Game 1: Perhaps because he knew his rotation spot was safe with the trade of Alec Sachais, Nate Thompson was in a groove today at Yankee Stadium and took a "Maddux" into the 9th inning before running out of gas but still getting a 5-1 win. Thompson had a one-hitter on 84 pitches into the 9th and retired Tyree Reed on strikes before giving up a triple. I brought the infield in to try and preserve his shutout but the Yankees managed an infield hit to score the run and a double to put men on 2nd and 3rd and suddenly not only was the shutout gone, the lead was potentially in jeopardy. So with the Yankees' tough 1-2 punch of lefties Mario Aguilar and Ivan Vega due, Mike Wherry came in and got them both to end the game. Thompson finished 8.1 4 1 1 0 6 and is now 4-2, 4.17 while Wherry got save #5. It was a scoreless game until the 6th when the Rays got a man on against Michael Flores, who held them for 5 1/3. They took immediate advantage of the pitching change with both Victor de Jesus (his MLB-leading 38th) and Bo Angeac (#29) blasting 2-run homers off reliever Julio Zarate. Nate Clark, who was on base 4 times today with 2 hits and 2 walks, added an RBI groundout in the 9th for the final run.
Game 2: Leo Ortega didn't have his best stuff and the Rays fell behind the Yankees 3-0 after 4 and trailed 3-2 after 6, but it didn't matter as the home run bats came out and by the time it was over the Rays had a 10-3 rout of the home club at Yankee Stadium. Ortega gave up a bunch of hits but at least had his sinker working as he induced 11 ground ball outs in a 6 9 3 2 1 1 performance and after the offense took over he managed the win to go to 13-2, 3.29. They trailed 3-0 and didn't even get a hit until the 5th inning when Erik Batchelder hit a one-out double and two batters later Vlad Guerrero Jr. hit his first Rays homer at the place where he plied his trade the last several years to cut the deficit to 3-2. And then Batchelder of all people gave them the lead in the top of the 7th with a 2-run shot, his 2nd of the year. Ortega gave up a leadoff double in the bottom of the 7th so Tim Siqueiros came in and he gave up an infield single with that runner stealing 2nd so he had 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. No problem for him, though, as he struck out the next three Yankees, including Mario Aguilar and Ivan Vega. The close call emboldened the bats further and they struck for 5 in the top of the 8th on a 2-run homer from Omar Rodriguez (#12) and a 3-run blast from Nate Clark (#34). Bo Angeac hit #30 for good measure in the 9th and Kevin Kerstetter went the final 2 innings to finish out the game.
Game 3: It was a premium pitching matchup in the Bronx between Andy Aparicio and the Yankees' Eric Peterson, two of the AL's top starters. And it lived up to billing as the teams traded zeroes through 5 innings. But Peterson blinked first in the 6th, giving up a solo homer to Nate Clark (#35), and Omar Rodriguez added #13 in the 8th off the New York bullpen to back Aparicio, who twirled a 5-hit complete-game shutout in a 2-0 win. AA went 9 5 0 0 1 7 on 116 pitches and in the 8th and 9th was a baserunner away from being lifted for Kikuo Kawase but he retired the Yankees in order in both frames to get his first whitewash of the year and fifth of his career. Aparicio is now 14-4, 3.24 and leads MLB in pitcher WAR at 4.6, with his 167 strikeouts nosing 3 ahead of Christian Little for the league lead. His 2nd Cy Young in 3 seasons is not out of the question as he's been on an incredible roll since the All-Star break, allowing 1 earned run (and only 10 hits) in his last 3 starts covering 25 innings. There wasn't much to write home about with the offense outside of the two homers but Alex Buitrago was 3-3 with a double, walk and stolen base even if he was stranded all 4 times.
Game 4: The Rays completed the sweep with another dominant pitching performance and more homers as they took an 8-1 decision over the Yankees, holding the Bronx Bombers (perhaps a misnomer these days) to 5 runs in the series. Today's excellent start was courtesy of Jon Soranno, who took a shutout into the 7th and finished 6.2 6 1 1 2 6 and is now 13-3, 3.12. Despite the lopsided score, Jordan Diaz came in for some work and went 1 1/3 scoreless while Jim Connors pitched the 9th. Unlike yesterday the offense didn't wait to get going: Nate Clark hit a 2-run homer (#36) in the 1st and Alex Buitrago singled in a run as part of a 3-hit day which saw him get 6 consecutive hits over two games. Clark was then hit with the bases loaded in the second to force in a run, Erik Batchelder (who had a 3-hit game) homered for the second straight start with a 2-run blast in the 5th (#3), Bo Angeac added #31 and Clark capped a 4-RBI day with a run-scoring single.
Team record: 83-23. Next up: 4 games in Houston.
Look at our boys dominating the offensive leaderboards in the AL:
