73°Haze
1:05 PM ET, July 2, 2014
Yankee Stadium, New York, New York
Yankee Stadium, New York, New York
Associated Press
Rodriguez Powers Rays Past Yankees
Just the way manager Joe Maddon likes his three-game sweeps.
Rodriguez hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning and drove in three runs, helping the Rays extend their longest winning string this year to five and handing the New York Yankees their season-worst fifth straight loss, 6-3, Wednesday.
"We're getting a different bus driver on a daily basis, that's kind of neat," Maddon said. "That's who we have to be. We're not necessarily built around one guy. We're built as group. Everybody's got to do their job."
The Rays won all three games at Yankee Stadium for their first road sweep since taking three in the Bronx Sept. 24-26.
After veering way off course early, Tampa Bay has that bus back on track. The Rays improved to 11 games under .500 for the first time in a month after falling 18 under on June 10, and the team is finally buying into Maddon's plan.
"As a team we're starting to flow better, guys are starting to understand each other better," Rodriguez said.
Ben Zobrist doubled twice among his three hits for the Rays, but ran into two outs. Rodriguez was thrown out trying to stretch an RBI single to the wall in right field in the fourth.
"That's the one thing we're trying to do, it's turn up that aggressiveness dial," Maddon said.
Brett Gardner hit a leadoff homer and an RBI single against Jake Odorizzi (4-7) and added another hit for the Yankees. New York could muster little other than Brian McCann's long ball on a sweltering day at Yankee Stadium. Humidity made the temperature feel as if it were in the high 90s.
New York is below .500 at 41-42 for the first time since April 11. The last time the Yankees were below .500 during the second half was in 2007 when they were 42-43. They went 52-25 the rest of the way to earn the wild card.
"I still believe in this team," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We just need to play better. It's a lot of different phases. You can look at almost every phase and say we need to play better and we have to find a way to get it done."
Joel Peralta tied Esteban Yan's record for appearances with the Rays at 266 when he pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Brad Boxberger was perfect in the ninth for his first save.
Brandon Guyer had an RBI single in the fifth. The Rays put runners on base in every inning but the second against Vidal Nuno (2-5) and three relievers.
Tampa Bay scored its first run on McCann's passed ball in the third. McCann made up for it in the bottom half, homering into the short porch in right field with two outs.
Despite hitting .220 coming in, McCann batted third because Jacoby Ellsbury was given a day off for being "kind of beat up," according to Girardi.
After the Rays tied it on Rodriguez's RBI single to right in the fourth -- he was thrown out by Alfonso Soriano, a call upheld by review -- Gardner put the Yankees back on top 3-2 with a bounced single.
In this back-and-forth game, the Rays immediately tied it up in the fifth on Guyer's RBI single to left field. But Zobrist was thrown out by Gardner trying to score from second.
Forsythe led off the sixth with a single to chase Nuno. Rodriguez greeted reliever Shawn Kelley with a drive just left of Monument Park for the first two-run lead of the day.
Nuno yielded four runs -- three earned -- and eight hits in five-plus innings.
"It's just going out there and trying to compete and trying not to give up the middle of the plate," Nuno said.
Odorizzi was also pulled in the sixth. He gave up three runs and eight hits. It was the most runs he's allowed since being charged with four on June 5.
Game notes
The Chicago White Sox claimed RHP Angel Sanchez off waivers from the Rays and assigned him to Class-A Winston-Salem. ... Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira had fluid drained from his left knee. Girardi said Teixeira had been playing with the problem for a short while. "We believe he will be in the lineup tomorrow," Girardi said. ... New York signed Venezuelan SS Diego Castillo, Baseball America's No. 24 international prospect. ... Up next: The Yankees start an 11-game road trip in Minnesota on Thursday. The Rays face the Tigers in Detroit in the final stop of a 10-game trip.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
Photo Wire
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 02: Kevin Kiermaier #39 of the Tampa Bay Rays scores a run in the third inning past Vidal...
(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Game Information
| Stadium | Yankee Stadium, New York, NY |
| Attendance | 42,343 (86.1% full) - % is based on regular season capacity |
| Game Time | 3:32 |
| Weather | 89 degrees, sunny |
| Wind | 10 mph |
| Umpires | Home Plate - Paul Schrieber, First Base - Ted Barrett, Second Base - Will Little, Third Base - Alfonso Marquez |
Research Notes
Sean Rodriguez's
sixth-inning home run was calculated at 445 feet, the longest of his
career and the longest by a Rays hitter this season. It is also the
longest home run hit at Yankee Stadium in the last two seasons.
[+] |
From
Elias: The Yankees have NEVER won their division or pennant when they
have been .500 or worse through games on July 2nd in their franchises
history...
AND...the Yankees have been below .500 through games on July 2nd 24
times...they have only made the postseason just twice (2007 & 1995).
[+] |
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