Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – James Loney’s RBI single with two out in the
top of the 13th inning knocked in the deciding run and enabled the Tampa Bay
Rays to avoid a series sweep by the New York Yankees with a 3-2 victory.
Steven Souza walked with one out in the 13th against New York’s Chasen Shreve
(1-1), who was in his second inning of relief. After Asdrubal Cabrera grounded
out to move Souza to second, Evan Longoria was intentionally walked to set up
a force play and get a lefty-lefty matchup against Loney, who fought off a 3-2
pitch for a single to shallow right that was fielded by Stephen Drew, but his
throw home was late and Souza scored to put the Rays in front.
“It’s definitely a tough situation there,” Drew said. “I did the best I could
to get to it, but unfortunately just no shot to get him.”
The hit made a winner out of Brandon Gomes (1-1), who tossed two scoreless
innings before Ernesto Frieri kept New York off the board in the bottom of
the 13th for his second save.
“Our bullpen, what they did today, they all stood out,” Rays manager Kevin
Cash said.
New York’s Alex Rodriguez remains one homer shy of tying Willie Mays for
fourth on the all-time list. The slugger, who was suspended all of last season
for steroid use, went 0-for-6 with four strikeouts and remains stuck on 659
home runs for his career.
As a team, the Yankees struck out a total of 16 times against Tampa Bay
pitching, including 15 through the first 7 2/3 innings.
Leading the way for the Rays staff was starter Drew Smyly with 10 strikeouts.
In just his second start of the season after missing time at the start of the
season with shoulder tendinitis, the left-hander yielded just two runs on four
hits, walking one, over six innings.
Reliever Steve Geltz came on for Smyly and struck out all five of the batters
he faced and the rest of the bullpen tossed no-hit ball for five innings
before Jacoby Ellsbury led off the 11th with a base hit against Brad
Boxberger. However, Gomes came on from Boxberger to retire Chris
Young, Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira to end the inning.
Carlos Beltran then led off the 12th with a base hit against Gomes and was
lifted for pinch-runner Brett Gardner. Pinch-hitter Brian
McCann was then hit by a pitch to put a runner in scoring position, but
Drew flew out and Didi Gregorius grounded out to end the threat.
The New York pitching was just as good. Starting pitcher Michael Pineda went 5
2/3 innings and allowed two runs on six hits, striking out five without
walking a batter. The bullpen followed by retiring 14 straight to keep the
game close.
The Rays got going in the fourth inning, using a two-out rally to get to
Pineda. After Loney and Logan Forsythe came through with consecutive
singles, Kevin Kiermaier tripled to right field to chase both runners home.
Chase Headley got one of the runs back for the Yankees in the fifth with his
third homer of the season. Young later tied the game in the sixth with his
solo homer, his fifth of the season.
Game Notes
The Rays halted a string of six straight losses to New York, five of which
took place this season … Ellsbury ended 3-for-6 … Kiermaier finished 2-
for-4 with two RBI … Smyly continued a career unbeaten stretch against AL
East teams, having gone 6-0 in 22 career appearances (11 starts) versus Tampa
Bay’s divisional foes … Tampa Bay improved to 9-0 this season when scoring
first.
