If you would have come to me and said that the Yankees would even be in a first place tie in the AL East before Aaron Judge returned off the IL, I would have thought you probably don’t know baseball. But here we are, just over 4 weeks after Judge went on the IL, along with plenty of other Yankees starters, these baby bombers have a chance to do just that on Monday night, courtesy of their pivotal series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend at Tropicana field in south Florida.
This series had plenty of ups and downs for both teams, so let’s get into it.
GAME 1: YANKEES 4 RAYS 3
You instantly knew this was going to be a thrilling game the second you saw the starting pitchers for this game were Domingo German (6-1), Abe Tyler Glasnow (6-0). Both came into this contest having taken the by surprise with their early success, and tonight it didn’t disappoint early on.
The Yankees only had a 2-0 lead through 4 innings, because of some defensive errors by the Rays, as they failed to backup Glasnow in this one. As for German, he was lights out through the first 4 innings before serving up HRs to Austin Meadows and Ji Man Choi in the 5th that gave the Rays a 3-2 lead.
But the Yankees weren’t done, as for the second night in a row, Gio Urshela came up in a big spot with the bases loaded, and once again he delivered, as his 2 run single gave the Yankees the lead back at 4-3 in the 6th inning.
After German departed, the Yankees bullpen would need to maintain their slim one run lead and would do just that starting with Kahlne’s scoreless 6th, before Ottavino ran into some trouble in the bottom of the 7th.
With the bases loaded and 0 outs, Ottavino struck out Tommy Pham, before deflecting a Ji Man Choi hopper off his leg right to DJ LeMahieu who turned the inning-ending double play that preserved the Yankees lead, as the Rays would get no closer to scoring the rest of the way.
MVP: Gio Urshela
GAME 2: YANKEES 2 RAYS 7
It was a bullpen game for the Rays, and the Yankees couldn’t keep up with them.
They got off to a slow start, as CC Sabathia served up two early HRs to Avisal Garcia and Yandy Diaz, before setting down to keep the Yankees within 2-0 after 5.
As for the Rays, Ryan Stanek was the Rays “Opener” and shut the Yankees down paving the way for the rest of the Rays bullpen on Saturday. The Yankees would find hope as Clint Frazier knocked in a run with an RBI single , before DJ LeMahieu went deep to tie the game at 2 in the 6th.
But unfortunately, the lucky wasn’t on the Yankees side in this one as a bad bounce in the infield led to a Rays run being scored which opened the floodgates, as they extended their lead to 4-2, before Yandy Diaz put the nail in the coffin, with a 3run bomb to put the Rays up 7-2, deflating the Yankees, as the Rays evened the series at 1.
MVP: Yandy Diaz
Game 3: YANKEES 7 RAYS 1
The rubber game of this 3 game showdown concluded on Sunday with a pitchers duel between Masahiro Tanaka and the reigning CY Young award winner Blake Snell.
Early on, it was Snell who took control, as he blew by the Yankees the first time through the order, getting 9 outs on 7Ks.
As for Tanaka, he was slow and steady in keeping pace with Snell, and matched him zero for zero.
In the top of the 5th inning, the Yankees finally broke through Snells armor, an inning after the Yankees made Snell throw 30 pitches in the fourth, despite not scoring a run. Austin Romine and Mike Tauchman doubled, which was followed by a DJ LeMahieu single that gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead, which was all Tanaka needed to defeat Snell.
Tanaka got more comfortable as the game went on, even after he served up a HR to Austin Meadows in the 6th. Tanaka went 7 innings of 1 run ball, with 4Ks on only 73 pitches!
In the top of the 8th, the Yankees pushed across a run, as a wild pitch scored Luke Voit who hustled home and barley beat the tag, to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. In the bottom of the 8th, Zack Brittion came in for the Yankees, and with runners on second and third with one out, he was able to strike out Choi and Diaz to end the threat and send the Yankees into the 9th, and into the sudden 43 minute power outage delay at Tropicana field with the lead.
Once the game finally resumed, the power outage seemed to restart the Yankees instead of the hometown Rays, as Thario Estrada went deep for a HR, before Gio Urshela stayed red hot with a 2run double to give the Yankees a 6-1 lead.
Brett Gardner would loft a sac fly into center field for another run that would cap off a 3run 9th and give the Yankees a 7-1 lead, with the Rays last licks coming up.
With a 6 run lead, the Yankees brought in Chad Green, who was called up from AAAin exchange for Jake Barret on Sunday, prior to the series finale in Tampa Bay.
Green returned to the big leagues in top form, as he struck out the side in the 9th, to secure the game and the series for the Yankees, with a 7-1 win.
MVP: Masahiro Tanaka
Series MVP: Gio Urshela
UP NEXT:
The Yankees (24-16) will head home and face the Baltimore Orioles (14-26) on Monday for the opener of a three game series in the Bronx, where the Yankees will have a shot to tie the Rays for first place in the AL East with a win.
It will be Jonathan Losiga against David Hess.
Game time is 6:35 PM.
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