Major leagues:
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.
Tigers-Guardians postponed: The game between the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers on Friday was postponed due to inclement weather.
It will be made up as part of a split doubleheader on July 4 at 6:40 p.m. The originally scheduled game will begin at 1:10 p.m.
Martinez suspended 80 games: Former All-Star pitcher Carlos Martínez was suspended for 80 games Friday under baseball’s minor league drug program following a positive test for the performance-enhancing substance Ibutamoren, which increases Human Growth Hormone.
The 30-year-old right-hander signed a minor league contract with San Francisco on March 19. He was released and signed a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox on May 7.
Martínez made a pair of starts for Triple-A Worcester, at Toledo on May 8 and against Rochester on May 14, going 0-2 with a 20.77 ERA in 4 1/3 innings. He was released on May 17.
Martínez pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2013-21, going 62-52 with a 3.74 ERA in 139 starts and 135 relief appearances. He was an All-Star in 2015 and 2017, and Martínez made five relief appearances in the 2013 World Series loss to the Red Sox.
He was 4-9 with a 6.23 ERA in 16 starts for the Cardinals last season.
National League
Rockies-Nationals ppd: The game between the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals on Friday was postponed due to severe storms forecast for the Washington area.
The game will made up at 12:05 p.m. Saturday as part of split doubleheader. Saturday’s originally scheduled game was moved from 4:05 to 6:05 p.m.
Rain was not falling when an announcement of the postponement was made at 6:40 p.m.
Kapler refuses to take field for anthem:
San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler said Friday he will refuse to take the field for the national anthem in a protest over the nation’s political direction following this week’s school shooting in Texas.
“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” Kapler said before a series opener at Cincinnati. “I don’t expect it to move the needle necessarily. It’s just something that I feel strongly enough about to take that step.”
Kapler said he needs more time to consider specific actions he might suggest be taken to prevent more tragedies of this type, such as stronger gun control laws.
Pham, Pederson in altercation: Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham and San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson were involved in a brief altercation before Friday’s series opener at Great American Ball Park.
While the Giants were warming up in the outfield, Pham confronted Pederson in the outfield during pregame warmups. The pair quickly were separated and no punches were thrown.
The incident was witnessed by reporters and occurred before fans entered the ballpark.