Aug 2, 2019 2 min read

Javier Baez homered and drove in three runs, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-2 on Friday.

Jose Quintana pitched solidly into the seventh inning and Jason Heyward also went deep to help Chicago move within one-half game of first-place St. Louis in the NL Central. The third-place Brewers fell 2½ games back of the Cardinals, who have a rare Friday off before starting a two-game series at Oakland.

Baez ripped two doubles and scored twice. Quintana (9-7) also singled in a run as he won his fifth straight decision. The left-hander allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out five.

NY Yankees 4, Boston 2: Gleyber Torres hit a first-inning grand slam, left-hander James Paxton cruised after that and the New York Yankees three-hit the Boston Red Sox in a 4-2 victory.

Boston has lost five straight for the first time since 2015 and dropped 111/2 games behind first-place New York in the AL East.

Cleveland 7, LA Angels 3: Yasiel Puig drove in his first two runs for Cleveland, Mike Clevinger won his fifth consecutive decision and the Indians beat the Los Angeles Angels, 7-3.

Puig had RBI singles in the first and second, helping Cleveland take an early 6-1 lead.

Clevinger (6-2) gave up one run in 6 1/3 innings – a solo homer to Mike Trout in the first. The blast was Trout’s 36th of the season and moved him into a tie for the major league lead with Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich.

The right-hander allowed three hits and struck out eight. Clevinger is 4-0 in six career starts against the Angels, who traded him to the Indians in 2014 when he was pitching in the minors.