BY: John Mamola
Back to back home runs plus RBI singles from Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were simply too much for the Rays to overcome as they fall to the Yankees 5-3. The Rays comeback from being down 4-0 early came up short as Ivan Nova is credited with his 12th win of the season.
The Yankees bats came out firing in the bottom of the second inning against Rays’ starter James Shields, who entered the game winning four of his last five decisions. With one on and one out Curtis Granderson took a fastball and placed it into the short porch in right field. The Yankees took a 2-0 lead on Granderson’s team leading 39th home run of the season.
Yankees weren’t done in the third. Three pitches later Eduardo Nunez blasted his first home run of the season into the seats in left field, giving the Yankees a 3-0 lead.
The Yankees captain Derek Jeter then added to the lead with his league leading 198th hit which drove in Ichiro Suzuki from second base to make it 4-0 New York.
The Rays battled back in the sixth and seventh innings pulling within a run of the pinstripes. Evan Longoria’s twelfth home run of the season got the Rays on the board. Longo’s solo shot plus Luke Scott’s pinch hit two RBI single in the seventh inning pulled the Rays within a run at 4-3.
But it wasn’t enough as Jake McGee gave up an RBI single to Alex Rodriguez in the bottom half of the eighth, and the Rays fell to the New York Yankees for the seventh time this season in 17 games.
James Shields get the loss pitching 6 1/3 innings allowing four runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Ivan Nova gets the win going six innings allowing two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts.
Former Rays closer Rafael Soriano notched his 39th save with a scoreless ninth.
The Rays will attempt to take the series tomorrow afternoon in the rubber match with the Yankees. The Rays will send Matt Moore against Hiroki Kuroda for the Yankees. Catch all the action on 970am/105.9 FM WFLA with a 12:30pm pre-game, and a 1:05pm first pitch.
