St. Petersburg, FL (SportsNetwork.com) – The Yankees scored nine runs for
Masahiro Tanaka on Saturday against the Rays.
He needed only one.
Tanaka had eight strikeouts and allowed just two baserunners in seven innings
and Chris Young hit a grand slam to lead New York to a 9-0 win over Tampa Bay.
Young’s blast punctuated a seven-run seventh inning and came after Brian
McCann stroked a two-run triple in the sixth for one of his three hits.
“I’ve been feeling good at the plate since Opening Day,” said McCann. “It’s
early in the season. A couple hits fall here and there, (but) I’ve been
feeling good at the plate.”
The Yankees banged out 10 hits, none of them from Alex Rodriguez, who struck
out three times but also walked twice and scored two runs a day after hitting
two home runs and the go-ahead single in New York’s 5-4 win on Friday.
Tanaka (2-1) carved his way through the Tampa Bay lineup, retiring 15 batters
in a row between David DeJesus’ leadoff single in the first inning and Brandon
Guyer’s double to start the sixth.
It was a bounce-back outing of sorts for the 26-year-old right-hander, who
gave up nine runs, nine hits and five walks over nine innings in his first two
starts of the season.
David Carpenter threw a 1-2-3 eighth inning for the Yankees and Branden Pinder
escaped a bases loaded jam in the ninth to preserve the shutout.
Rays starter Jake Odorizzi issued one-out walks to Brett Gardner and Rodriguez
in the sixth inning and McCann made him pay with a two-out triple off the top
of the right-field wall to gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
“A good ball game that turned somewhat ugly. I thought (Odorizzi) really threw
the ball well,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
McCann’s third hit of the game — he singled in the second and fourth innings
— was just his fourth career triple in more than 4,900 plate appearances.
Odorizzi (2-1) was pulled after giving up a leadoff single to Chase Headley in
the seventh, which sparked the seven-run Yankees rally. The right-hander was
charged with three runs, five hits and two walks but also had nine strikeouts.
Stephen Drew followed with a double off C.J. Riefenhauser and Headley scored
on Gregorio Petit’s sacrifice fly, just beating Steven Souza Jr.’s two-hop
throw from right field. It was so close that the Rays challenged the call.
Jacoby Ellsbury and Gardner added back-to-back singles, scoring another run,
and Mark Teixeira hit a bases-loaded sac fly off Grant Balfour, who then
plunked McCann to set the stage for Young’s grand slam to left.
Game Notes
The Yankees have won four of their last six games since a 1-4 start … The
Rays have lost three of their last four … Michael Pineda will start for the
Yankees in Sunday’s series finale and fellow right-hander Matt Andriese will
get the ball for the Rays.
