Tampa Bay Rays end Yankees’ Streak in 4-2 Victory

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 4-2 after taking advantage of an unforced error and the bullpen shutting the door.

The Tampa Bay Rays have the Yankees’ number so far this season and will be looking for the sweep Thursday afternoon. This is the first series the Yankees lost at home since April 2019. They battled against Gerrit Cole and took advantage of an error to capture the victory. Now the Rays can take the AL East lead with a victory tomorrow.

Tyler Glasnow had his best outing of the season with 5.2 innings while allowing just five baserunners (two hits and three walks) and two runs. He still had some control issues with three walks but tallied eight strikeouts to go along with it in a no-decision. The Rays are going to need length out of their starters as Yonny Chirinos was placed on the IL before the game.

Cole Me Maybe?

The Yankees had Gerrit Cole on the mound for the second time this season against the Rays. Tampa doesn’t have much success off him but this was the fourth time since the end of the 2019 regular season Cole has seen this lineup. Ji-Man Choi is now 6-for-10 with two homers off Cole with his second-inning shot to right-center.

Mike Zunino, who has been struggling at the plate, also homered off Cole in the third for his third of the season.

Attack The Strengths

Yankees have a strong bullpen, especially with the addition of Aroldis Chapman from the COVID list. However, Tampa has Zack Britton’s number as he gave up a pair of runs in the top of the eighth with RBI singles from Mike Brosseau and Willy Adames. The Rays have now scored three runs in 1.1 innings off the lefty pitcher this season.

Bullpen Silences The Bats

The Rays used five relievers in the game and had success from almost all of them. The combination of Ryan Thomspon, Pete Fairbanks, Nick Anderson, Chaz Roe, and Jalen Beeks threw 3.1 shutout innings and only allowed two hits and two walks.  Tampa has the bullpen throw the second-most innings so far this season at 120 and has a combined 3.98 ERA. They are going to need length out of the starters but the bullpen is a strength.

Previewing Thursday’s Game

The Rays will be going against James Paxton (1-1 7.04 ERA), who had his best outing this season against TB earlier this year. He went 6.1 innings while allowing three runs and striking out 11 batters. Paxton has good numbers lifetime against the Rays but Brosseau and Lowe both have homers off him.