Rays regain footing in the division against the Yankees with a 7 – 2 thump (pt 2)
Wednesday night was a major test for the visiting Tampa Bay Rays. Being 2 – 0 down in their series against the New York Yankees wasn’t the only concern for Manager, Joe Maddon. The roster was demoralized and with 11 days to go, there was the hard task to
get the squad to their winning ways against a team that is leading the title bid with a 2
1/ 2 win advantage. The fact that there was little time left on the table was further spiced up by another reality that focused on the venue of their current series. With over 45,000 fans in the stands of the Yankee Stadium,
there always was going to be the factor of disassociation between the Florida side and the crowd.
However, due to the rain and some good pitching from the Rays, the Yankees were held to a 7 – 2 score line. However things began differently and the Florida side was up on the batting late first for the innings starter. Allan James Burnett was on the pitching
mound and it took a focused hitting initiative to get Tampa Bay to their first run.
The run came in the top 1st and John Jaso began the show with single to the right. He moved to the second when Ben Zobrist was walked by Allan. Carl Crawford sacrificed himself to move the two base occupants up in the diamond when he grounded
out to second. All it took next was for Evan Longoria to drive in a Runs Batted In (RBI) sacrifice fly to the centre, to get the Rays on the score board with one run. Jaso scored and that put the Yankees on the back foot.
New York wasn’t in the right frame of mind as the team took very long to respond. Wade Davis was done with his pitching duties and rookie, Jeremy Hellickson was on to pitch for Tampa Bay. Dustin Moseley was on the other end and he faced a warm welcome from
Zobrist and Crawford who singled each and got Jaso through for his 2nd run of the game in the top 5th.
Much to the frustration of the Yankee hitting faction, nothing came off Hellickson till Lance Berkman took his stand in the bottom of the 5th. After Nick Swisher lined out, the former Houston Astros’ designated hitter came in to smash a 367 feet
homer to the right. The shot lowered the score line and things were looking to open up now, that the teams had shrugged off their rusty hinges.
Maddon’s team had other ideas and Dan Johnson went out on to the strike zone to give Joe Girardi’s men a hard time on the pitching mound. He made Dustin Moseley pay as he lined up a stellar 401 feet homer to the right to get the team back up on a 2 run lead
at a 3– 1 score line. Much to the satisfaction of the fans, Derek Jeter responded for the hosts in the bottom 6th. His scoring run came off Alex Rodriguez, who singled to the left and got the team an important run, to make it 2 – 3.
The Rays were hardly done when they started scoring in the 5th inning and the top 7th saw some amazing hitting from the batters that resulted in the team’s rise to a 5 – 2 score line. Carl Crawford was the first to hit and his thunderous
shot to the right saw a 387 feet homer cross the fence. Longoria came up next and banged Chad Gaudin’s pitch for a 391 feet homer to the right.
The Rays were now connecting well and while they pounced on the New York bullpen gave a nervy performance in the mean time. Reid Brignac scored an easy run in the top 8th when Jonathan Albaladejo walked Zobrist on basses-filled diamond. Longoria
then scored in the top 9th through Brignac’s RBI single to the right.
The match ended with the score line 7 Tampa Bay – 2 New York. With the win, the Rays ensured series save before their final encounter on Thursday.
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