- Rally II: Let’s recap this one backwards. The Yankees were down 5-3 going into the bottom of the 12th, but they did have the top of the order coming up. Brett Gardner started the rally with a leadoff walk and Alex Rodriguez reached base as the tying run on a dinky little ground ball single through the right side. The Rays had the shift on, playing him to pull, and Alex slapped the ball the other way. Look at this hit. Mark Teixeira singled in Gardner to make it a one-run game, and, well, you know what McCann did next. The walk-off was the team’s first of the season.
- Bullpen on Parade: Six relievers held the Rays to two runs in six innings, and the value of not a starter Adam Warren was on full display. He got the final out of the 10th, tossed a scoreless 11th, then started the 12th. Chasen Shreve had his first rough outing in a while, walking two and allowing two hits, both driving in runs for the Rays. That turned a 3-3 game into a 5-3 game and what looked like a sure loss. Can’t expect perfection every time. Shreve’s allowed to have an off-night once in a while. At least a pigeon attacked Kevin Kiermaier following his RBI single.
- The Save: Underrated moment of the game: Nick Rumbelow stranding two runners in the eighth. Chris Capuano allowed back-to-back singles to start the inning, then Rumbelow got two pop-ups and a ground ball to end the threat and prevent the Rays from increasing their 3-0 lead. One extra run there would have been huge in hindsight. Nick job by the kid in his third career appearance. That was a save situation even though he won’t get credited with one.
- Rally I: Chris Archer has been excellent this season, and while he kept the Yankees off the board for 6.2 innings, he wasn’t overwhelmingly dominant. The Yankees had men on base against him in every inning but the second, so they had chances, they could couldn’t capitalize. They did get to the bullpen though, specifically Kevin Jepsen in the eighth. Chase Headley and A-Rod hit one-out singles, and Teixeira unloaded on a hanging changeup for a game-tying three-run homer. Another sluggish night by the bats was forgiven with one swing.
- TANAK: The first inning was more of the same for Masahiro Tanaka — he was leaving splitters up in the zone, and the result was two runs on a walk and two doubles. He settled down after that though, holding Tampa to one run on four hits in the next five innings with five strikeouts. Tanaka got 15 swings and misses out of 96 total pitches, so his three highest swing-and-miss totals have come in his last three games, which have hardly been his three best starts of the season. The first inning stunk, but Tanaka was really good after that. Hopefully something clicked.
- Leftovers: Didi Gregorius went 2-for-3 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch, and, for the first time since the third game of the season, he has a .300 OBP. Progress! … Headley, A-Rod, and Teixeira each had two hits as well … Gardner went 0-for-4 but did draw two walks. Rodriguez drew three … Capuano, Warren, Dellin Betances, and Justin Wilson each struck out two in relief … McCann threw out two runners trying to steal and both Gardner and Chris Young had outfield assists.
Here are the box score, video highlights, updated standings, Bullpen Workload, and Announcer Standings pages. The win probability graph is below. The Yankees and Rays continue this series Saturday afternoon in an Fourth of July matinee. Michael Pineda and Nathan Karns will be the pitching matchup. Love this team, you guys.
Source: FanGraphs
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