The Tampa Bay Rays took two out of three games against the New York Yankees in Tropicana Field this weekend. This makes the Rays winners of eight out of their last 10.
Game One: Tense Moments Headline 5-4 Rays Victory
The scoring opened up quickly for the Rays in game one. Randy Arozarena hit a homer to center field to get the game started. It was his ninth homer of the season. Arozarena was also hit by two pitches in the game leading to manager Kevin Cash getting ejected.
Cash afterwards: “It is more on us, managers and umpires, to protect our players… there has got to be a little more common sense and awareness out there and there wasn’t.”
A Yandy Diaz home run in the third inning made the game 3-0. Harold Ramirez and Jose Siri would also have sacrifice RBI’s to make the game 4-0 through the third inning.
The Yankees would tie the game up with a four-run sixth inning courtesy of a Gleyber Torres double and a Harrison Bader two-run homer.
The Rays would take the lead again off of an error from Bader. This would allow Diaz to score giving the Rays a 5-4 lead. They would go on to win the game.
Game Two: Yankees Sneak by Tampa Bay in 3-2 Win
Game two became a battle of the bullpens down the stretch. Both teams scored on only three plays throughout the day.
Drew Rasmussen did not allow a run in 5.2 innings pitched. He collected strikeouts and allowed just two hits during that start as well.
The scoring from the Rays came from Manuel Margot who hit a two-run double in the first inning. The Yankees bullpen would not allow a single run after that, however, in four combined innings pitched.
Late into the eighth inning, New York would break through for the lead. LeMahieu hit an RBI double and Bader would follow it up with a two-run base hit to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead to win it.
The game would end with Kevin Kelly earning the loss.
Game Three: Big Time Comeback Earns Tampa Bay the Win
Gerrit Cole started on the mound for New York and pitched four shutout innings to begin the game. New York scored five runs over that stretch and would eventually take a 6-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth.
The Rays offense began to get it going with a Siri home run to get on the board. Diaz scored as well for Tampa Bay on a throwing error. It was now 6-2.
The sixth inning began with a Issac Parades ground rule double to score a run. Catcher Christian Bethancourt followed that up by hitting a three-run shot to center field to tie the game up. Diaz then hit a sacrifice RBI to score Siri and give the Rays a 7-6 lead.
Yankees catcher Jose Trevino would then hit a sacrifice RBI himself to tie the game up at seven through the 7th inning. Bader came in to score as he continued to have a highly active performance throughout the weekend.
The game would eventually go into extras with Garrett Cleavinger and Jalen Beeks holding off the New York bats in the top of the tenth. Parades then walked off the game with a RBI single in the bottom of the tenth to give Tampa Bay the series win.
Up Next
The Rays are back on the road in the middle of the week to take on the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. It is a three game series. The Orioles are second to Tampa Bay in the AL East with a record of 22-12.