Randy Arozarena hits a double as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees

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

“He’s just on a dominating streak right now,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

Alex Jackson, Isaac Paredes and Arozarena homered off Nestor Cortes, and Arozarena added another against Josh Maciejewski for his seventh multihome game. Arozarena tied a career high with four hits and Curtis Mead, who returned to the majors for the first time since May 3, had three hits, including a double in the third.

Bradley (5-4) allowed its only hit when Ben Rice doubled in the top of the first, and the 23-year-old right-hander has a 0.92 ERA over his last eight starts. He leads the major leagues in ERA since June 8 among pitchers with at least 30 innings, bettering Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes’ 1.14.

“It seemed like the shape of the cutter kind of changed all day,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He mixed in some bigger, slower ones, had a good split. So he had a little bit of everything going and kind of different looks for us all day and just kept us at bay and stayed off the barrel.”

Since allowing nine runs in Baltimore on June 1, Bradley has lowered his season ERA from 5.81 to 2.63. With a fastball that reached 160.1 mph, Bradley threw the ball for the third time in four outings, striking out five and walking two in his Yankee Stadium debut.

“I was excited. Even in the resort, you struggle,” he said.

Juan Soto tripled and scored on Jahmai Jones’ ninth-inning home run, and the Yankees fell to 9-19 after a 50-22 start.

Cortes (4-9) fell to 0-4 over 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 on the road.

“It’s hard to pitch in the big leagues when you don’t have your best stuff,” Cortes said. “We have to be better, starting with me.”

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

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

Cortes allowed a single in the fourth to Jose Siri, then walked Taylor Walls, who entered hitting .158. Jackson drove a full-court cutter to right-center for his second homer of the season and first since June 10, putting the Rays up 4-0.

Paredes and Arozarena hit solo homers in the fifth off Cortes, who has allowed a season-high three homers and has given up 19 in 21 starts this season. Paredes, who went 3-for-34, has 16 homers this season and 69 in his big league career, all to left field.

New York has homered in three double games and leads the major leagues with 92.

DJ LaMahieu went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and is hitless in 17 at-bats, lowering his average to .177. The two-time batting champion has been booed lately by frustrated fans.

Alex Verdugo, demoted from the sixth cleanup, has gone 0-for-3 and is hitting .148 (16-for-108) with five RBIs since June 15.

Carlos Narváez, a 25-year-old Yankees shortstop who has been in the minor leagues since 2016, made his major league debut as a defensive replacement in the ninth and had an opposite-field single.

“Goosebumps. Of course, my dream was to debut here, but to win,” Narváez said. “It’s been a long journey.”

INSTRUCTOR’S ROOM

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

Yankees: DH Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain) will likely be ready for game action late next week, although the team has not determined whether he will go on a rehab assignment. … RHP Clarke Schmidt (strained right lat) threw his first bullpen session Saturday since the injury. … RHP JT Brubaker (strained oblique) will miss another three to four weeks.

IT FOLLOWS

RHP Marcus Stroman (7-4, 3.51) starts Sunday for the Yankees and RHP Shane Baz (0-1, 5.23) for the Rays.

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Corrects to seven consecutive unbeaten starts from eight in a previous version.

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