Gerrit Cole pitched a dominant two-hitter and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-0 in the first game of a seven-inning doubleheader Friday at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees (23-21) won for only the seventh time in their last 22 games and moved 2 1/2 games ahead of Baltimore (20-23) for the second wild-card spot in the American League.

Cole (5-3) held the Orioles hitless for 4 2/3 innings until Hanser Alberto cleanly singled to right field. Before Alberto's hit, Ryan Mountcastle was the lone Oriole to reach as he reached on a throwing error by third baseman DJ LeMahieu in the second and walked in the fourth.

Cole easily recorded the next out after Alberto singled and television cameras caught him yelling into his glove as he walked back to the dugout.

The right-hander struck out nine, walked one, threw a season-high 114 pitches and got 27 swings-and-misses to halt a personal three-game losing streak.

It was Cole's fourth career complete game and he was one strike away from a one-hitter until Renato Nunez singled in the seventh. Cole then finished it off by fielding a soft grounder by Rio Ruiz.

LeMahieu hit a solo homer and while Brett Gardner and Kyle Higashioka slugged two-run drives for New York, which has won consecutive games for the first time since winning three games against the New York Mets on Aug. 29-30.

Mike Tauchman had three hits, including an RBI single in the sixth for New York's final run.

Baltimore right-hander Alex Cobb (1-4) returned from an undisclosed injury and made his first start since Aug. 29. He allowed five runs on seven hits in four innings.

The Orioles lost for the fourth time in 10 games, and were shut out for the third time and the first time since Aug. 5.

The Yankees started quickly when LeMahieu hit a 1-2 splitter to left field for his fourth leadoff homer of the season.

Gardner's two-run drive to right field on a 1-0 fastball marked New York's first homer with a runner on base since Aug. 31 and made it 3-0. Higashioka made it 5-0 when his drive just carried into the stands over Mountcastle's attempt at a leaping catch in left field.

--Field Level Media