Yankees beat Tigers 5-2 behind Soto's 3-run double to finish 3-game sweep with rain-shortened win

NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto hit a three-run double that snapped a seventh-inning tie and the New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2 on Sunday to finish a weekend sweep with a rain-shortened win.

Aaron Judge homered early for the Yankees off Tarik Skubal, who struck out a career-best 12 in six innings. The game was called following a 56-minute delay in the middle of the eighth after the teams played through steady showers much of the day.

Completing a 17-day stretch without a break in the schedule, the Yankees (23-13) improved to a season-high 10 games over .500.

“Wins are precious in this league,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "It’s really good to shake hands three times into an off day. It does a lot for the soul.”

New York loaded the bases against reliever Shelby Miller (3-4) in the seventh before Soto lined Andrew Chafin’s sinker down the right-field line to break a 2-all tie.

“I think I just like big moments,” Soto said. "I like to be up there and it gives me a little bit of adrenaline and I want to get the job done so bad.”

The Yankees loaded the bases again but were unable to capitalize in a half-inning that took more than 30 minutes. Soto has 28 RBIs, most on the team.

Victor González (2-1) retired the final batter in the top of the seventh. Dennis Santana pitched a scoreless eighth for his second save.

With players dodging raindrops for most of the afternoon, a tight pitchers' duel between left-handers lasted until the seventh, when Skubal and counterpart Nestor Cortes were both lifted.

Cortes left with two on and one out before Spencer Torkelson greeted Ian Hamilton with an RBI double, cutting New York's lead to 2-1. Javier Báez followed a walk to Colt Keith with an RBI groundout.

Cortes was charged with two runs on three hits and a walk in 6 1/3 innings, striking out nine.

“To the righties I was able to locate both sides of the plate and to lefties the slider was really good,” Cortes said.

After being ejected Saturday for the first time in his career, Yankees captain Aaron Judge came back strong with a solo shot into the right-field seats in his first at-bat. His seventh home run of the year was the first given up by Skubal in a month.

“It’s impressive, man. It’s fun competing against guys like that, especially the young ace of the team," Judge said. "I’m looking forward to more battles with him, that's for sure.”

Judge finished the series 5 for 10, raising his batting average from .197 to .220.

The Yankees scored again in the second on Oswaldo Cabrera’s run-scoring double.

Skubal permitted two runs and six hits with no walks.

EXTRA EFFORT

The grounds crew at Yankee Stadium was especially busy between most half-innings, scrambling to keep the infield dirt, batter’s box and pitcher’s mound relatively dry.

“The field became more and more unplayable and it got to be really dangerous. Guys couldn’t run full speed. There were puddles going everywhere," Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. “We tried. Everybody tried. The grounds crew was amazing. Alan Porter, the crew chief, was awesome with how he communicated everything, and we tried our best to get the game in. But enough was enough at the end, despite us being down.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: 3B Gio Urshela (right hamstring strain) is with the team and working out but has yet to run the bases. Hinch hopes Urshela will do that at some point this week in Cleveland. … Wenceel Pérez was scratched from the original lineup due to illness.

Yankees: 1B Anthony Rizzo was given a planned day off. … INF DJ LeMahieu (bruised right foot) hit a little bit Saturday and Sunday, Boone said. … RHP Gerrit Cole (right elbow inflammation) felt good the morning after throwing off a mound for the first time since he got injured in spring training.

UP NEXT

Tigers: RHP Jack Flaherty (0-1, 4.00 ERA) faces Guardians RHP Triston McKenzie (2-2, 4.34) in the opener of a three-game series Monday night.

Yankees: Following their first off day since April 18, the Yankees host Houston in the opener of a three-game series Tuesday night. RHP Luis Gil (2-1, 3.19 ERA) pitches for New York.

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

Detroit Tigers' Spencer Torkelson hits an RBI double during the seventh inning of the baseball game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees' Oswaldo Cabrera hits and RBI double during the second inning of the baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Detroit Tigers' Javier Báez hits into a fielder's choice during the seventh inning of the baseball game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. Tigers' Jake Rogers scored on the play. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, top right, looks on as the grounds crew maintains the mound amid rainfall during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Fans watch a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers in the rain during the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Members of the grounds crew cover the field during a rain delay in the eighth inning of the baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge reacts after hitting a solo home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees' Juan Soto reacts after hitting a three-run double during the seventh inning of the baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees' Juan Soto reacts after hitting a three-run double during the seventh inning of the baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees' Juan Soto heads to first base after hitting a three-run double during the seventh inning of the baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees' Juan Soto hits a three-run double during the seventh inning of the baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium Sunday, May 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of protesters rallying within sight of the Capitol chanted pro-Palestinian slogans and voiced criticism of the Israeli and American governments as they marked a painful present — the war in Gaza — and past — the exodus of some 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from what is now Israel when the state was created in 1948.

About 400 demonstrators braved steady rains to rally on the National Mall on the 76th anniversary of what is called the Nakba, the Arabic word for catastrophe. In January, thousands of pro-Palestinian activists had gathered in the nation's capital in one of the larger protests in recent memory.

There were calls in support of Palestinian rights and an immediate end to Israeli military operations in Gaza. “No peace on stolen land” and “End the killings, stop the crime/Israel out of Palestine,” echoed through the crowd.

Protesters also focused their anger on President Joe Biden, whom they accuse of feigning concern over the death toll in Gaza.

“Biden Biden, you will see/genocide’s your legacy,” they said. The Democratic president was in Atlanta on Saturday.

Reem Lababdi, a George Washington University sophomore who said she was pepper-sprayed by police last week when they broke up an on-campus protest encampment, acknowledged that the rain seemed to hold down the numbers.

"I’m proud of every single person who turned out in this weather to speak their minds and send their message,” she said.

This year’s commemoration was fueled by anger over the ongoing siege of Gaza. The latest Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking an additional 250 hostage. Palestinian militants still hold about 100 captives, and Israel’s military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

There is widespread anger, too, over the violent crackdown on multiple pro-Palestinian protest camps at universities across the country. In recent weeks, long-term encampments have been broken up by police at more than 60 schools.

In addition to pressing Israel and the Biden administration for an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza, activists have long pushed for the right of return for Palestinian refugees — an Israeli red line in decades of start-and-stop negotiations.

After the Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel's establishment, Israel refused to allow them to return because it would have resulted in a Palestinian majority within Israel's borders. Instead, they became a seemingly permanent refugee community that now numbers some 6 million, with most living in slum-like urban refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In Gaza, the refugees and their descendants make up around three-quarters of the population.

Associated Press writer Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

A young man wearing a keffiyeh and a Jewish star necklace, left, holds a banner next to a 7-year-old from Springfield, Va., wearing a traditional outfit on the shoulders of her grandfather, who is Palestinian, during a pro-Palestinian rally, Saturday, May 18, 2024, on the National Mall near the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A young man wearing a keffiyeh and a Jewish star necklace, left, holds a banner next to a 7-year-old from Springfield, Va., wearing a traditional outfit while on the shoulders of her grandfather, who is Palestinian, during a pro-Palestinian rally, Saturday, May 18, 2024, on the National Mall near the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A 7-year-old from Springfield, Va., wearing a traditional outfit while being held by her grandfather, who is Palestinian, raises her fist during a chant at a pro-Palestinian rally, Saturday, May 18, 2024, on the National Mall near the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A man wearing a keffiyeh looks at the U.S. Capitol during a pro-Palestinian rally, Saturday, May 18, 2024, on the National Mall in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Cody Wolfe, center, of Elizabethtown, Penn., holds his two-year old son on his back wearing a keffiyeh, as he and his children attend a pro-Palestinian rally, Saturday, May 18, 2024, on the National Mall near the Capitol in Washington. "For our family it's the least we can do," says Wolfe, who said he is not of Palestinian descent but has been attending protests, "to show our solidarity. We want the babies to stop dying." (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)