Recap: Tampa Bay vs. NY Yankees
Sports Network | September 04, 2008
St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - Scott Kazmir pitched six strong innings as the Tampa Bay Rays avoided the sweep with a 7-5 win over the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field. Kazmir (11-6) gave up just one hit with five walks and seven strikeouts for the Rays, who have won six of their last eight games. Willy Aybar went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and three RBI. With the win, Tampa moved 3 1/2 games ahead of idle Boston for first place in the AL East. Derek Jeter hit a three-run home run and Alex Rodriguez added a solo shot for the Yankees, who had a three-game winning streak stopped. Darrell Rasner (5-10) was banged up for five runs on six hits in just 1 1/3 innings of work. The Rays plated five runners in the second to take the lead. With men on first and third, Gabe Gross doubled to bring home Eric Hinske. Jason Bartlett followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Dioner Navarro and Akinori Iwamura's single to center brought home Gross. B.J. Upton singled and Carlos Pena walked to load the bases and chase Rasner from the game. Alfredo Aceves took the mound and struck out Cliff Floyd, but Aybar followed with a two-run single for a 5-0 lead. Tampa Bay got another run in the fourth on Aybar's two-out, solo shot over the wall in right field. Kazmir, meanwhile, was cruising through the game. In the first six innings he had given up five walks and a base hit, but worked 1-2-3 fourth and sixth innings and only allowed one runner to reach third, Cody Ransom in the fifth. Trever Miller took the mound in the seventh for the Rays and worked around a one-out single to keep the Yankees off the board while Chad Bradford gave up just a two-out single in the eighth. Iwamura led off the eighth with a triple and then scored on Upton's sacrifice fly to center for a 7-0 advantage. New York avoided the shutout in the ninth. An RBI single from Cody Ransom scored Ivan Rodriguez, who led off the frame with a double. Johnny Damon later walked and Jeter hit an opposite-field home run to make it a three-run game. Alex Rodriguez followed with a monster shot that hit the catwalk over the left field seats to make it a 7-5 game. Dan Wheeler, though, took over for Jason Hammel and got Xavier Nady to fly out and pick up his 11th save of the season. Game Notes New York right fielder Bobby Abreu was scratched from the starting lineup due to a sore left wrist. He is listed as day-to-day...The Yankees begin a three- game set in Seattle on Friday...Tampa hits the road for the next nine games and starts a three-game series in Toronto on Friday...Kazmir is 3-0 over his last four starts...The home run was No. 550 in Rodriguez's career. He is the fastest player to reach that mark in MLB history. Game Notes New York right fielder Bobby Abreu was scratched from the starting lineup due to a sore left wrist. He is listed as day-to-day...The Yankees begin a three- game set in Seattle on Friday...Tampa hits the road for the next nine games and starts a three-game series in Toronto on Friday...Kazmir is 3-0 over his last four starts...The home run was No. 550 in Rodriguez's career. He is the fastest player to reach that mark in MLB history.
