Gerrit Cole scattered four hits and struck out 10 over 6 2/3 stellar innings and Ben Rice had three RBIs as the visiting New York Yankees completed a three-game sweep with a 7-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

Cole (1-0) did not yield a walk during his efficient 79-pitch outing as the Yankees beat the Royals for the 13th straight time. His second start of the year was even more impressive than his first, when he tossed six scoreless innings versus Tampa Bay on Friday in his first appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery after the 2024 World Series.

Rice and Paul Goldschmidt each had two hits and Ryan McMahon clubbed a two-run homer in the eighth for New York, which has won four straight. The Yankees outscored Kansas City 26-4 this week — and 50-10 while sweeping the six-game season series.

Royals starter Noah Cameron (2-4) allowed two runs and four hits over five innings. Maikel Garcia poked two of the Royals’ four hits as they dropped to 3-13 since May 10.

Kansas City threatened Cole in the third, when Michael Massey roped a double into the right-field corner for the game’s first hit. However, he was thrown out at the plate by Aaron Judge on Garcia’s two-out single to right.

Cameron, meanwhile, was perfect through the first three innings. Then Goldschmidt opened the fourth with a single to left, then scored on Rice’s triple that went off the left field fence and caromed away from Kansas City’s Isaac Collins. Judge’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0.

Cameron’s night ended after he yielded another single to Goldschmidt and walked Rice to open the sixth. However, John Schreiber got Judge to ground into a 6-4-3 double play and Cody Bellinger to fly out.

The Yankees loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh. Nick Mears got Jose Caballero to line out and fanned Austin Wells, but he walked Goldschmidt to force home a run. The Royals brought in reliever Alex Lange, but Rice broke things open with a two-run single to right.

–Field Level Media

The new PWHL team in Hamilton, Ontario, has made its big acquisition.

Coach of the Year finalist Kris Sparre, who just led the Boston Fleet to a league record-tying 62-point regular season, has jumped to become Hamilton’s first coach. PWHL Hamilton general manager Meghan Duggan made the announcement Wednesday.

“I’m thrilled to have Kris as the first Head Coach in PWHL Hamilton history, bringing a combination of hockey knowledge, leadership, and player development expertise that make him an ideal fit,” Duggan said in a news release.

Sparre, 39, has extensive ties to Ontario. The Mississauga native grew up playing in the Ontario Hockey League and earned his first coaching job in the OHL. He and his family live in Burlington, Ontario, roughly 15 miles from Hamilton.

Sparre took over the Boston Fleet prior to the 2025-26 season and directed the team to a 16-5-4-5 record. That was a league-record 18 points better than the year before.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to build a foundation in Hamilton alongside Meghan, and moving closer to home and being near family makes this the right step for me personally and professionally,” Sparre said.

PWHL Hamilton was introduced as an expansion franchise on May 13. The league also has announced plans to add teams in Detroit, Las Vegas and San Jose to boost membership to 12 teams for the 2026-27 season.

–Field Level Media

Juan Soto hit his sixth homer in seven games and Carson Benge had a pair of two-out RBI singles to lead the New York Mets past the visiting Cincinnati Reds 4-2 on Wednesday.

In salvaging the finale of a three-game series, the Mets avoided being swept at home by the Reds for the first time since May 20-22, 2013. Entering Wednesday, the Mets had scored two or fewer runs in six straight games, and they had lost the past five.

The Reds fell for just the second time in seven games as they missed many scoring opportunities, stranding 17 runners on base. Mets closer Devin Williams walked the bases loaded with one out in the ninth but recovered for his eighth save in nine chances.

Williams struck out Dane Myers and Blake Dunn to end the game.

Soto belted his 12th homer of the season in the second inning off Andrew Abbott on a hanging curveball that caught too much of the inside part of the plate. The drive to the seats down the right field line gave the Mets their first lead of the series, 1-0.

Abbott was hit hard in the second inning. Elly De La Cruz made a diving snare of a Marcus Semien line drive that came off the bat at 106 mph before Eric Wagaman’s 415-foot solo home run down the left field line was estimated at 110 mph.

Abbott (4-3) had his personal four-game win streak snapped and took his first loss since April 12 despite recording a quality start. The lefty allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits in six innings, striking out four and walking one.

The Reds put two runners on in each of the first three innings, finally breaking through in the third. Nathaniel Lowe singled up the middle off shortstop Bo Bichette’s glove, scoring De La Cruz, who reached on a throwing error by pitcher Jonah Tong.

Tong (1-0) took over for opener Huascar Brazoban, and he allowed one unearned run on three hits in 3 2/3 innings. He issued four walks and fanned one.

Benge knocked in a run in the fifth after De La Cruz committed a two-out error on a Brett Baty grounder.

The Reds loaded the bases with one out in the sixth against Tobias Myers and Brooks Raley before Sal Stewart chopped an RBI infield single to third, cutting New York’s lead to 3-2. Cincinnati left the bases loaded when Suarez flied out to center, bringing the Reds’ left on base total to 12 through just six innings.

Benge’s two-out single in the seventh made it 4-2.

–Field Level Media