Cole outduels Sale in matchup of Cy Young winners as Yankees beat Braves 5-4

NEW YORK (AP) — Gerrit Cole pitched seven strong innings and outdueled Chris Sale in a matchup of Cy Young Award winners as the New York Yankees beat the Atlanta Braves 5-4 Saturday.

George Lombard Jr. hit his second career homer in the seventh to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead. The shortstop, who homered in his big league debut Tuesday, also drew a walk in the fifth following consecutive successful ABS challenges.

New York rookie Spencer Jones drove two runs, with a single in the second and his first career triple in the fifth. Jones also scored the tiebreaking run on a balk by Sale in the fifth. Ben Rice added his 32nd homer in the eighth.

Cole allowed two runs in the fifth and four of his six hits in the frame. He struck out nine and walked two in his third straight win.

Cole, who was the 2023 AL Cy Young winner, became the 13th Yankee to reach 1,000 career strikeouts when he got Matt Olson to end the fifth.

Lombard opened the fifth with a walk against Sale. Jones tripled, scoring Lombard. New York went ahead when Sale was called for a balk by plate umpire Dan Merzel before throwing a pitch to Austin Wells.

Sale appeared to have a slight hitch in his leg before starting his motion when he was called for his third career balk. Atlanta manager Walt Weiss argued the call before being ejected.

Pitching on nine days’ rest, Sale allowed five hits and three runs in six innings, while striking out eight. He is 0-3 in three matchups with Cole.

Mike Yastrzemski hit an RBI double, and Jim Jarvis had a run-scoring single in the fifth off Cole as the Braves dropped their second straight.

Ronald Acuña Jr. homered off Brent Headrick in the eighth and Paul Blackburn retired Ozzie Albies to end the inning. David Bednar allowed an RBI single by Dominic Smith and earned his 26th save.

Atlanta RHP Grant Holmes (7-4, 3.67 ERA) faces New York RHP Cam Schlittler (10-6, 2.26) on Sunday.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb