New York Yankees 5 – Tampa Bay Rays 4
A-Rod made a solid impact on tonight’s series opener with the Tampa Bay Rays.
After barely making contact through the first inning against Nathan Karns, Alex Rodriguez would make contact and then some. On an 0-1 count, the Yankees hottest hitter got even hotter. The solo home run to deep left-center field would go 471 feet, the current longest home run throughout the league.
Two innings later, Stephen Drew would hit his third home run of the season, a solo home run that extended the Yankees lead to two. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Adam Warren would struggle in the fourth.
After getting the first out in the fourth inning, Evan Longoria would get on base with an infield single. A walk to Desmond Jennings put the go-ahead run at the plate in the form of Allan Dykstra. The Rays first baseman would hit his first career home run, a three-run home run off the right field foul pole and it would give the Rays a one-run lead. Logan Forsythe would go back-to-back with his second home run of the season to extend the Rays lead to two.
In four innings, Adam Warren allowed four runs on six hits while walking two and striking out two.
Esmil Rogers would come in for relief and provided 2 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the Yankees in the game and his efforts would not go to waste.
With one out in the sixth inning, Brian McCann would walk against Ernesto Frieri. With one on and one out, Alex Rodriguez would hit his second home run of the night. The two-run home run would be his fourth of the season and it tied the game at four.
Justin Wilson and Dellin Betances would combine to continue a strong showing by the bullpen. Then, the hot batter of the night would make one more impact.
After a leadoff single by Carlos Beltran in the eighth inning, Brett Gardner would come in as a pinch-runner. Two outs later and the first stolen base by Brett Gardner, Alex Rodriguez would come up with the potential go-ahead run in scoring position. Rodriguez would work the count full before hitting a single to center field that scored Gardner and gave the Yankees a late game lead.
For Alex Rodriguez, this was his 31 game with two or more home runs and four or more runs batted in, tying with Jimmie Foxx for third most all-time.
After getting the last out in the eighth inning, Andrew Miller stayed in the game for a four-out save, in which he gave up a single but struck out three to win the first game of the three-game series in Tampa Bay.
Win – Dellin Betances (2-0)
Loss – Kevin Jepsen (0-1)
Save – Andrew Miller (3)
Notables
Yankees
*Alex Rodriguez – 3 for 4, 2 R, 2 HR (4; Solo & Two-run) in the 2nd & 6th, 4 RBI (11)
*Stephen Drew – 1 for 3, R, BB, Solo Home Run (3) in the 4th, RBI (7)
Rays
*Allan Dykstra – 1 for 3, R, Three-run Home Run (1) in the 4th, 3 RBI (3)
*Logan Forsythe – 3 for 4, R, Solo Home Run (2) in the 4th, RBI (5)
Current Yankees Record: 4-6
