The New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night to snap their dreary three-game losing streak.
- Tampa Bay Rays: 3 (7-9)
- New York Yankees: 6 (6-9)
- American League, FINAL, Box Score
- Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
By Christian Kouroupakis
In the week when everything seemed to go wrong, things finally went right for the New York Yankees as they defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.
Jacoby Ellsbury, who did not start the game, stole home to tie the game and then padded the Yankees’ lead with a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth.
Brian McCann went 2-for-3 with three RBI including a two-run home run. His RBI single in the sixth gave the Yankees the lead that they’d never let up.
New York’s starter, CC Sabathia, went 4.2 innings of three-run ball but allowed nine hits and walked three. Ivan Nova picked him up and pitched 2.1 innings of perfection while striking out two en route to getting the win.
Nova gave his team an Adam Warren-like bridge to Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller who struck out five out of the six batters faced to secure a 6-3 Yankee win.
FINAL: #Yankees 6, Rays 3. #StartSpreadingTheNews pic.twitter.com/gYekpzLSYZ
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 23, 2016
Play Of The Game:
Maybe this was the spark that the Yankees’ offense needed.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Jacoby Ellsbury stole home with two away to tie the game at three. Matt Moore was on the hill pitching from the wind-up with absolutely zero attention on the speedy outfielder on third.
On a 3-2 pitch to Brett Gardner, Ellsbury broke for the plate and dove to make it a successful attempt.
It was Ellsbury’s fifth stolen base of the year, and the first Yankee to steal home since Derek Jeter did it back in 2001 against the Baltimore Orioles.
Mr. Steal Your Plate. #LetsGoYankeeshttps://t.co/bgJ9Xt3B1h
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 23, 2016
History:
When Sabathia struck out Steven Souza JR. in the top of the third, it moved him past Warren Spahn for 25th place on the all-time strikeout list.
Next up is Tom Glavine who has 2,607 strikeouts.
CC passes Spahn for 25th with 2,584th K: Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia recorded the 2,584th strikeout of his… https://t.co/0aMEODShyt #MLB
— MLB News (@Track_MLB_News) April 23, 2016
In the first inning, Sabathia also became the 133rd pitcher in Major League Baseball history to reach 3,000 innings.
CC Sabathia just reached the 3,000 innings pitched mark. He is the 133rd pitcher in MLB history to reach that plateau.
— Jeff Quagliata (@yestoresearch) April 22, 2016
Injury Note:
After a failed dive attempt on a fly ball, Aaron Hicks left the ballgame with a shoulder injury. He is considered day-to-day.
.@AaronHicks31 left tonight's game with a sore left shoulder sustained on a dive in the 4th inn. No tests are scheduled and he is day-to-day
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) April 23, 2016
What’s Next:
The Rays and Yankees will go head-to-head for the second game of the three-game series tomorrow afternoon.
Masahiro Tanaka will get the start for New York coming off a sharp effort last time out as he limited the Seattle Mariners to three runs (two earned) on six hits over seven innings pitched.
To put the icing on the cake, he rose to the occasion by outpitching his former Japanese teammate Hisashi Iwakuma.
In his career against the Rays, Tanaka is 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in three games.
23-year old Blake Snell will get the first start of his major league career for Tampa Bay in tomorrow’s contest. In the past two seasons at Triple-A, Snell is 7-3 with a 2.30 ERA in 12 starts.
The first pitch will be at 1:05 with complete coverage beginning on the YES Network at noon.
