Bradley remains undefeated in 8 starts, Arozarena hits two homers and Rays beat Yankees 9-1

NEW YORK — Taj Bradley threw seven innings of one hit to remain unbeaten in eight straight starts, Randy Arozarena hit two of Tampa Bay’s four home runs and the Rays beat the New York Yankees 9-1 on Saturday.

Alex Jackson, Isaac Paredes and Arozarena hit a homer off Nestor Cortes, and Arozarena added one off Josh Maciejewski for his seventh multi-homer game. Arozarena tied a career high with four hits, and Curtis Mead, back in the majors for the first time since May 3, had three hits, including a go-ahead double in the third.

Bradley (5-4) allowed his lone hit when Ben Rice singled in the first inning, and the 23-year-old right-hander improved to 4-0 with a 0.92 ERA in his last eight starts. He leads the major leagues in ERA among pitchers with at least 30 innings since June 8, even surpassing the 1.14 of Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes. Bradley has held hitters to a .129 average (13 for 101) in that span.

Since Bradley gave up nine runs in Baltimore on June 1, his season ERA has dropped from 5.81 to 2.63. With his fastball reaching 100.1 mph, Bradley threw his third shutout ball in four games, striking out five and walking two in his Yankee Stadium debut.

Juan Soto tripled and scored on a grounder by Jahmai Jones in the ninth inning, dropping the Yankees to 9-19 after a 50-22 start.

Cortes (4-9) dropped to 0-4 in his last five starts, allowing six runs, eight hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings. He is 4-4 with a 2.48 ERA at home and 0-5 with a 6.04 ERA away.

Tampa Bay had nine right-handed batters in its lineup and improved its record to 17-8 against left-handed batters.

Jackson went 2 for 32 against lefties and 7 for 85 overall. He walked in the third and scored when Mead hit a two-out double off the left-field wall.

Cortes allowed a single to Jose Siri in the fourth inning, then walked Taylor Walls, who entered with a .158 batting average. Jackson hit a full-count cutter to right-center for his second home run of the season and his first since June 10 against Baltimore’s Corbin Burnes to give the Rays a 4-0 lead.

Paredes and Arozarena hit solo homers in the fifth inning against Cortes, who has allowed a season-record three homers and walked 19 in 21 starts this season. Paredes, who was in a 3-for-34 slide, has 16 homers this season and 69 in his major league career, all of them to left field.

New York turned three double plays and leads the Major League with 92.

DJ LaMahieu went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and is hitless in 17 plate appearances, dropping his average to .177. The two-time batting champion has been booed by frustrated fans of late.

Alex Verdugo, who dropped to sixth from the cleanup, was 0-for-3 and is hitting .148 (16-for-108) with five RBI since June 15.

Carlos Narváez, a 25-year-old catcher for the Yankees who has played in the minor leagues since 2016, made his major league debut as a replacement defensive back in the ninth inning and hit an opposite-field single.

Rays: RHP Jeffrey Springs (Tommy John surgery in May 2023) was scheduled to start Saturday for Triple-A Durham in his 11th minor league rehab game.

Yankees: DH Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain) is expected to be available late next week, though the team has not yet decided whether he will rehab. … RHP Clarke Schmidt (right lat strain) threw his first bullpen session since the injury on Saturday. … RHP JT Brubaker (oblique strain) is out for three or four weeks.

RHP Marcus Stroman (7-4, 3.51) will start for the Yankees on Sunday, while RHP Shane Baz (0-1, 5.23) will start for the Rays.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

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