Aug 26, 2020 3 min read

Ian Anderson dazzled in his big league debut, holding the Yankees hitless into the sixth inning and ending Gerrit Cole’s 20-game winning streak as the Atlanta Braves beat New York 5-1 Wednesday to open a doubleheader.

Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning off Chad Green and the Braves rallied to beat the Yankees 2-1 to sweep the twinbill.

The Yankees have lost five straight.

Ronald Acuña Jr. celebrated his return to the lineup by leading off with a 473-foot drive against Cole (4-1).

Anderson (1-0) gave a depleted Atlanta rotation a huge boost. The 22-year-old right-hander, the third overall pick in the 2016 draft, didn’t allow a hit until Luke Voit connected for his team-leading 11th homer with one out in the sixth.

That was the only hit Anderson allowed in six innings. He struck out six and walked two. Shane Greene worked the seventh.

Cole was trying to become the first AL pitcher to win 21 straight regular-season decisions. The all-time record is 24 by Carl Hubbell, followed by Roy Face (22) and Cole, Roger Clemens, Jake Arrieta and Rube Marquard tied at 20.

Cole had been unbeaten in 28 consecutive regular-season starts – Clemens holds the mark with 30. Cole’s only loss in 15 months had come in the World Series opener last year with Houston against Washington.

The Yankees newcomer gave up five runs on five hits with nine strikeouts in five-plus innings.

Philadelphia 3, Washington 2: Aaron Nola bounced back from the shortest outing of his career to throw seven strong innings, and the Philadelphia Phillies took advantage of the Washington Nationals’ sloppy outfield defense to rally for a 3-2 victory.

Bryce Harper, who won the 2015 NL MVP during a seven-year stint with the Nationals, delivered the go-ahead RBI single in the seventh to help the Phillies win their third in a row. The defending World Series champion Nationals have dropped three consecutive games to drop to a season-high six games under .500.

Nola (3-2), who threw a career-low 2 2/3 innings Friday in a loss at Atlanta, gave up two runs on five hits while striking out eight. Tommy Hunter tossed a perfect eighth, and recently acquired closer Brandon Workman escaped a two-on, one-out jam by striking out Eric Thames and Victor Robles for his second save since joining the Phillies from Boston and sixth overall.

The Phillies trailed 2-1 entering the seventh against Washington starter Patrick Corbin, who yielded a solo homer to Rhys Hoskins in the third but had otherwise avoided serious trouble. Didi Gregorius led off with a hit to left that Juan Soto dove for and missed, turning a likely single into a triple.

That ended Corbin’s night, and Alec Bohm greeted reliever Will Harris (0-1) with a single to right to tie the game. After a fielder’s-choice grounder put Roman Quinn on first, Andrew McCutchen hit a routine fly to deep right-center, but Robles and Adam Eaton collided in what was scored a single. Two batters later, the speedy Quinn easily scored from second on Harper’s looping single to left to give the Phillies the lead.