Game 1: The Rays wasted Blake Money's best start of the year and were shut out by Deivi Garcia and the Yankees 4-0 to drop to 7-9 on the road this season. In his second tour of duty with the Yankees, Garcia had his best start of the year as well, holding the Rays to 7 4 0 0 3 9. Money was 6 3 1 1 2 7, allowing only a Tyree Reed homer in the 2nd but it was for naught as naught is what the bats did. Jasson Dominguez and Rodolfo Rivas were particularly bad at the plate today, each going 0-4 with 3 whiffs. The bullpen was terrible as well, with Jordan Diaz allowing a run in the 7th and Andy Aparicio two more in the 8th. The Rays' division lead is now down to 1 1/2 over Toronto.
Game 2: The Rays were one out away from another dispiriting loss, trailing 3-2 in large part due to an Ivan Vega inside-the-park homer for the Yankees. But down to their last at-bat DeAndre Hodges picked the most opportune time to hit his first MLB homer off Yankee closer Mike Tudor and tie the game and thanks to solid work from the pen and massive wildness from Yankee reliever Darwinzon Hernandez, they took an 8-3 win in 12 innings. Christian Little, coming off one of the worst starts of his career, got off to another bad start, walking a man and then allowing Vega to circle the bases after hitting one into the RF corner that eluded Jhon Diaz and rolled around the outfield wall. That seemed to anger Little, who then went on a tear, striking out Yankees left and right and not allowing another hit through the 5th. Meanwhile the Rays had picked up solo homers from Dayle Jenkins (#4) and Connor Kirkley (#3) to tie the game. But Vega struck again as Little was running out of gas in the 6th and his RBI double put the Yankees back ahead as Little finished 6 4 3 3 1 10. After Jose Alvarado struck out the side in the 7th, the Rays had a golden chance in the 8th to tie it up or take the lead but Nate Clark hit into a 6-2-3 double play with the bases loaded to end that threat. Corbin Martin had a 1-2-3 8th and that set the stage for Hodges' dramatic homer. But there was still work to do, and Jordan Diaz got through the 9th OK but ran into trouble in the 10th, putting two on with two out. Evan Godwin came in and got the final out, pitched a 1-2-3 11th and in the 12th the Rays finally broke through. Hernandez actually got the first two batters out but he proceeded to walk the next 5 Rays, including Isaac DeLeon and pinch-hitter Gabriel Moreno with the bases loaded. And then Diaz hit a 2-run single, breaking out of his slump with his 3rd hit of the day, and Kirkley singled in another as well. With a low pitch count through his 1 1/3, Godwin stayed on and got the Yankees in the 12th, picking up his 2nd win with 2 1/3 scoreless on only 19 pitches. The Blue Jays won again (off to an impressive 19-11 start) to stay 1 1/2 back.
Game 3: No late-inning heroics needed today as the Rays pounded the Yankees 11-1 behind the strong pitching of Alec Sachais and a strong offense. Sachais was in control with a healthy lead for most of the game, going 7.1 4 1 0 2 3 and improving to 6-0, 2.60. Mike Mooney went the final 1 2/3 to wrap it up. The offense came fairly early today with the big blow a 3-run HR from Nate Clark (#10) in the 3rd inning, and they added 4 more in the 5th to really open it up on RBI outs from Clark and Bobby Witt Jr and a 2-run HR from Rodolfo Rivas (#6). The lead later grew with RBI hits from Ricky Widmar, Dayle Jenkins, Dane Ayers and Rivas. The win now gets them to .500 on the road at 9-9, and with Toronto being shut out in Pittsburgh the lead is up to 2 1/2.
Team record: 22-10. Next up: An off-day then finally back to Publix Park to take on the Orioles in a 3-game series to start a homestand.
And for his troubles, Dayle Jenkins gets AL Player of the Week:
