Yankees 6, Rays 3: Jacoby Ellsbury stole home to score the tying run in the fifth inning and added a two-run double in the eighth as NY defeated Tampa Bay. He threw seven strong innings for the second straight start, this time allowing just two runs and five hits.
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NY scored first on a wild pitch by Blake Snell during an at-bat to Alex Rodriguez, who ended the first by getting robbed of a two-run home run by left fielder Desmond Jennings.
White Sox 5, Rangers 0: Left-hander Jose Quintana pitched seven scoreless innings, and the White Sox turned the first triple play of the season in a 5-0 win over the Texas Rangers.
Instead, Gardner took the fastball high as Ellsbury made a headfirst dive, his right hand barely reaching the plate under Casali’s tag. “We’ve got two strikes, and that gave us an opportunity to set it up for [Gardner]”, manager Joe Girardi said.
The Rays then took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when Kevin Kiermaier drilled a 90 miles per hour cutter from Tanaka off the right-field foul pole. “I will think about all that later”, Snell said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of that today”.
The lanky lefty will certainly look a little different than most pitchers – he’ll be wearing a jersey with his favorite No. 4. Tanaka has only walked one batter in 20 innings versus Tampa Bay, posting a 2-0 mark while limiting the Rays to a.222 batting average. I saw that their staff was doing good, so I didn’t think they were going to make a move. “I have to just execute better”, Ramirez said after the 3-2 loss to the Yankees. Snell pitched briefly for the Rays in spring training, and has gone 1-1 with a 2.51 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings over three starts at Durham. Snell then got Starlin Castro to swing through a 95 miles per hour fastball down and in, proof that he was no longer being shy against righties, and, with a full count on Chase Headley, benefited from the Yankee third baseman chasing an outside fastball that missed its target, a mistake Headley appeared to realize half-way through his swing, to end the inning.
It was New York’s first walk-off win this season and Gardner’s sixth career game-ending hit, including two homers.
The Yankees also got another terrific outing from Masahiro Tanaka, who has clearly established himself as the club’s ace.
“I felt like I just had to calm myself down and get into my rhythm”, Snell said.
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Despite the win, the Yankees again struggled to drive in runs, stranding five men in scoring position and nine in total. He was really tough, he kept the ball down, and we knew that coming in, but it’s still, it’s still tough to lay off some pitches. The Yankees placed RHP Branden Pinder (right elbow strain) on the 15-day disabled list and recalled RHP Nick Goody from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
