The New York Yankees trailed all nine innings in Tampa thanks primarily to Masahiro Tanaka serving up Batting Practice to the Rays.
- New York Yankees: 5 (24-16)
- Tampa Bay Rays: 9 (23-22)
- American League, FINAL, Box Score.
- Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL
The Rays have had their way with the New York Yankees this series as they have taken the first two of a three-game set.
The Rays jumped out to a 1-0 lead by a leadoff home run to Corey Dickerson in the bottom of the first. Dickerson is having himself a year batting .344 with 11 homers.
The Yankees followed up Dickerson’s homer, with a homer of their own when MLB Leader Aaron Judge delivered into the right field seats tying the game at 1-1.
It didn’t take much longer for Tampa to regain the lead when Jesus Sucre doubled to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second. The inning could have been a lot worse, but Gary Sanchez fired a missile down to second base and caught Sucre taking too big of a lead off of second to end the inning.
As the Yankees bats went silent in the second, it was more of the same for the Rays. Evan Longoria drilled a shot to deep left field extending their lead to 3-1. It was easy to notice that Tanaka was not looking sharp.
The Yankees set the table in the fourth for Jacoby Ellsbury with runners on second and third with only one out. Ellsbury didn’t exactly get the job done and struck out leaving the runners on base. However, Chase Headley picked his team-mate up and roped a double into the right-center field gap tying the game at 3-3.
Again, it didn’t take much longer for Tampa to regain the lead. Masahiro Tanaka allowed yet another home run to Corey Dickerson which gave Tampa Bay a 6-3 lead. Shortly after that at bat Tanaka was pulled with runners on second and third with nobody out.
The Yankees “ace” has been struggling, to say the least. Tanaka has allowed a monstrous seven home runs in his last four innings pitched.
Left-handed reliever Tommy Layne replaced Tanaka. Layne got himself out of bases loaded jam with no harm done.
The Yankees brought themselves to within two runs in the top of the 5th thanks to a Gary Sanchez bomb to center field. Sanchez has been red-hot since returning from a bicep injury hitting a ridiculous .357. That homer was Sanchez’s 4th on the year.
The 5th inning is where things fell apart for the bombers. The Rays tacked on three runs thanks to a pair of singles extending the score to 9-4. However, the Yankees coaching staff expressed their displeasure with the home plate umpire Scott Barry for missing a couple of huge calls that seemed to be a strike.
Pitching Coach Larry Rothschild was the first victim when he went out to speak with relief pitcher Giovanny Gallegos. The ump came to the mound to signal that it was time to break it up. Rothschild saw that as an opportunity to tell Barry how poorly of a job he was doing. Barry inevitably tossed Rothschild out of the game.
Enter Joe Girardi.
Girardi apparently wanted to get his two cents in also. Then when the Yankees Skipper got tossed, he took a page out of Billy Martin’s book…
So with Girardi and Rothschild out that led to Rob Thomson being the manager for the second straight night.
After Chasen Shreve had drilled arguably the Rays best player Corey Dickerson for taking a long look at his three-run homer, Tampa’s starting pitcher Matt Andriese responded by hitting Aaron Judge in the 6th inning. Andriese was ejected for his actions. The Yankees tacked on a run that inning making it a 9-5 ball game.
That was all she wrote as the final score would be 9-5. Matt Andriese got the win allowing five runs over five innings pitched. Masahiro Tanaka certainly earned the loss allowing six runs over just three innings.
AARON JUDGE CONTINUES:
Aaron Judge tallied two hits during today’s game including an MLB Leading 15th homer. Judge extended his impressive line to a .331/.431/.728 with 15 home runs and 30 RBI’s.
TYLER AUSTIN BEGINS REHAB ASSIGNMENT:
Yankee’s first basemen Tyler Austin will begin his rehab assignment tonight in Trenton. Austin will bat cleanup, and DH for the Thunder tonight. He is expected to see some time in the field in the coming days.
WHAT’S NEXT:
The Yankees will give the ball to C.C. Sabathia Sunday afternoon to try and avoid a 3-game sweep.
Sabathia is coming off a stellar outing in Kansas City allowing no runs over 6 2/3 innings pitched. This will be no easy task as the Rays will hand the ball to their ace Chris Archer.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. ET, will be telecasted on the YES Network and broadcasted on WFAN 660/101.9 FM.