Yarbrough gets Rays 1st complete game in 5 years, tops Yanks

NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Yarbrough ended a 24-start winless skid with Tampa Bay's first complete game in more than five years, Austin Meadows homered off shaky Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and drove in five and the Rays beat New York 9-2 Thursday.

The AL East-leading Rays salvaged a four-game split, improving to 10-3 at Yankee Stadium since the start of last season.

New York fell 4 1/2 games back of Tampa Bay and has dropped seven of 10 entering a weekend series against the rival Red Sox.

Meadows homered three times in the series, including a go-ahead, two-run drive off Cole in the fourth inning. He added a three-run double off Nick Nelson in the seventh.

Cole (6-3) matched a season worst by allowing five runs in five innings.

Yarbrough (3-3) hadn't won a start since Aug. 11, 2019, when he threw a career-high 8 2/3 innings in a 1-0 win over Seattle.

The left-hander finished this one himself, throwing a career-most 113 pitches. He escaped a key jam in the fourth and allowed solo homers to Brett Gardner and Miguel Andújar, but otherwise cruised. The 29-year-old allowed two runs and six hits, walked none and struck out six.

Tampa Bay had not thrown a complete game since Matt Andriese’s two-hit shutout of Oakland on May 14, 2016, a major league record streak of 731 games. Toronto now has gone the longest at 231 games.

Yarbrough took advantage of a favorable zone from plate umpire Chad Whitson, stealing several strikes off the outside corner. Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected after berating Whitson during a pitching change in the seventh.

Cole entered with an AL-best 1.78 ERA and dominated Tampa Bay in their previous meeting, striking out 12 in eight scoreless innings May 12.

He wasn't nearly as sharp Thursday. Meadows put the Rays up 2-1 in the fourth, and Tampa Bay made it...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Yarbrough-gets-Rays-1st-complete-game-in-5-years-16223118.php