Carlos Rodón wins 7th straight start by pitching Yankees past Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Carlos Rodón pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning in his return to the mound where he hit his low point last September, winning his seventh straight start and leading the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Monday night.

Juan Soto rejoined the Yankees lineup after missing a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers because of left forearm inflammation. He went 1 for 3 with a run and a walk as the designated hitter.

AL-best New York (47-21) won for the 10th time in 13 games and improved to 15-1 against the AL Central. Aaron Boone got his 556th victory, tying Billy Martin for seventh among Yankees managers.

After arriving in Kansas City at 3 a.m. following a Sunday night game in the Bronx, the Yankees gave Aaron Judge his first game off this season and rested slumping Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton.

Rodón (9-2) allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, giving up Freddy Fermin’s RBI single in the seventh.

Bobby Witt Jr. had an RBI single in the eighth off Ian Hamilton.

Michael Tonkin, cut by Minnesota and the New York Mets (twice) in April, worked the ninth for his second big league save and first since last year with Atlanta. Yankees closer Clay Holmes pitched three of the previous four days.

In the final start of his first season with the Yankees, Rodón allowed all eight batters he faced to reach base last Sept. 29 in a 12-5 loss that dropped him to 3-8 with a 6.85 ERA. When pitching coach Matt Blake came out of the dugout in an attempt to get him on track, the two exchanged a few words before Rodón turned his back on Blake and gestured for him to return to the dugout, even though the coach was still talking. Rodón blamed himself for feeling frustrated at his performance.

Alex Verdugo hit a go-ahead single in a two-run first on a grounder that glanced off the glove of a diving Witt in the shortstop hole. Verdugo scored on DJ LeMahieu’s safety squeeze off Seth Lugo (9-2), one of three sacrifice bunts by the Yankees.

Jose Trevino boosted the lead to 4-0 with a two-run single in the fourth that followed Jahmai Jones’ bunt.

Lugo gave up four runs and eight hits in seven innings. He lost for the first time since April 21 after going 6-0 over eight starts and has allowed nine runs in his last two starts, raising his ERA from 1.72 to 2.36.

Dan Altavilla, a 31-year-old right-hander brought up from Triple-A Omaha, pitched a perfect eighth for the Royals in his first major league appearance since April 16, 2021, for San Diego.

ORIOLES 5, RAYS 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Gunnar Henderson homered on the first pitch, Ryan O’Hearn drove in three runs and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 on Monday night to finish a four-game sweep.

Corbin Burnes (7-2) allowed two unearned runs and five hits in seven innings as Baltimore improved to 22-10 on the road and swept a four-game series at Tropicana Field for the first time. Craig Kimbrel worked the ninth for his 15th save in 18 chances.

James McCann also homered for Baltimore, which leads the majors with 104. It’s the most homers through the first 65 games of a season in Orioles history.

Alex Jackson went deep for the Rays, who have dropped 13 of 17 at home and are 31-35 overall.

O’Hearn put Baltimore up 4-2 on a two-run double in the fifth against Ryan Pepiot (4-3). He made it 5-2 with a seventh-inning RBI single off Kevin Kelly to complete a nine-pitch at-bat. Both hits came with two outs.

Henderson’s major league-best seventh leadoff homer this year went 430 feet to center field. Last season’s AL Rookie of the Year has 21 homers, second in the majors to New York Yankees star Aaron Judge (24).

O’Hearn and Henderson both had three hits. Henderson scored three times for the second consecutive game.

BREWERS 3, BLUE JAYS 1

MILWAUKEE — Colin Rea allowed just three hits while working seven innings for his longest outing in eight years, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Jackson Chourio and Willy Adames went deep for the Brewers, who had gone without a homer in their last five games. Milwaukee’s last homer before Monday came a week ago when Rhys Hoskins went deep against his former team in a 3-1 loss at Philadelphia.

Rea (5-2) threw 85 pitches, struck out four and allowed one run, on a third-inning homer by Alejandro Kirk. The last time Rea had gone seven innings was on June 7, 2016, when he was pitching for the San Diego Padres in a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Spencer Horwitz’s two-out single brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth before Brewers second baseman Brice Turang made an outstanding play to end the game. Turang went far to his right to field a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounder up the middle and throw him out at first.

Trevor Megill worked the ninth for his 10th save in 11 opportunities.

TWINS 5, ROCKIES 0

MINNEAPOLIS — Royce Lewis homered in the eighth inning to break open the game, and Chris Paddack bounced back from a rough outing with a sharp performance to lift the Minnesota Twins to a 5-0 victory.

Lewis, who was injured in the season opener and missed two months with a severe right quad strain, has now homered four times in seven games. Lewis took Rockies reliever Nick Mears deep to left for a 435-foot, two-run blast to cap a three-run eighth inning.

Christian Vásquez, Carlos Correa and Trevor Larnach each drove in a run for the Twins, who have won two in a row after dropping five straight games.

Paddack (5-3) allowed six hits and struck out six in 6 1/3 innings. He pitched out of trouble in the first inning when Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon singled to lead off the game and eventually ended up at third base. But the Twins right-hander struck out Ryan McMahon to strand Blackmon on third.

Rockies right-hander Dakota Hudson (2-8) took the loss despite allowing just four hits in 6 2/3 innings. One of the two runs he allowed was unearned.

Manny Margot scored the game’s first run after doubling to the corner in right and advancing to third on an error by right fielder Hunter Goodman. Margot scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly by Vázquez.