Jun 3, 2021 3 min read

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Austin Gomber pitched six shutout innings, Charlie Blackmon homered and the Colorado Rockies beat Texas 11-6 Thursday to finish a franchise-worst 0-9 trip for the Rangers and extend their longest losing streak since 2003 to nine games.

Texas fell behind 9-0 by the sixth inning and lost its 15th consecutive road game, one shy of the franchise record set by the 1961 Washington Senators, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It is the longest road skid in the major leagues since Miami dropped 15 straight in 2019.

The Rangers are 13-13 at home but 9-23 on the road, on their longest overall losing streak since May 30-June 8, 2003.

Colorado has an even bigger imbalance, improving to 19-12 at hitter-friendly Coors Field but a major league-worst 4-22 away from home.

National League

Atlanta 5, Washington 1: Dansby Swanson kept up his power surge with a two-run homer in Atlanta’s four-run sixth inning, and the Braves beat Patrick Corbin and the Washington Nationals, 5-1.

Left-hander Tucker Davidson, recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett for his second start this season, gave up one hit in 5 2/3 innings with five walks and five strikeouts.

Swanson extended his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games. He has five homers in that stretch, including in back-to-back games against Washington. The homer landed about halfway up the left-field seats, his 10th this season.

American League

Boston 5, Houston 1: Martín Pérez pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, and the Boston Red Sox headed into their first matchup against the New York Yankees with a 5-1 win over the Houston Astros.

Christian Arroyo’s first home run of the season, a three-run drive in the first inning, helped the Red Sox avoid a four-game sweep. His homer gave the Red Sox more runs than they’d managed in the previous two games combined in a series where the offense struggled mightily.

Pérez (4-2) yielded six hits and struck out four in his longest start this season to win his fourth straight decision. He had retired eight of the previous nine batters when Garrett Stubbs singled with one out in the eighth. He walked Aledmys Díaz with two outs, and Adam Ottavino retired Alex Bregman to end the inning.

Tampa Bay 9, N.Y. Yankees 2: Ryan Yarbrough became a big leaguer at a time when the highest esteem was reserved for pitchers who started games and those that finished them.

The Tampa Bay Rays left-hander has helped transform baseball in a role that does neither, and so he knows how rare a chance he got when manager Kevin Cash gave him back the ball with the chance to start and finish the ninth inning.

“My whole mission was just to get all three,” Yarbrough said.

Yarbrough ended a 24-start winless skid with Tampa Bay’s first complete game in more than five years, Austin Meadows homered off shaky Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and drove in five runs, and the Rays beat New York, 9-2.

Yarbrough (3-3), best known as Tampa Bay’s go-to bulk man in the early days of the opener, hadn’t won a start since Aug. 11, 2019. He threw a career-high 8 2/3 innings that day, but with the Rays’ clinging to a 1-0 lead over Seattle, Cash yanked him after just 100 pitches.

Staked to a big lead this time, Yarbrough was allowed to finish out with a career-most 113 pitches.