 |
| Gardner's big game not enough to help NY to victory. Photo credit: AP |
The New York Yankees tailspin continued losing their fifth consecutive game, which is a season-worst, and was swept by the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium 6-3 on Wednesday night.
By: Sunil Sunderraj
The Yankee’s got off to the best start to a game you could hope for as Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the first inning with a majestic shot off Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi that landed in the second deck at Yankee Stadium. This was New York’s first lead of any kind since last Friday against Boston.It was Brett Gardner’s eighth home run of the season, which is a new career high for the outfielder. With the new career high in home runs, Garder also tied himself with teammate Carlos Beltran for most extra base hits on the team with 24.
Tampa Bay came back and tied the game up at 1-1 in the third inning on a passed ball that scored Kevin Kiemaier from third base.
New York went back ahead in the bottom half of the inning on Brian McCann’s tenth home run of the season that cleared the right field wall by a few rows seats. At the time it was an encouraging sign that maybe the Yankees was possibility starting to come out of their offensive doldrums.
The Rays tied the game up again at 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning on a Sean Rodriguez double off the base right field wall, scoring Logan Forsythe from second base. Rodriguez was nailed at second base by Alfonso Soriano attempting to stretch the play into a double.
A see-saw affair ensued as the Yankees grabbed the lead once again at 3-2 in their own half of the inning as Gardner delivered a two-out single past a diving James Loney into right field that brought Soriano in from third.
Tampa Bay would rally again in the top of the fifth inning off a Brandon Guyer hit to left field that scored Desmond Jennings tieing the game up at 3-3.
Gardner would also make a play with his arm in this game as he was able to gun down Ben Zobrist at the plate, taking a run away from the Rays in this tightly contested game.
In the top of the sixth inning, Sean Rodriguez drilled a two run home run deep over the center field fence off Shawn Kelley giving Tampa Bay a 5-3 advantage and one they would never relinquish..
An errant throw by Yangervis Solarte into right field in the ninth inning off a routine ground ball allowed Ben Zobrist to motor home as the Rays extended their lead to 6-3.
New York’s starting pitcher Vidal Nuno surrendered four runs, three of them earned plus eight hits in five innings dropping his record to 2-5 on the season.
This marks the first time since April 11th New York has been under the .500 mark. Furthermore, this is the worst start for the Yankees since 2007. They have lost their last 9 out of 11 games.
New York faces a long and grueling 11 game road trip where they will play four games against Minnesota and Cleveland before finish up with three games in Baltimore before the All-Star Break occurs. 