NY looks to extend its winning streak to six games when it continues a four-game series against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.Rookie Tyler Austin swatted a walk-off homer in the ninth inning as the Yankees won their season-high fifth straight game to close within two games of Baltimore for the second wild card.
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Yankees rookie first baseman Tyler Austin drops his bat after launching a game-winning home run Thursday night against the Rays.
Kiermaier took Yankees starter CC Sabathia deep in the first inning and made a return visit in the third, mashing two of the Rays’ four homers in the game.
Austin homered off Erasmo Ramirez (7-11) on a 3-2 pitch for his third homer since being called up August 13. He’ll remember what happened after, as he was mobbed at home plate by happy teammates and later drenched with a big bucket of Gatorade by left fielder Brett Gardner. Right now, the Yankees are 4.5 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East and 2.5 games behind the Orioles for the second Wild Card.
In Washington, Ryan Howard hit a three-run homer and Alec Asher pitched six innings of two-hit ball coming off a suspension to lead Philadelphia to a 4-1 win over the Nationals. He was 7-for-11 with six RBI in Tampa Bay’s last trip to NY and is batting.304 (14-for-46) in 12 games against the Yankees this season. “I think we were.500 after the first four months and we knew that wasn’t going to cut it”. He has pitched well in recent outings by posting a 2.29 ERA in his last three starts and allowing three runs or less in five of six starts.
Hernan Perez had four hits and three RBIs for the Brewers, who won their season-high fifth straight on the road and have won seven of their last eight games overall. Holder initially was ruled to have balked home the tying run earlier in the inning, but the umpires convened after Girardi argued the call and Forsythe eventually was sent back to third base.
“He’s given us an opportunity to win a lot of those [close] games”, Girardi said of Sabathia, who would figure to be in the Yankees’ 2017 rotation; his option is due to vest for next season, the final year of his contract. Pineda was knocked around for five runs in each of his previous two turns and also surrendered five runs and six hits over six innings in a 5-3 loss at Tampa Bay on July 31. He gave up two homers and threw 89 pitches.
Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Hernan Perez, left, and center fielder Keon Broxton can not come up with a ball hit by St. Louis Cardinals’ Jedd Gyorko during the third inning of a baseball game, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, in St. Louis.
The Rays trailed three times during a 7-6 win over Baltimore on Wednesday, too. Sabathia’s last start was a tough-luck loss in Baltimore on Saturday and it marked the second straight time the Yankees did not score for him. Bob Anderson, team orthopedist for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, will perform the operation.
The last two times the New York Yankees have faced the Tampa Bay Rays, significant events occurred to change the course of their season.
Tonight, the Yankees continue their homestand as they begin a four game series against the Tampa Bay Rays (59-79). NY is 4 1/2 out of first place but now trails the Boston Red Sox and not Toronto. The left-hander is 14-14 with a 3.79 ERA in 40 starts vs. Tampa Bay.
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Making his first major league start, Paulino (0-1) gave up four runs and four hits in three innings.
