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Yankees’ Jacoby Ellsbury slides under the tag from Rays catcher Curt Casali (19) to steal home as New York Yankees’ Brett Gardner (11) steps out of the way in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 22, 2016, in New York.
Yankees: RHP Michael Pineda (1-1, 5.29) makes his fourth start of the season. After his performance on Saturday, there are sure to be many who are clamoring for that moment to be now.
Snell appeared nervous early on, taking deep breaths during his warmups and throughout a 24-pitch first inning.
Logan Forsythe doubled twice, drove in two runs and scored for the Rays. It was an opposite-field homer just inside the right-field foul pole. If he has to go on the disabled list, who do they bring up? The Yankees said Rodriguez left with left oblique stiffness and that he will have an MRI.
For most of the game, Tanaka was unhittable, and that kept his pitch count down.
Pearce homered to open the third and make it 6-0.
Rays: OF Kevin Kiermaier didn’t start and Cash said “we got to be smart” and rest him once in a while.
After Pineda gave up a leadoff single in the second, he proceeded to strike out the side and appeared to have turned a corner.
With a brief opportunity to impress, Snell did just that with his 95 miles per hour fastball and big-breaking curve.
It was the third time Ellsbury had reached on catcher’s interference this year, the most in baseball. Snell retired the first two hitters in the fifth and appeared as if he was going to seamlessly get out of the inning but Brad Miller made an error on a Didi Gregorius ground ball extending the frame.
That first inning aside, and it is very easy to set that inning aside given that it was the first in the major leagues for a kid who had never even been to NY before, it was a very impressive outing for Snell despite its brevity. “He works quick and just throws a bunch of strikes”.
The hope for the Rays is with plenty of the season still remaining that he will be able to find a groove because with the batters in the lineup behind him. 500 to start the season.
Six of the seven runs given up by Pineda (1-2) came with two outs, including all five runs in the opening inning, when Pineda gave up six straight hits – five for extra bases. That pitcher, 25-year-old righty Erasmo Ramirez, has averaged less than 5 2/3 innings per start in his career and also happened to surrender Gardner’s walkoff on Saturday. It is the first time the Sox have had a triple play since 2006.
Snell, rated the 12th overall prospect in all of baseball by MLB.com, has put up absolutely ridiculous numbers at the minor league level in such a short period of time.
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New York Yankees fans watching Friday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays saw a pretty rare event. What the Rays do with Snell from here could be a significant indication of, and have a significant impact on, their expectations for the remainder of the season.
