Juan Soto hits a home run in the first inning of the Yankees’ 6-1 win over the White Sox on Saturday in New York. Soto was 4 for 4 with two home runs. Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
NEW YORK — Juan Soto had his first multihomer game with the Yankees, Luis Gil struck out a career-high 14 and New York beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Saturday to extend its winning streak to a season-high six games.
Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Trevino also went deep for New York, which has won 12 of 14 and improved to an AL-best 32-15. Soto was 4 for 4 with a walk and is batting .317 with 11 homers and 37 RBI.
New York is 12-2-1 in series, matching 2002 as the only times since 1950 the Yankees have won 12 of their first 15 series.
Soto tied the score in the first with a 417-foot drive deep into the right-field bleachers, had an RBI single in the second, and hit another solo shot in the fifth with a 437-footer deeper into the right-field bleachers. It was the 18th multihomer game for Soto, who combined with Stanton and Aaron Judge to make New York the first team this year with a trio of double-digit home run hitters.
Gil (5-1) won his fourth straight start and fifth consecutive decision, allowing one run, five hits and one walk in six innings. The 25-year-old right-hander set the Yankees’ rookie record for strikeouts, topping the 13 on Aug. 13, 1998, by Orlando Hernández, who threw out Saturday’s ceremonial first pitch. Gil has given up two runs over 24 1/3 innings in his last four starts.
After struggling through a 29-pitch first inning that included 13 changeups, Gil struck out seven in a row starting in the fourth – a streak ended by Eloy Jiménez’s single.
CUBS 1, PIRATES 0: Christopher Morel singled in Cody Bellinger with one out in the ninth to give Chicago a win over visiting Pittsburgh.
Bellinger got the winning rally started with a ground-rule double down the left-field line with one out off David Bednar. Morel then cracked a 3-2 pitch up the middle, and Bellinger narrowly beat Michael A. Taylor’s throw to the plate on a play that withstood a video review.
Hector Neris (4-0) tossed a perfect ninth, striking out two, for the win.
Cubs starter Shota Imanaga tossed seven scoreless innings of four-hit ball in his third straight no-decision. The 30-year-old left-hander from Japan struck out seven and walked one as he threw 68 of 88 pitches for strikes.
RAYS 5, BLUE JAYS 4: Jonny DeLuca hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning and Tampa Bay overcame a four-run deficit to win in Toronto for its 11th victory in 15 games.
Yandy Díaz reached base five times and Amed Rosario hit a two-run single for the Rays, who have won four of five series.
Erasmo Ramírez (3-0) worked one inning for the win, Jason Adam pitched the eighth, and Garrett Cleavinger finished for his third save in three chances.
Four of Tampa Bay’s last six games have been decided by a single run. The others were two-run decisions.
GIANTS 14, ROCKIES 4: Luis Matos hit a three-run homer and had a career-high six RBI to continue his hot streak, Matt Chapman went 4 for 4 and scored three runs, and San Francisco used 18 hits to rout visiting Colorado.
The Giants have won three straight for the first time this season. They were the last team in the majors without a winning streak of three games.
Matos, who drove in five runs Friday night, has RBI in his last six games and set a franchise record with 17 RBI in his first six games of the season in which he had a plate appearance. With Jung Hoo Lee out for the season, the 22-year-old Matos figures to keep seeing playing time in center field. He also took away a potential extra-base hit from Ezequiel Tovar with a leaping grab in the fifth.
MARLINS 10, METS 9: Josh Bell hit a tying homer off Edwin Díaz in a four-run ninth inning, the latest costly meltdown by the struggling New York closer, and Otto Lopez singled home the winning run in the 10th as Miami rallied for a win at home.
NOTES
YANKEES: Gerrit Cole (right elbow nerve inflammation and edema) threw his first bullpen session in which he sat down in the middle for a break, simulating an inning.
“That’s a big, big one for him to check that box,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said. “See how he bounces back after today and then go from there.”
Cole was throwing in the low 90 mph range and soon could progress to batting practice. Cole was told to stop throwing in mid-March and pitched his first bullpen session on May 4. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner is likely to need four or five minor league rehab starts, simulating spring training.
GAMBLING: Major League Baseball is expected to investigate former Angels player David Fletcher for gambling on sports with a bookmaker who also took bets from Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they weren’t at liberty to discuss such impending matters.
ESPN reported Friday night that Fletcher placed bets with Mathew Bowyer, an alleged illegal bookmaker in Southern California. Federal prosecutors say Ippei Mizuhara stole nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off sports gambling debts during a yearslong scheme, at times impersonating the Dodgers superstar to bankers.
Sources told ESPN that Fletcher, who currently is with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, bet on several sports, but not baseball.
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