Hiroki Kuroda shines as New York Yankees edge Tampa Bay Rays 6-4 – MLB Update
New York Yankees edged the Tampa Bay Rays 6-4 at Yankee Stadium in New York on Sunday, September 16 in the finale of their three match series.
Rays’ Manager Joe Maddon will be disappointed with the outcome of the series. After securing a comfortable win in the opener, they were hoping to continue the good work to get back to the top of American League East Division standings but that did not turn
out to be the case.
Yankees fought back superbly in last two games to post a much a needed series victory. With their win on Sunday, Joe Girardi and company also reclaimed the number one status on the AL East standings.
Starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda produced another fine performance, giving up just four hits and four runs in six solid innings to take his sixth loss of the season. Relief pitcher Boone Logan, David Phelps, David Robertson and Rafael Soriano combined to pitch
three scoreless innings to help the Yankees hold on to their two run lead.
"We have a day off. Guys are going to rest tomorrow," manager Joe Girardi said. "It's their last one of the year and they'd better rest because we still have a grind left."
"Yeah, I take full credit for it," said Swisher, who had one sacrifice last year.
"In a situation right there, I felt like it needed to be done," he said. "I tried to lay it down right there, and the next thing you know, Rod comes up there -- ribbie."
Derek Jeter singled to centre in the third inning to break the deadlock and put Yankees on the board. Alex Rodriguez also displayed some top quality hitting skills, earning an RBI single to centre in the third to double New York’s lead to 2-0.
Russell Martin connected for a mighty three run home-run to right in the third and Rodriguez stretched Yankees’ lead to 6-1 in the fourth with a sacrifice fly to right. For the Rays, Ben Zobrist homered to right centre in the fourth. Evan Longoria and Matt
Joyce also made useful contributions but their effort also went in vain.
Tags: