OJTB Yankees: No Light at the End of the Tunnel; Rays Sweep Bombers

A recap of Wednesday’s series finale is followed by notes highlighting the set’s first two games.

SS Sean Rodriguez drove in three runs as the Tampa Bay Rays completed a three-game sweep of the Yankees on Wednesday afternoon. Rodriguez’s two-run homerun in the sixth inning off RHP Shawn Kelley broke a 3-3 tie and provided the deciding runs in an eventual 6-3 victory for Tampa (38-49). The third-place Yankees (41-42) have lost a season-worst five straight contests and sit 4.5 games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays (47-39) in the American League East.

Coming off his best start of the season against Boston last Friday, Yankees’ LHP Vidal Nuno was mediocre on Wednesday. Nuno (2-5; 5.42 ERA) scattered four runs, only three of which were earned, on eight hits and two walks while striking out five over five-plus innings. Perhaps most disappointingly for the Yankees, Nuno surrendered three separate leads, including two leads in the half-inning immediately after New York went ahead.

RHP Jake Odorizzi labored through 5.2 innings for the visitors, surrendering three runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out four. Odorizzi (4-7; 4.18 ERA) solidly mitigated potential damage. He stranded runners in scoring position in both the first and fourth frames.

Brett Gardner

LF Brett Gardner enjoyed a solid all-around game for New York. He afforded the Yankees a 1-0 edge with a leadoff homerun in the first inning, and his two-out RBI single in the fourth inning gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead. The dinger was Gardner’s eighth of the campaign, tying his career-high, which he set over 145 games last year. Defensively, Gardner threw out DH Ben Zobrist at the plate in the fifth inning.

Tampa tied the score, 1-1, with two outs in the third inning, when C Brian McCann had a pitch glance off his glove for a passed ball. McCann atoned for his mistake in the bottom of the frame. With two outs, New York’s catcher curled a solo homerun inside the right field foul pole for a 2-1 lead.

New York’s lead didn’t last long. 2B Logan Forsythe doubled with one out in the fourth inning, and Rodriguez singled him in to tie the game, 2-2. A larger inning was stymied, however, because RF Alfonso Soriano threw Rodriguez out at second base. Rays’ Manager Joe Madden challenged the call, but the “out” ruling was confirmed.

Down by 3-2, the Rays knotted the contest in the bottom of the fifth on LF Brandon Guyer’s RBI single. Gardner threw out the trail runner, Zobrist, to prevent the lead run from scoring.

The Yankees put the tying runs aboard in the seventh inning, but RHP Juan Carlos Oviedo fanned DH Carlos Beltran and 1B Kelly Johnson to maintain Tampa’s 5-3 lead.

Notes:

1) 1B Mark Teixeira missed the game after having his left knee drained, while CF Jacoby Ellsbury sat for general rest.

2) The Yankees dropped below .500 for the first time since the start of play on April 12, when they sat at 5-6.

3) The Yankees sit below .500 after 83 games for the first time since 2007, when they held the same 41-42 record. The 2007 squad recovered to qualify for the postseason with a 94-68 record in Joe Torre’s final season as manager.

4) The loss dropped the Yankees’ home record to 18-23, their worst 41-game start in the Bronx since the eventual-last place 1990 squad struggled to a 16-25 start.

5) Tampa Bay has won 10 of its last 12 games at Yankee Stadium dating back to last season.

Monday: Rays 4 Yankees 3 (12 Innings)

1) The loss dropped the Yankees to 4-3 in extra-inning games this year but 0-3 in such games at home and 1-2 in such contests against the Rays. Tampa previously defeated the Yankees by 10-5 in 14 innings at Yankee Stadium on May 2. New York won by 5-1 in 12 innings at Tampa on April 20.

2) 2B Brian Roberts tied the game, 3-3, with a one-out dinger in the bottom of the ninth inning.

3) The Rays scored the winning run on Forsythe’s two-out RBI single off RHP Jose Ramirez in the 12th inning. Ramirez (0-2; 5.40 ERA) recorded the frame’s first two outs before Guyer walked and stole second base to position Forsythe’s RBI. Three of Tampa’s four runs came with two outs.

3) Kelley held Tampa Bay off the board in the 10th and 11th innings. Kelley recorded consecutive strikeouts of Zobrist and DH Matt Joyce, respectively, to escape a bases-loaded jam in the latter frame.

4) RHP David Phelps fired 5.2 competent innings for the Yankees over which he surrendered two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out four. The two runs against Phelps came via homeruns; Joyce went deep in the first inning, and RF Kevin Kiermaier homered in the third inning to extend the visitors’ lead to 2-0. Phelps had allowed only one dinger in 22.1 prior innings pitched at Yankee Stadium this season entering Monday.

5) RHP Chris Archer, who held an impressive 1.29 ERA in four prior starts against the Yankees, surrendered only two runs on five hits, two walks, and one hit batter while striking out four over seven innings.

Archer surrendered both runs in the bottom of the third inning. After RF Ichiro Suzuki was plunked, Gardner smashed a RBI triple into the right field corner, and SS Derek Jeter drove home the tying run with a grounder to second base.

6) RHP Adam Warren pitched 1.1 eventful frames for New York. Warren recorded the final out of the sixth inning with two runners aboard, and he got Joyce on a grounder to second base with the bases loaded to end the seventh; Warren had easily retired the first two batters in the seventh inning before he loaded the bases on a hit and two walks.

7) The Yankees’ bullpen wasn’t so fortunate in the eighth inning. After quickly recording two outs, RHP Dellin Betances issued consecutive walks. Because Betances had thrown 20 pitches over two frames in Sunday night’s loss to Boston, Manager Joe Girardi brought in RHP David Robertson in a non-save situation to preserve the tie. Robertson failed to hold Tampa scoreless, surrendering a RBI single to C Ryan Hanigan.

8) Tampa Bay’s defense contributed some big plays. Forsythe stole a hit from Beltran in the second inning, diving to his right to corral a sharp grounder before completing the out with a routine throw to first. Then, with the game tied, 2-2, in the seventh inning, 1B James Loney made a leaping catch on a liner hit by Gardner to commence a 3-6 inning-ending double play. Loney made another key play in the 11th inning, robbing Beltran of a leadoff single with a diving stop to his right.

9) Trailing by 3-2 with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Yankees lost a chance to score the tying run due to a questionable base running decision by Ellsbury. McCann singled off the glove of a diving Guyer, and though Ellsbury went from first to third, he likely would have scored had he not slowed down while rounding second base. The frame ended fruitless for the Yankees when Beltran fouled out.

Tuesday: Rays 2 Yankees 1

Kuroda’s success was not matched with offensive support. (Barton Silverman/The New York Times)

1) Ramirez was optioned to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre; RHP Jim Miller was called up to take Ramirez’s spot on the roster.

2) RHP Hiroki Kuroda had what was arguably his best start of the season. Kuroda (5-6; 4.08 ERA) surrendered two runs on nine hits and one walk while striking out seven over a season-high eight frames. Kuroda made one big mistake, which was costly due to the Yankees’ dearth of offense: Loney crushed a hanging curveball for a homerun and a 2-1 Tampa Bay lead in the sixth inning.

3) The Yankees did little against LHP David Price. Price (7-7; 3.50 ERA) allowed a single run on four hits and three walks while striking out nine over seven innings.

4) Both pitchers cruised through the first three innings but ran into trouble in the fourth. Tampa scored one run against Kuroda in the frame. With a shift on, Joyce singled through the vacated shortstop hole, moved to third base on a single by 3B Evan Longoria, and scored the game’s first run on a RBI single by Forsythe.

The Yankees tied the game against Price in the bottom of the inning. Jeter led off with a double to dead centerfield, moved to third on a single by Ellsbury, and scored on a botched pickoff play, where Zobrist threw the ball off Ellsbury’s body when the runner was caught between first and second.

5) RHP Grant Balfour walked a pair in the bottom of the ninth but survived when 3B Yangervis Solarte grounded out to first base.

6) C Francisco Cervelli made an impressive play in the first inning, catching a foul popup by Zobrist while falling into the Rays’ dugout.

The Yankees will now travel to Minnesota for a four-game set against the Twins. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (11-3; 2.10 ERA) seeks to snap his first-career losing streak against RHP Phil Hughes (8-4; 3.58 ERA) in Thursday’s opener.