NEW YORK — Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge became the first pair of teammates to hit home runs in their first major league at-bats and the New York Yankees began the post-Alex Rodriguez era with an 8-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays Saturday.
Starlin Castro hit a solo blast, Aaron Hicks hit a tie-breaking three-run shot and Didi Gregorius added a two-run homer as the Yankees matched a season-high by going four games over .500.
The story of the day for the Yankees was Austin and Judge, who were promoted from Triple-A Scranton Wilkes/Barre and batted seventh and eighth, respectively, while playing first base and right field.
Austin became the fourth Yankee to homer in his first career at-bat when he drove a 2-2 fastball from Matt Andriese (6-4) over the right field wall. Four pitches later, Judge drove a 1-2 breaking ball well over the center-field wall.
Blue Jays 4, Astros 2: Russell Martin hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning and Aaron Sanchez struck out six in seven innings as Toronto defeated Houston.
Josh Donaldson also homered for the Blue Jays, who stopped a four-game winning streak by the Astros.
Sanchez (12-2) allowed two runs, five hits and three walks in seven innings. The right-hander struck out six.
Cardinals 8, Cubs 4: The Cardinals scored six runs in the eighth inning to beat the Cubs and snap their 11-game winning streak.
Randal Grichuk hit his first grand slam on his 25th birthday in the eighth to cap the Cardinals’ rally.
Dodgers 8, Pirates 4: Despite another erratic start by Brandon McCarthy, Los Angeles used its offense to recover in a win over Pittsburgh.
Joc Pederson homered and helped key a 17-hit attack as the Dodgers rallied past the Pirates before an announced crowd of 40,563 at Dodger Stadium.
Twins 5, Royals 3: Robbie Grossman had three hits, including a home run, and Tyler Duffey pitched seven solid innings to lead Minnesota to a win over Kansas City.
Grossman knocked in a run with an RBI single in the first and homered in the fifth as Minnesota snapped a four-game losing streak.
Nationals 7, Braves 6: Daniel Murphy smacked a two-run homer and drove in four runs, rookie Reynaldo Lopez pitched seven innings for his first win and Washington held on to defeat Atlanta Braves.
Trea Turner homered and finished a double short of the cycle for Washington and Ben Revere had two triples.
Red Sox 6, Diamondbacks 3: Sandy Leon and Brock Holt homered and Brad Ziegler pitched out of a bases loaded, nobody out eighth-inning jam with three strikeouts to lead Boston to an interleague victory over Arizona.
Ziegler, acquired from the Diamondbacks on July 9 and already 0-3 with his new team, came on after Matt Barnes walked the bases loaded. He struck out the next three batters on 10 pitches — all strikes, with only two foul balls.
Phillies 6, Rockies 3: Maikel Franco hit a three-run homer and Jerad Eickhoff won his second straight start as Philadelphia beat Colorado.
Cesar Hernandez, who has reached base in 20 consecutive games, went 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Phillies, who won their third straight game.
In other games it was: Mets 3, Padres 2 (11 innings); Reds 11, Brewers 5; White Sox 8, Marlins 7; Tigers 2, Rangers 0; Mariners 4, Athletics 3; Giants 6, Orioles 2; Indians 5, Angels 1.
