Gerrit Cole came within six outs of a no-hitter and Aaron Hicks hit a tiebreaking triple with one out in the ninth inning as the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 on Monday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Anthony Rizzo homered three batters into the game and Gleyber Torres scored on a fielding error by Tampa Bay first baseman Ji-Man Choi as the Yankees won for the 17th time in 19 games and became the fifth team since 1930 to win at least 50 of its first 67 games.
Cole lost his no-hit bid when Isaac Paredes hit an 0-1 slider up the middle for a clean single.
After losing the no-hitter, Cole got assistance from Aaron Judge, who made a leaping catch in front of the center field wall on Josh Lowe’s 415-foot flyball. Cole exited after Judge’s catch to a standing ovation from the sizable contingent of Yankee fans in the crowd.
It was the second time this season Cole took a no-hitter into the seventh or beyond. On June 3, Cole retired the first 20 Detroit Tigers before Jonathan Schoop ended his bid with a clean single.
It also was New York’s fourth no-hit bid into the seventh or later. On May 9, Nestor Cortes came within five outs of a no-hitter against the Texas Rangers and on June 2, Jameson Taillon lost a perfect game bid in the eighth against the Los Angeles Angels when he allowed a hit to Jared Walsh.
Cole allowed one run and one hit in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out a season-high 12 hitters, walked three and threw 111 pitches, three shy of his season high.
Cole wound up with a no-decision when Clay Holmes struggled and allowed his first run since Opening Day.
Holmes allowed an RBI groundout to Yandy Diaz and a tying infield single to Manuel Margot before striking out Randy Arozarena.
The Yankees regained the lead when Hicks tripled to the right-field fence off Jason Adam (0-2). Margot tried to make a leaping catch, but his right knee hit the fence, causing him to fall to the ground. He was eventually carted off the field.
Jose Trevino followed with a sacrifice fly for a 4-2 lead and Wandy Peralta (2-1) pitched an eventful ninth. Following a throwing error by third baseman DJ LeMahieu, Peralta fanned Lowe and Hicks caught the final out on Francisco Mejia’s flyball to left.
Tampa Bay was nearly no-hit for the second time this season. The Rays were also no-hit by Reid Detmers of the Los Angeles Angels on May 10.
Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan allowed one run on four hits in six innings. He struck out eight and walked one.
–Field Level Media
