Bradley remains undefeated in 7 starts as Arozarena hits two home runs to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 9-1 victory over the New York Yankees

Taj Bradley threw seven innings of one-hit baseball to extend his unbeaten streak to seven starts. Randy Arozarena hit two of Tampa Bay’s four home runs as they cruised to a 9-1 victory over the New York Yankees on Saturday.

“Right now he’s dominating,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Bradley’s performance.

Alex Jackson, Isaac Paredes and Arozarena all hit home runs off Nestor Cortes, with Arozarena adding another home run off Josh Maciejewski. It was his seventh home run game.

Arozarena tied his career high with four hits, while Curtis Mead, returning to the majors for the first time since May 3, contributed three hits, including a double that gave the Rays the lead in the third inning.

Bradley, now 5-4 on the season, allowed just one hit, a first-inning double to Ben Rice. The 23-year-old right-hander has been outstanding of late, posting a remarkable 0.92 ERA in his last eight starts. As of June 8, Bradley is the leading major league pitcher by ERA with at least 30 innings pitched, surpassing Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes, who has a 1.14 ERA.

“His cutter had different moves all day,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone noted. “He varied speeds well and threw a good splitter. He gave us different looks and kept us off balance, which kept us from making solid contact.”

Since a tough outing in which he gave up nine runs against Baltimore on June 1, Bradley has significantly lowered his season ERA from 5.81 to 2.63. With his fastball reaching speeds of over 100 mph, Bradley delivered his third shutout performance in four starts, striking out five batters and walking two in his Yankee Stadium debut.

“It was exciting. Even in the warm-up I got some good-natured teasing,” Bradley said.

The Yankees continued to struggle when Juan Soto scored on a groundout by Jahmai Jones in the ninth inning, leaving them with a record of 9-19 after starting the season 50-22.

Cortes, who is now 4-9 for the season, has not won in his last five starts, allowing six runs, eight hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings. His performance has been considerably better at home with a 4-4 record and a 2.48 ERA compared to his struggles on the road, where he is 0-5 with a 6.04 ERA.

“It’s a challenge to pitch in the majors when you’re not at your best,” Cortes acknowledged. “We’ve got to improve, starting with myself.”