6 Pitchers Help Push Rays Past Yankees
ST. PETERSBURG. Fla. (AP) — Six Tampa Bay pitchers combined on a five-hitter, and the Rays beat the New York Yankees 2-1 Friday night.
Utilizing a bullpen day, the Rays improved to 14-31 against teams with a .500 or better record with the victory over the team with the majors' best record.
Winner Ryan Yarbrough (6-3) entered in the second and allowed one hit in 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Sergio Romo worked the ninth for his fifth save in nine chances.
Willy Adames put the Rays ahead 1-0 with a run-scoring single off CC Sabathia (4-3) in the fourth. Sabathia allowed two runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Tampa Bay went up 2-0 in the fifth on C.J. Cron's sacrifice fly, a drive with two on that Yankees right fielder Giancarlo Stanton snared with a leaping catch at the wall.
The Rays wasted a chance to extend the lead in the sixth when Johnny Field struck out on a failed third-strike bunt attempt with two on and Matt Duffy hit a two-out grounder with the bases loaded to complete a 12-pitch at-bat against Adam Warren.
Aaron Judge made it 2-1 on a seventh-inning RBI single off Chaz Roe. Jose Alvarado prevented further damage by getting a two-out grounder from Didi Gregorius with runners on second and third.
New York Left fielder Brett Gardner went 2 for 5 after missing the previous five games due to right knee soreness.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Yankees: RHP Masahiro Tanaka (strained left and right hamstrings) will have his first bullpen session Sunday and could start a simulated game late next week.
Rays: RHP Chris Archer (left abdominal strain) had a 20-pitch bullpen session. The opening-day starter will likely be out until after the All-Star break. "(Saturday) will be big to see where my level of soreness is," Archer said. "The last week my body has really come a long ways. I don't wake up with any soreness."
MINORS' MATTERS
Yankees: RHP Clarke Schmidt, taken 16th overall in the 2017 draft, allowed two runs and three hits over one inning in his first Gulf Coast League game. He missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Rays: Two-way prospect Brendan McKay is on Class-A Charlotte's disabled list with an oblique injury.
MOVING DAY
Tampa Bay reinstated INF Daniel Robertson (left hamstring strain) from the 10-day DL and optioned RHP Austin Pruitt and outrighted OF Rob Refsnyder to Triple-A Durham.
UP NEXT
Yankees RHP Sonny Gray (5-4) and Rays RHP Wilmer Font (0-3) are Saturday's scheduled starters.
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