AL EAST NEWS AND NOTES

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

Outfielder Colby Rasmus has stepped away from baseball for the second consecutive season. Rasmus, who played for five organizations over 10 seasons, homered off Washington’s Max Scherzer in his first at-bat June 21 after being sidelined since April 7 because of a left hip injury. That started a four-game hitting streak, but he then went hitless in his last 11 at-bats and was batting just .133 when he stepped away.❚ Right-hander Dylan Bundy returned from the disabled list July 6 after recovering from a left ankle sprain and gave up six runs, five earned, in 3 1 / 3 innings against Minnesota. Bundy, who did not make a rehab start, was 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA in four June starts before the injury.

BOSTON RED SOX

Left-hander Chris Sale did more than just earn his 100th career victory July 6. He also reached a milestone.

His 12 strikeouts against the Kansas City Royals, who had fewer whiffs than any team in the majors, gave him a streak of 66 strikeouts without allowing a homer over his last six starts. The only other American League pitchers with 65 or more strikeouts and no homers over a six-start span are Nolan Ryan (1972, 1973), Rogers Clemens (1998), and Pedro Martinez (1999, 2001).

It was Sale’s eighth double-digit strikeout game of the season (two behind leader Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals), fourth straight and fifth in six starts. Sale threw 99 pitches in six innings.

❚ Mookie Betts led off that game with the 100th home run of his career. It was his 16th career homer leading off a game and his fifth this season, matching George Springer for most in the majors. The only other Red Sox hitters to hit 100 homers before their 26th birthday were Tony Conigliaro (160), Jim Rice (133) and Ted Williams (127).

NEW YORK YANKEES

Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge opened the July 7 win at Toronto with back-to-back homers, the second time this season and ninth time in team history the Yankees had back to- back homers to start a game. The pair also hit consecutive leadoff homers May 26 against the Los Angeles Angels.

It was Gardner’s 14th career leadoff homer, tied for sixth in Yankees history, and third this season. Five of his six homers this season and 11 of his last 14 had either tied the game or given the Yankees the lead.

Judge is the second Yankees hitter with at least 25 homers in consecutive seasons before the All-Star break, joining Roger Maris (1960, 1961).

❚ Right-hander Luis Severino has allowed three or fewer runs in 16 consecutive starts, passing Ron Guidry (1978) for the longest such streak by a Yankees pitcher in the live ball era (since 1920).

TAMPA BAY RAYS

Even though he isn’t considered a starting pitcher, rookie right-hander Ryne Stanek has made 10 starts this season as one of manager Kevin Cash’s “opening” pitchers. In those games, Stanek has allowed two runs in 14 2 ⁄ 3 innings for a 1.23 ERA, with 19 strikeouts, six hits and seven walks.

In his most recent start, June 6 against the Mets at New York, Stanek went two scoreless innings in his third appearance over four games.

❚ The Rays were tied with three other teams for the AL lead in shutouts with eight through July 8. All of Tampa Bay’s shutouts came over 38 games since May 28, most in the majors in that span, after the Rays didn’t have a shutout win in their first 51 games.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

Justin Smoak’s three-run homer against the Yankees on July 6 was his third home run in seven games after he hit just one in his previous 24 games. In his last 13 games through July 8 he was hitting .325 with a 1.113 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage).

Although he began the week with only a .241 batting average for the season, he led AL first basemen with 52 walks and a .362 on-base percentage.

❚ Gibbons’ mother, Sallie, threw out the ceremonial first pitch to her son July 6. She told SportsNet throwing out a first pitch had been on her “bucket list” for a long time, and on her 80th birthday last month she told her son, “John, I won’t be here forever. Better do it now.”

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

MANNY MACHADO, ORIOLES: In the nine games through his 26th birthday July 6, Machado hit .394 (13for-33) with two doubles, two home runs and five walks (two intentional). Still, the Orioles went 1-8.Machado was second in the league through July 8 with 11 intentional walks, trailing only the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout (16). Machado’s 963 hits before turning 26 are the most in Orioles history.