Cole pitches Yankees to 8th straight win, 3-0 over Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gerrit Cole pitched six sharp innings, the Yankees resorted to manufacturing runs against sloppy Kansas City pitching, and New York went beat the Royals 3-0 Saturday night for its eighth straight win.

Cole (2-0) allowed five hits and two walks while striking out six in another dominant start at Kauffman Stadium. The Cy Young runner-up a year ago has allowed only two earned runs in 21 1/3 innings in the pitcher-friendly ballpark.

Aroldis Chapman worked a perfect ninth for his fifth save, helping the Yankees improve to 15-6 — just the fifth time since 1959 that the 27-time World Series champions have won at least 15 of their first 21 games.

Normally a power-hitting team, the Yankees saw Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa manage sacrifice flies off Carlos Hernandez (0-1). New York had 18 homers in its previous seven games.

Hernandez walked five of the first 15 batters he faced and, at one point, had thrown more balls (37) than strikes (36). But the right-hander limited the damage against a lineup that loves to inflict it.

Hernandez worked around a walk in the first, then loaded the bases with nobody out in the second but allowed just one run thanks to a double play and a groundout. Hernandez loaded them again with one out in the third, gave up a sacrifice fly, then watched Salvador Perez throw out Anthony Rizzo at third base to end the inning.

The Yankees also drew a leadoff walk in the fourth and scored on another sacrifice fly, giving them a 3-0 lead.

With Cole on the mound, that's usually enough.

He would have set down the first eight batters he faced if not for Kiner-Falefa's miscue at shortstop, ending the Yankees' 13-game errorless streak. Cole's command escaped him briefly in the third, but he got Nicky Lopez to fly out to leave the...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Cole-pitches-Yankees-to-8th-straight-win-3-0-17139461.php