With two outs, Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey visited the mound and opted to keep Boxberger in, and Sanchez crushed the next pitch for a three-run home runs – his 17th this season – for a 5-2 lead. By snapping their five-game losing streak, the Yankees pulled back within four games of the second wild card spot, pending the results of tonight’s Blue Jays and Orioles games (the Jays play on the west coast; the Orioles are now losing to the Red Sox).
Advertisement
The damage came against righty Brad Boxberger (4-3), who started the seventh and couldn’t protect a 2-1 lead. He faced the Yankees just two weeks ago, allowing three earned runs in six innings and taking a no-decision.
Sanchez tied Wally Berger of the 1930 Boston Braves for the most homers by a big league player through 44 career games, according to Baseball-Reference data available through 1913.
Brad Miller’s two-run triple in the third inning gave the Rays a 2-0 lead.
Cobb earned his first win of the season last week against Toronto, going 6.2 innings and holding the Blue Jays to two hits and one run.
Mark Teixeira hit a solo shot in the fourth for NY, which was swept in a four-game series at Boston last weekend and had lost seven of eight overall.
And while Tuesday’s starters might look similar in their stats – Rays LHP Drew Smyly is 7-11 with a 4.98 ERA and Yankees RHP Michael Pineda is 6-11 with a 4.94 – their success against their current opponent is a much different matter. But with the score tied, the Rays chose to pitch to Gary Sanchez with a base open and he unloaded another 400-plus-foot home run.
“I was being efficient”, Smyly said. New designated hitter Billy Butler had another two-hit game, Ronald Torreyes also had two hits, and Mark Teixeira hit his 13th home run of the year. The switch-hitting first baseman has hit 204 for the Yankees, moving him past Roger Maris and into a tie with Robinson Cano for 14th in franchise history.
The victory prevented the Yankees from tying a season high with a sixth straight loss, as they played without regulars Jacoby Ellsbury, Starlin Castro and Chase Headley, all out with injuries.
Advertisement
In the third, a hit by Logan Forsythe and an infield single by Evan Longoria that fill-in third baseman Donovan Solano couldn’t come up with was followed by a booming two-run triple by Brad Miller that fill-in center fielder Williams wasn’t able to chase down. Yankees closer Dellin Betances pitched a scoreless ninth for his 12th save of the season. He’s given up two runs in 13 innings this season against NY, and he’s improved overall since the All-Star break, though his season has been marked too often by no-decisions and losses. Lifetime he is 5-2 with a 2.13 ERA against the Yankees spanning 10 starts. Utility man Nick Franklin (left hamstring) might not play again this season. He’s definitely had a historic start to his career. It was the third start of the season for Cobb, who missed all of 2015 due to Tommy John surgery and didn’t make his season debut until September 2 against the Blue Jays.
