New York Yankees cement place in playoffs, beating Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 – MLB Update
Curtis Granderson had a dream to drive the New York Yankees into the postseason with his high performance and it came true in the club’s 4-2 win in the first of the day-night double header against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium in New York on Wednesday,
September 21.
New York Yankees’ bull-pen had hand-shakes, hugged and congratulated one another after their 94th win that made them the first American League club to finalise a place in the playoffs.
"We're happy to be in the playoffs, but people aren't running around here jumping up and down because we clinched a postseason berth," said Yankees’ captain Derek Jeter. "Our goal is to win the division, and we have not done that."
The Yankees were happy but were not that excited as they did not discuss their achievement, instead all of the players were planning to appear in the second outing of the double header in the night, commented the Yankees’ out-fielder Nick Swisher.
Alex Rodriguez had made a double to open up the game in the first inning. It was Rodriguez’s 61st RBI of the season. Eduardo Nunez launched his fifth home-run of the season in the eighth inning and then Robinson Cano scored an RBI double to elevate
the Yankees to a 4-2 lead.
"I'm so excited to hit a home run in this moment," Nunez said. "I'm just waiting for a good pitch, and I hit the ball hard."
Manager Joe Girardi gave a chance to young pitchers to make an impression. However, Hector Noesi still remained winless despite having a strong back from the batters. He gave away four hits and two runs in just the first two innings. The Yankees pitching
destruction started with the spell of Raul Valdes.
George Kontos, Aaron Laffey and Cory Wade also tossed one-hitters and helped their senior players to close down the outing in a devastating fashion. Luis Ayala struck-out two batters in the eighth as Mariano Rivera earned his 44th save of the
season. The Yankees put in a brilliant performance to land a place in the playoffs.
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