Russell Martin shines as New York Yankees defeat Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 – MLB Update
Russell Martin put in a brilliant performance with a bases-loaded walk with two-outs to score the tie-breaking run as the New York Yankees beat Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 at Tropicana Field on Monday, July 18.
"Russell had a chance to see what he was doing," Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi said. "You give the kid a lot of credit. He had some guts. Threw changeups. We got fortunate that we got a run by walks.”
For Russell Martin, it was indeed a rare feat.
"It's a big win, especially when you come back late like that," Martin said. "It seemed like they had our number the whole night and we were just able to rally late."
Robinson Cano started an aggressive game by scoring the first run in the very first inning when the Rays’ starter Alex Cobb descended on the mound to pitch. The lead, however, did not last long.
The Rays’ offence sparked, causing a tremendous surprise for the Yankees’ A. J. Burnett. Evan Longoria hit a two-run RBI to not only reverse the lead, but also take his team well above the Yankees 2-1.
Before Burnett could recover from the virtual shock and settle, Sean Rodriguez hit another single to give a 3-1 lead to the Tampa Bay in the three-run 3-hit first inning, prompting a supposedly different strategy to be employed by the Yankees.
However, before the strategy could bear any fruit, Burnett was subject to another hit by Casey Kotchman in the second inning that lifted the lead to 4-1 in a 2-hit one-run inning of Burnett. By the end of second inning, Burnett had already given up five
hits and four runs.
The Yankees took their time to stage an awaited come-back in the game and this had to come with patience. Alex Cobb was certainly not an easy starter for the Yankees’ offence to comfortably play.
Once the game entered into the fifth inning where the Rays had 4-1 lead, Mark Teixeira scored an RBI single to bring down the lead to 4-2. But after that, Cobb pitched a shut-out inning to keep the lead intact only to see things falling apart in the eighth
inning.
Brett Gardner drew a single in the eighth inning when Cesar Ramos came to pitch and Eduardo Nunez grounded into fielder’s choice to level the score.
It was in the ninth inning that Russell Martin drew a base-loaded walk to score the tie-breaking run, giving a 5-4 lead to the Yankees.
The closer Mariano River pitched a shut-out ninth to give a 5-4 win to the Yankees, endowing a 1-0 lead on the Yankees in the four-game series.
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