NEW YORK — Matt Harvey was greeted warmly by Mets fans in his return to Citi Field and harshly by New York’s hitters as the Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-1 Wednesday.
Harvey pitched against his former team for the first time and allowed Kevin Pillar’s two-run triple in a three-run second inning that carried the Mets to their seventh straight win.
Wearing orange and black instead of blue and orange, Harvey (3-3) gave up a season-high seven runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, and his ERA rose from 3.60 to 4.81 as the last-place Orioles lost for the fifth time in six games.
Taijuan Walker (3-1) lowered his ERA to 2.20, allowing one run and four hits over seven innings as part of a five-hitter.
Dominic Smith had three hits and two RBIs for the NL East-leading Mets, who completed a two-game sweep that finished a 5-0 homestand.
YANKEES 1, RAYS 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Gerrit Cole struck out 12 over eight stellar innings, Aaron Hicks had a sacrifice fly and New York beat Tampa Bay amid a coronavirus outbreak that sidelined shortstop Gleyber Torres.
Cole (5-1) scattered four hits and has five starts this season of at least 10 strikeouts and no walks to break Mike Mussina’s single-season team record set in 2001. Aroldis Chapman completed the four-hitter to get his ninth save.
Torres was kept out of the starting lineup as a precaution as the number of confirmed positive COVID-19 tests among the team’s coach and support staff reached seven. Six of the seven are asymptomatic. All are fully vaccinated, which Boone said was blunting the effects of the virus.
PADRES 5, ROCKIES 3, Game 1
ROCKIES 3, PADRES 2, 8 innings, Game 2
DENVER — Josh Fuentes capped a big night with a two-out, walk-off single in the eighth inning after earlier hitting a two-run homer and Colorado salvaged a doubleheader split against virus-hampered San Diego.
The Padres, missing starters Fernando Tatis Jr., Eric Hosmer, Wil Myers and two others because of COVID-19 concerns, won the opener 5-3. Austin Nola, who’s normally a catcher but was playing second base for short-handed San Diego, made a nifty catch with the bases loaded for the final out.
In the nightcap, Fuentes drove a changeup from reliever Nick Ramirez (0-1) to deep center to set off a celebration near second base as the Rockies snapped a five-game skid. Fuentes’ bat provided all the run production — he homered in the second.
Yency Almonte (1-1) got the win in the late game.
Victor Caratini lined a two-out grand slam in sixth to put the Padres ahead in the first game. It came on a belt-high fastball from reliever Robert Stephenson, who was summoned after starter Jon Gray (4-3) loaded the bases.
Emilio Pagán (3-0) picked up the win with a scoreless fifth inning. Mark Melancon earned a five-out save.
INDIANS 2, CUBS 1, 10 innings
CLEVELAND — Amed Rosario’s bases-loaded single with two outs in the 10th inning gave Cleveland a win over Chicago.
Rosario, who drove in Cleveland’s first run with a sixth-inning double, singled to right on a 1-1 pitch from Keegan Thompson (1-1), giving the Indians a sweep of the two-game series.
Chicago threatened in every inning except the eighth but finished 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 15 baserunners. Joc Pederson drove in the Cubs’ only run with a double in the sixth.
Nick Martini was the Cubs’ automatic runner in the 10th against James Karinchak (1-0). Jason Heyward walked, but ldemaro Vargas struck out attempting to bunt. Pederson popped out, and Eric Sogard took a called third strike.
TIGERS 4, ROYALS 2
DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera drove in two runs and surpassed Omar Vizquel for the most major league hits by a Venezuelan player, leading Detroit past slumping Kansas City.
Cabrera’s two RBI singles gave him 2,878, one more than Vizquel, who played his last game in 2012 and was a coach for Cabrera and the Tigers from 2014-17.
Kansas City lost its 10th straight. Danny Duffy (4-3) gave up a season-high four runs in six innings.
REDS 5, PIRATES 1, 10 innings
PITTSBURGH — Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suárez combined to drive in four runs in the 10th inning as Cincinnati’s bullpen threw 5 1/3 hitless innings.
Winker singled off reliever Duane Underwood Jr. (1-2) to lead off the 10th, scoring designated runner Nick Senzel. Nick Castellanos singled and Mike Moustakas walked ahead of Suárez, who drove a pitch into the left-center gap for a three-run double.
Lucas Sims (2-1) worked two perfect innings with four strikeouts to earn the win. The Cincinnati bullpen struck out nine without allowing a hit in relief of Sonny Gray.
ATHLETICS 4, RED SOX 1
BOSTON — James Kaprielian got the victory in his first major league start with five innings of one-run ball, Matt Olson homered, and Sean Murphy and Jed Lowrie also had RBIs for the A’s.
Burch Smith and Lou Trivino combined to pitch three scoreless innings for Oakland, and Jake Diekman completed a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.
Kaprielian (1-0) settled down after a rocky first inning and ended his night after giving up just four hits and three walks with six strikeouts.
Oakland pounded out seven hits and four runs against starter Eduardo Rodriguez (5-1). Boston has lost three straight.
ASTROS 9, ANGELS 1
HOUSTON — José Altuve and Yuli Gurriel homered early as Houston hit a season-high five long balls against Los Angeles.
Altuve launched a leadoff homer and Gurriel, who also went deep Tuesday, added his two-run shot later in the first inning. Kyle Tucker also connected for a second straight game when he smacked a two-run drive off Andrew Heaney (1-3) in the sixth to make it 5-0.
Yordan Álvarez and Chas McCormick also homered to help the Astros win their second consecutive series.
Houston starter José Urquidy left in the fourth with posterior shoulder discomfort. Brandon Bielak (2-2) went 3 1/3 innings for the win.
MARLINS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 2
PHOENIX — Cody Poteet won his major league debut and Jesús Aguilar homered for a third consecutive game as Miami edged Arizona.
The 26-year-old Poteet (1-0) gave up a run in the first inning and a solo homer to pinch-hitter Andrew Young in the fifth but was otherwise solid. The right-hander struck out six and didn’t walk anyone in five innings.
The Marlins closed it out with four scoreless innings from their bullpen. Yimi García pitched the ninth for his sixth save, getting the final two outs when Aguilar made a leaping catch of Eduardo Escobar’s line drive and stepped on first base to double off Tim Locastro.
Aguilar leads the National League with 31 RBIs. He hit a two-run homer that clanged off the left-field foul pole against Matt Peacock (1-1) in the first for his ninth long ball of the season.
DODGERS 7, MARINERS 1
LOS ANGELES — Julio Urías pitched seven stellar innings of two-hit ball, Matt Beaty drove in three runs and Los Angeles beat Seattle for its first back-to-back victories in 25 days.
Max Muncy homered for the second straight game for the defending World Series champions, who opened a nine-game homestand by sweeping this two-game interleague series and interrupting their 3 1/2-week stretch of mostly terrible play.
Urías (5-1) bounced back superbly from last weekend in Anaheim, where he took his first loss since 2019. He retired Seattle’s first 13 batters and yielded only two singles and a walk, striking out six.
Justin Dunn (1-1) unraveled in the fourth for Seattle, which finished a five-game road trip with four straight defeats.