Nestor Cortes took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning before Eli White singled, and Anthony Rizzo doubled in a run in the bottom half to lift the Yankees over the Texas Rangers, 1-0, Monday for their sixth straight series win.
Cortes, 27, was making his 22nd big league start and his sixth this season. He pitched a career-high seven and a third innings, walked four and struck out 11, one shy of his career high. He threw 68 of 103 pitches for strikes.
Yankees 1, Rangers 0 | Box Score | Play-by-Play
White, the Rangers’ No. 9 batter, lofted a 2-2 fastball into short center field for a clean hit on Cortes’s final pitch. Clay Holmes (4-0) relieved and got Marcus Semien to ground into a double play.
Aaron Judge singled in the eighth off Brett Martin (0-3) and Rizzo, in a 2-for-31 slide, lofted a curveball to the opposite-field gap in left-center.
Aroldis Chapman allowed a two-out single to Jonah Heim in the ninth, then retired Nick Solak on a flyout to finish the two-hitter for his seventh save.
The Yankees have won 13 of their past 15 games, taking two of three in the series despite scoring just five runs.
Texas lost for just the second time in its past seven games.
The Yankees had just two hits against Jon Gray, a two-out single in the fourth by Josh Donaldson and a leadoff single in the fifth by former Ranger Joey Gallo.
Gray was replaced by Brock Burke with one out in the fifth because of what appeared to be an injury. Jose Trevino singled and D.J. LeMahieu walked before Burke escaped bases-loaded trouble by striking out Judge and throwing a called third strike past Rizzo.
Gray already has been on the injured list twice this season. He was sidelined from April 9-18 with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand and from April 20 to May 3 with a sprained left knee.
Box scores and summaries from the rest of Monday’s action.
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