Yankees prevail on Mother's Day, take down Rays
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Not even a 43-minute power outage at Tropicana Field could stop the New York Yankees from handing the surging Tampa Bay Rays a series defeat on Mother's Day.
Players from the Yankees and Rays took the field Sunday afternoon for the rubber game of a three-game series decked out in pink, from socks to caps and sleeves to bats, in honor of mothers all across the world.
With Masahiro Tanaka taking the mound for the Bronx Bombers, the right-hander was given the difficult task of out-dueling Ray's ace and reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, fresh off an outing in which the he allowed just one hit in six innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Out of the gate it looked as if Snell would win the match-up, striking out 10 batters through the first four innings. However, the southpaw ran into trouble in the 5th, serving up a two-out double to Austin Romine, followed by an RBI double by Mike Tauchman and an RBI single by DJ LeMahieu to make it 2-0 New York.
Those two runs would be the only damage Yankee batters could manage against Snell, but it was all the run support that Tanaka would need.
The Japanese hurler cruised through seven innings, throwing just 73 pitches while giving up a lone run via a solo shot off the bat of Ray's outfielder Austin Meadows.
The Yankees tacked on a third run in the top of the 8th when Ray's relief pitcher Ryne Stanek overthrew a fastball that sailed over the catcher's mitt, allowing Luke Voit to score from third to make it 3-1.
After Yankee setup-man Zack Britton pitched in and out of trouble in the bottom of the 8th, the power at Tropicana Field mysteriously went out, leaving both fans and players in the dark.
And while it took over 40 minutes for play to resume following the outage, there was no shortage in offensive power when the Yankees returned to the plate in the top of the ninth.
Yankee infielder Thairo Estrada led off the inning and promptly planted a fastball into the right field seats. But the team didn't stop there, the Bombers added another three runs to blow the lead wide open to 7-1.
From there, the Yankees turned to recently recalled relief pitcher Chad Green, who looked like his vintage self after striking out the side in the ninth to put away the Rays for good.
Contenders or Pretenders?
The Yankees had a lot to prove going into this weekend series against the first place Rays. Even though the team has gotten back a few of their injured players in Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier, they are still operating with nearly half of their players on the Injured List and had gotten most of their wins against opponents with losing records.
However, after three straight series wins versus the Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners and the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees proved that their 'B-Team' can hang with the best teams in the league.
Hicks Back in the Mix
The Yankees 'B-Team' will look even more like an 'A-Team' this week with outfielder Aaron Hicks set to be activated on Monday for the Yankees' series against the Baltimore Orioles. Hicks had been sidelined since March with a lower back injury.
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