in three runs in that game.

New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge walks to the dugout after striking out against the Rangers 

Cole’s scoreless streak reached 25 2/3 innings before the Rangers scored on Jonah Heim’s fielder’s choice grounder in the sixth. That was a potential inning-ending double play, but Cole was unable to keep the ball in his glove when going over to cover first base. Ezequiel Duran followed with an infield single to drive in a run.

‘I need to make that play. I´m capable of making that play,’ Cole said. ‘Obviously was pretty tough, but I felt really good about continuing to make our pitches and pitching into the type of contact that we we wanted to get, and eventually went our way and we got out of there with the lead.’

Andrew Heaney (2-2) struck out six and walked one over six innings for Texas, which has a season-long four-game losing streak and dropped into a tie with Houston for the AL West lead.

With his eight strikeouts, Cole (5-0) pushed his season total to 44 Ks, one more than Rangers ace Jacob deGrom for the AL lead. Cole allowed two runs over 6 2/3 innings, increasing his season ERA from 0.79 to 1.11.

Michael King pitched the final 2 1/3 innings for his first save.

Former Rangers catcher Jose Trevino homered in the ninth for New York.

Heaney had back-to-back strikeouts of Judge and Anthony Rizzo in both the first and second innings. The bases were loaded with one out in the second, after the back-to-back homers by LeMahieu and Torres, when the Yankees’ No. 2 and 3 hitters both struck out again.

After Torres hit a 443-foot homer to straightaway center, Oswald Peraza was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on Anthony Vople’s single that loaded the bases and made it 3-0. Heaney retired the next 13 batters, then hit Peraza with a pitch again before he was caught stealing to end the sixth.

‘After a bump in the road he hit in the second inning, he reset and did a great job,’ manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘Probably missed some spots there, they took advantage. But overall, that’s a good effort.’

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, center, is greeted in the dugout after being pulled in the seventh 

ANGELES 8, ATHLETICS 7 

Shohei Ohtani earned another win on the mound despite giving up five runs in a nightmare fourth inning, and he also tripled, doubled and singled in the Los Angeles Angels´ 8-7 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday.

Ohtani (4-0) had his rockiest start in recent memory, yielding at least five runs and two homers for the first time in 18 starts since July. Nearly all of the two-way superstar´s trouble occurred in the fourth, after he had thrown three perfect innings. But he recovered to throw six innings of three-hit ball.

Carlos Estévez pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

Brent Rooker hit a three-run homer and Shea Langeliers added a two-run shot in the fourth for the A´s, who have lost 12 of 14 – one loss shy of matching the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the most April defeats in major league history with 22. JP Sears (0-2) yielded six hits and six runs while pitching into the fifth.

LA Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani throws to the plate during the game against the Athletics 

PIRATES 6, DODGERS 2

Mitch Keller struck out 10, matching his career high, in six innings for Pittsburgh in a win over Los Angeles.

Keller (3-0) gave up two runs on five hits, getting out of a third-inning jam with runners on first and third and one out by striking out James Outman and forcing David Peralta to ground out.

The Pirates have won nine of 10, pushing their hot start to 18-8.

Julio Urías (3-3) allowed six runs on seven hits for the Dodgers, who lost the last two of the three-game series after coming back from down five for an 8-7 win Tuesday.

Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller delivers during the third inning of a baseball game against Dodgers

METS 9, NATIONALS 8

Jeff McNeil snapped an eighth-inning tie with an RBI triple and New York squandered a pair of multi-run leads before recovering to beat Washington.

The Mets led 4-1 and 6-3 before C.J. Abrams´ grand slam in the top of the eighth gave the Nationals an 8-7 lead. But Starling Marte led off the bottom half with a single against Mason Thompson (2-2).

Marte stole second, went to third on a fly out by Francisco Lindor and trotted home when Pete Alonso split the right-centerfield gap with a double. McNeil then tripled off the right field wall.

Brooks Raley (1-0) surrendered the grand slam by Abrams but earned the win. David Robertson notched his fifth save with a perfect ninth.

Jeff McNeil of the New York Mets reacts at third base after his eighth inning run-scoring triple

CUBS 5, PADRES 2

Eric Hosmer and Nelson Velázquez hit back-to-back homers and Dansby Swanson added his first of the season to help Chicago past San Diego.

Manny Machado homered for the Padres, who had won five of seven.

Hayden Wesneski (2-1) worked the first five innings for Chicago, allowing four hits, striking out three and walking one.

Hosmer and Velázquez gave the Cubs the lead for good with consecutive homers off Seth Lugo (2-2) in the bottom of the second. Lugo struck out three and gave up seven hits and all four Chicago runs in five innings.

