Home Run Barrage From Isaac Paredes Leads Rays Past Yankees, 5-4
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After losing their first two hitters to injury the night before, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash tried to mix things up on Tuesday, moving 23-year-old Isaac Paredes into the No. 2 hole, hoping for a spark.
He got an explosion.
Paredes hit three home runs, tying a team record, and leading the Rays to a much-needed 5-4 win over the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field. It snapped a four-game losing streak to the Yankees, and ended two week's worth of frustation for the Rays, who have been starving for offense.
"It's a beautiful thing, and I was glad I was able to experience that, especially to do that here and have the opportunity to accomplish something like that.'' said Paredes, who only had two home runs in 172 at-bats in his first two years in the big leagues but now has a team-leading eight homers this season. "The work I've been doing in the cage has been more of a routine, just trying not to do too much, not thinking too much, and taking that approach to the field.
"I don't know where the (new) power comes from, maybe just from working out more,'' he said through translator Manny Navarro. "This was very special, especially with it coming against the Yankees. With the series we've been having coming into this one, that makes it special. It's always a tough series against the Yankees and it's very important to win against them.''
Cash loaded the top of his lineup with right-handed hitters to face Yankees starter Nestor Cortes, who came into the game with a 1.94 earned run average, second only to Tampa Bay's Shane McClanahan.
The Rays jumped all over Cortes in the first inning. Paredes, who was batting second in the order and playing first base for the first time, hit a home run to left-center to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.
Three pitches later, Rays designated hitter Harold Ramirez hooked a ball down the left-field line, and his broken-bat bloop cleared the short wall just past the 315-foot mark for another homer. It was only the second time all season that the Rays had gone back-to-back. (Randy Arozarena and Vidal Brujan did it against Minnesota.)
Paredes wasn't done, either. He got Cortes again in the third inning with a long 402-foot homer to left-center to put the Rays ahead 3-2. It was the first time Cortes had allowed three homers in a game. And when Paredes came up again in the fifth a man on, Yankees manager Aaron Boone wasn't about to let Cortes face him again.
He brought Clarke Schmidt in from the bullpen, but Paredes deposited his first pitch into the left-field seats for a two-run homer giving the Rays a 5-2 lead. Paredes, who's from Sonora, Mexico, said that was his first three-homer game since Little League.
It was a bullpen day for the Rays, trying to cover the start that Drew Rasmussen was missing with a hamstring injury. They all pitched well, with the only two early runs coming on a seeing-eye single in the second inning that tied the game at 2-2. But then Matt Wisler pitched two innings and allowed only one hit, and Ryan Thompson pitched a perfect sixth.
Brooks Raley got into a bit of trouble in the eighth with two walks, but Jason Adam came in and got a ground ball into the hole that shortstop Taylor Walls made a great play on to start a double play, getting a great turn at second base from Vidal Brujan to end the inning.
"Unbelievable, Wallsy's play, and Brujan's turn,'' Cash said. "That was a game-saving, momentum-changing play right there. A lot of credit should go to the pitching, but the defense was right behind him.''
It wouldn't be a Rays-Yankees game without some late drama. Colin Poche came in to pitch the ninth for the Rays and he walked lead-off hitter Gleyber Torres. Poche got two outs, but then left fielder Marwin Gonzalez homered to left to make it 5-4.
Aaron Judge, who leads the majors in home runs with 25, came on to pinch-hit. Poche threw a fastball in on his hands, but he still hit it to warning track for a long out that Randy Arozarena caught to end the game.
"I got the ball in on him and I heard the bat break, so I thought I was good,'' said Poche, who picked up his fifth save of the season. "But then I saw Randy on the warning track and I held my breath for a second until he caught it. Judge, that's a strong man right there, because I got him right on the hands.''
Holding on for the win was big, because it made Parades' night all that more special. He's been in a glaring spotlight a bit since coming up, because he was traded for the popular Austin Meadows the week before the season started. Paredes now has eight homers in 86 at-bats this season. Meadows, by the way, has no homers in 128 at-bats this season.
"Isaac's done a nice job since he been here. He plays the game well,'' Cash said. "We've seen some power, not like today, but happy for him. That was pretty special. That was a day he will not forget.
"He has a very professional at-bat for not a lot of reps at the big-league level. He knows what he's trying to do when he goes to the plate, and tonight he took it to another level.''
The two teams will wrap up the series on Wednesday night, with Tampa Bay's Shane Baz (0-1, 5.40 ERA) taking on New York's Jordan Montgomery.
Watch Kevin Cash's postgame press conference
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