Rays Keep Yankees' Offense on Lockdown, Win Again 3-1 on Arozarena Home Run
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NEW YORK — When Randy Arozarena was bludgeoning the Baltimore Orioles with a bunch of long balls last weekend, no one made too much of it because that's just what he does against them. His numbers are off the charts against Baltimore.
Arozarena didn't make a big deal out of it either, saying it's more coincidence than anything, and that he prepares for every team the same way. He said Sunday that he planned on staying hot, no matter who the opponent was.
And Tuesday night? Mission accomplished, and instantly.
Arozarena hit a three-run home run off of New York Yankees starter Nestor Cortes in the first inning, and the Rays got another night of excellent pitching in a 3-1 lead over the Bronx Bombers, who are no longer living up to that nickname.
With the win — their fourth in a row — the Rays moved to 62-53 on the season and alone in second place in the American League East. They are now just nine games behind the Yankees, the first time the deficit has been single digits since June 12, more than two months ago. The Rays have gained six games on the Yankees so far in August.
Rays pitching was outstanding for the fourth straight night, allowing just four hits all night. Starter Jeffrey Springs pitched five innings, allowing just one run and two hits. The bullpen took it from there, with Pete Fairbanks, Brooks Raley, Shawn Armstrong and Jason Adam covering the last four innings, and allowing just two hits.
Adam, pitching for the third straight day, got a four-out save, his seventh on the season. Springs is now 5-3 on the season and he lowered his ERA to 2.52 on teh season. Jeffrey Springs (5-3) and four relievers combined on a four-hitter, and the crowd of 41,083 at Yankee Stadium booed their AL East leaders at times.
The Yankees have lost 11 of 13 game and are 8-17 since reaching the All-Star break at 64-28. The struggling New York hitters heard plenty of boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd of 41,083.
The Rays, who are 5-7 against the Yankees now this season, won't be showing any sympathy any time soon.
“Yeah, we’re all frustrated but you can’t let the frustration get in your way of preparing and go every night,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “We got a few guys that are in a rut. We got to prepare and get ready and fight our way of it. It’s part of it and it’s no fun when you’re going through it, but that’s where we are right now.”
Tampa Bay got only four hits and their only action came on the Arozarena homer in the first, but it was enough because the pitching was so good. New York lost its fifth straight series and was held to three runs or less for the seventh straight game.
The Yankees, who had been shut out two days in a row, got their only run in the fifth inning when Andrew Benintendi triples and then scored on a fielder error by Rays third baseman Yandy Diaz.
Díaz and Issac Paredes had first-inning singles and scored on Arozarena's homer. He was his team-leading 16th of the year, and his fourth in sixth games.
“I was looking for a pitch to connect on,” Arozarena said through a translator. “I was hoping to hit a home run, that’s kind of what I was looking for but I’m mostly just happy we got the victory.”
Springs was fabulous in his five innings. Rays pitchers have allowed only two earned runs in the past 34 innings dating to last Saturday. That's an 0.53 ERA dating back to the third inning of Saturday's game, a win over Baltimore that started this four-game winning streak.
"They're a good lineup, so I was just trying to keep them off-balance mixing and matchup enough to keep them off-balance all night,'' Springs said. "Every run early that you can get against them is important. (Arozarena's) homer was big, that's for sure.
Harold Ramirez returned to the Rays' batting order on Tuesday after missing three weeks with a broken thumb. He was 1-for-4, with an infield single in the sixth inning.
Tampa Bay will look to sweep the series on Wednesday night. Veteran Corey Kluber, who pitched for the Yankees a year, will start for the Rays. He is 7-7 with a 4.40 ERA this season. New York will counter with Domingo Germán, who has a 1-2 record with a 4.18 ERA. The Wednesday night game starts at 7:05 p m., and then the Rays will return home four a four-game series with the Kansas City Royals.
