NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton homered and drove in four runs to lead Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees past the Tampa Bay Rays 7-2 on Wednesday night, preventing a three-game sweep.
Cole (10-2) recovered from a rocky start and beat Shane McClanahan (11-2) in a marquee matchup of All-Star aces. New York scored five times in the third inning, highlighted by rookie Anthony Volpe's two-run homer and Stanton's three-run shot.
"He's a nasty pitcher," Stanton said of McClanahan. "So you've got to square the ball up and make sure we're swinging at our pitch and not let him dictate at-bats.