Sanchez is one of only five major-league players with at least 13 homers in his first 35 games, and he’s reached safely in all but one of his last 24 games.
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Whitley became the second pitcher to return from Tommy John surgery on the Rays.
Thanks to the bat of Tyler Austin in the ninth (and Brian McCann‘s 3-for-4 night with two runs batted in via solo jacks), the Yankees remained hot, winning their fifth in a row and the first of a four game set with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Tampa Bay Rays’ Steven Souza Jr. reacts after striking out to end the baseball game, as the New … I mean, why the heck is Wilson batting in the late innings of a game when we have three catchers and a deep (ish) bench?
For the fourth straight year, the Tampa Bay Rays will fail to finish with a winning record. Since then, the Yankees are 23-12 are now three games behind the Boston Red Sox for first place in the AL East.Tanaka allowed one run and five hits, recorded his seventh career double-digit strikeout game and did not issue a walk for the 10th time.
“Every loss hurts just because it’s a day that you don’t make up any ground or you lose ground”, Girardi said.
NY added two in the third when Sanchez sent a full count fastball from Snell over the center field fence and Teixeira scored on a wild pitch.
He started for the Yankees a year ago, had Tommy John surgery in May and was acquired Tampa Bay in November. “It was unbelievable. It’s just like a guy painting a picture and there it was, just living it. So it was really, really fun”. “Well, I guess I didn’t, ” he said. “I wish he would have gave up a few runs today but the rest of the way I hope he does well”.
Tanaka’s ERA dropped to 3.04, third best in the American League.
From the dugout, Cash seemed to say, “What happened?” “We’ve been playing tough teams for a long time and the focus has been to win series, and we’ve done a pretty good job of that”.
Rays: RHP Matt Andriese (6-7, 4.58) is 0-7 with a 6.11 ERA in his last 15 games, eight of them starts.
The inside pitch is last night’s home run.
He’s liked the way right-hander Luis Cessa isn’t afraid to push hitters off the plate by pitching inside. I’ll take NY for the victory here.
Tampa Bay left fielder Corey Dickerson took a bad route as Rob Refsnyder’s first-inning liner went by for an RBI double, then allowed Teixeira’s third-inning drive to go over him and off the wall for a double, setting up Teixeira to score on a wild pitch.
Said Starlin Castro, “We went in fighting and we just continue fighting”.
For four whole days, Austin sat in limbo, available to be claimed by any other team off the waiver wire, which was a chance the Yankees were willing to take. After their roll call of Yankees starters, the Bleacher Creatures briefly chanted “USA!” “Felt it pop on that one swing”, he said. Last year I didn’t have a good year at all, trying to do too much, trying to be somebody I didn’t have to be. Morrison returned from a strained right forearm on August 15. He raised his right arm and pumped his fist while rounding first base and flipped his helmet in the air when he neared home plate.
Yankees: 2B Starlin Castro received a rare rest with NY in the middle of playing 17 consecutive days.
Cleveland posted a 10-7 win over Houston. Rookie RHP Jose De Leon (1-0) pitches for the Dodgers.
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Rays left-hander Enny Romero attempted to intentionally walk Sanchez in the eight inning of Saturday’s game, with a runner on third base.