San Diego´s Matt Carpenter had a sacrifice fly in the eighth to create a save situation for Brad Boxberger.

Cubs’ Dansby Swanson celebrates with third base coach Willie Harris after hitting a solo homer

PHILLIES 1, MARINERS 0

Kody Clemens ripped an RBI single to right, Matt Strahm pitched scoreless ball into the sixth inning, and Philadelphia moved to .500 for the first time this season by beating Seattle.

Strahm (2-2) and four relievers helped get the Phillies to 13-13 as they head out for a six-game trip. 

Craig Kimbrel worked a scoreless ninth for his third save and 397th of his career, putting him on the brink of becoming the seventh reliever to ever record 400.

The Phillies got two of their three hits in the second inning to send Mariners starter George Kirby (2-2) to a loss.

Phillies’ Matt Strahm pitches during the first inning of a game against the Seattle Mariners

CARDINALS 6, GIANTS 0

Alec Burleson and Paul DeJong homered, Miles Mikolas pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings and St. Louis avoided a four-game sweep by San Francisco.

Mikolas (1-1) scattered four hits and two walks, striking out six.

Webb (1-5) allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts, suffering his MLB-leading fifth loss of the year. San Francisco had multiple opportunities to score but went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base.

Cardinals’ Paul DeJong (11) hits a two-run home run in front of  Giants catcher Blake Sabol 

ORIOLES 7, TIGERS 4

Anthony Santander´s two-run homer capped a five-run seventh inning in which Baltimore rallied for a 7-4 win over Detroit.

Joey Ortiz became the first Orioles player to drive in three runs in his MLB debut since Don Baylor on Sept. 18, 1970. Baltimore improved to 9-1 in its last 10 games.

Detroit, which fell to 1-12 against AL East teams, left 15 runners on base.

Nick Maton drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-2 in the sixth, but the Orioles hit for the cycle against Chasen Shreve (1-2) in the five-run seventh.

Bryan Baker (2-0) got the win with 1 1/2 scoreless innings of relief. Felix Bautista pitched the ninth for his sixth save.

Baltimore Orioles DH Anthony Santander is greeted in the dugout after his two-run home run 

MARLINS 5, BRAVES 4

Garrett Cooper came through with a two-out, two-run double that capped a stunning five-run ninth inning by Miami, which avoided a sweep with a win over Atlanta.

Kyle Wright and four relievers held Miami scoreless until the ninth, but the Marlins overcame a 4-0 deficit against Braves closer A.J. Minter (1-3). Yuli Gurriel, Avisaíl García and Jazz Chisholm had run-scoring singles to knock out Minter, who retired only two of the seven hitters he faced.

A.J. Puk (2-0) claimed the win. Dylan Floro pitched a perfect ninth for his first save.

The Braves scored all of their four runs in the fifth inning despite getting only two balls out of the infield. A pair of walks by Matt Barnes (1-1), a bunt single from Vaughn Grissom and a defensive blunder by Miami shortstop Garrett Hampson led to a big inning of small ball that broke a scoreless duel.

Miami Marlins’ Garrett Cooper (26) puts the Marlins ahead with a two-run double 

RAYS 14, WHITE SOX 5

Isaac Paredes had a career-high five RBIs, and Tampa Bay handed Chicago its eighth straight loss.

Brandon Lowe homered and drove in three runs for Tampa Bay in the opener of a four-game series. Lowe, Yandy Díaz, Luke Raley and Josh Lowe each had three hits as the AL East leaders bounced back nicely after they were shut out in back-to-back home games by Houston.

Shane McClanahan (5-0) pitched five innings of two-run ball in the win. He struck out five and walked two.

White Sox ace Dylan Cease (2-1) was tagged for seven runs, six earned, and nine hits in four-plus innings. Jake Burger homered for Chicago and drove in two runs.

Rays’ Brandon Lowe, left, and Josh Lowe celebrate the team’s 14-5 win over Chicago White Sox 

 Twins’ Byron Buxton runs the bases on his three-run home run against the Kansas City Royals 

TWINS 7, ROYALS 1

 Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa homered back-to-back for Minnesota in a rout of Kansas City.

Buxton and Correa teed off on Royals veteran right-hander Zack Greinke (0-4) in the fourth inning. Buxton´s opposite-field shot was a three-run blast over the high wall in right-center field to make it 6-1. Correa followed that up with a solo shot.

Twins starter Tyler Mahle allowed one run – a solo homer by Vinnie Pasquantino in the top of the fourth – but exited after four innings and 66 pitches with right posterior elbow soreness. Reliever Brock Stewart (1-0) made his Twins debut when he pitched two scoreless innings and struck out three batters.

Greinke allowed seven runs on eight hits over 3 2/3 innings.