Tampa Bay Rays 8 – New York Yankees 1
The Yankees were unable to come up with the sweep in the Sunday finale against Tampa Bay.
After taking the first two with Tampa Bay in late-game heroics, the Yankees turned to Ivan Nova for an attempt at the sweep. After getting the first out of the game, David DeJesus hit a single to center field and Evan Longoria hit a sharp double to right field to put two in scoring position. James Loney, a frequent thorn in the Yankees side lately, stuck it to the Yankees again with a single to right field to score two runs and put the Yankees in an early hole.
In the bottom of the first, the Yankees threatened against Erasmo Ramirez when he loaded the bases with a Chase Headley double and a pair of two-out walks to Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann. Following a full count walk, Garrett Jones grounded to first on the first pitch he saw to spoil the early opportunity.
In the second inning, a rare misread by Brett Gardner proved costly immediately. On a line drive to straightaway center by Kevin Kiermaier, Brett Gardner made his first step in before back tracking on the line drive going over his head. His leaping effort would come up empty and Kevin Kiermaier ended up on third base to start the inning. After a walk, a sacrifice fly by Curt Casali scored the third run of the game before a double play minimized the damage.
In the bottom of the second, the Yankees could not come through in a prime scoring opportunity again. After the first out, Didi Gregorius reached on a missed catch by pitcher Erasmo Ramirez. Then with two outs, Brett Gardner walked but Chase Headley popped out to end the inning.
Ivan Nova induced a double play in the third inning and managed to keep the Rays off the scoreboard until a miscommunication in the fifth inning hurt.
After a leadoff double in the fifth inning, Asdrubal Cabrera tried to sacrifice himself to move the runner to third base. Brian McCann appeared to have told Nova to throw to third to try and get the lead runner but the throw went into left field and the runner ended up scoring.
In five innings, Ivan Nova allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits and three walks while striking out one.
Throughout his start, command was not on Nova’s side as pitches got away from him and location was not as precise as it was in his previous starts since returning from his TJ surgery.
In the sixth inning, Alex Rodriguez snapped the shutout with his 16th home run of the season, a solo shot into the left center bullpen.
Bryan Mitchell provided two scoreless innings after Nova but his defense did not do him any favors in his third inning of work.
In the eighth inning, Bryan Mitchell jammed Evan Longoria but Didi Gregorius could not come up with the infield hit. On a potential double play ball, second baseman Jose Pirela bobbled the ground ball and in his panic, ended up throwing the ball away at first base. The play with two errors put two in scoring position. Logan Forsythe hit a soft single just inside the right field line to score the two unearned runs. Two more runs scored in the inning against reliever Chris Capuano to put the Rays ahead with a seven-run lead that they never looked back on.
Win – Erasmo Ramirez (7-3)
Loss – Ivan Nova (1-2)
Notables
Rays
*James Loney – 1 for 5, R, 2 RBI (14)
*Evan Longoria – 2 for 4, 2 R, 2B
Yankees
*Alex Rodriguez – 1 for 3, R, BB, Solo home run (16) in the 6th, RBI (47)
*Chase Headley – 1 for 4, 2B
Current Yankees Record: 44-38
