Earl Weaver, manager of the great Baltimore Orioles teams of the early 70’s, once famously said, “The key to winning baseball games is pitching, defense, and 3-run homers”.
And that’s precisely how 2nd-place Tampa beat the 1st-place Yankees last night at the Stadium — rightfielder Brandon Lowe touched Tanaka for a 3-run homer in the 3rd inning to turn a 1-0 game into a 4-0 game, and be the game-winning hit. The Yanks:
- were eventually down 5-0 on a passed ball by Gary Sanchez in the 4th,
- pulled to within 5-1 on a Sanchez homer in the bottom of the 4th,
- were down 6-1 after an Austin Meadows homer off Tanaka in the 5th,
- pulled to within 6-3 on a Luke Voit homer in the bottom of the 5th,
- and then the bullpens took over for shutout ball on both sides the rest of the game.
Leadoff Luke WITH A BLAST! 💣
Yankees battling back vs. the Rays.
Watch LIVE: https://t.co/MY1jg08G6B pic.twitter.com/B0MEn83D8f
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 19, 2020
Tampa Pitching
In the end the Yanks did get to Tampa starter Blake Snell — the Sanchez and Voit homers produced 3 runs in the 5 innings Snell pitched. But the Tampa bullpen of Pete Fairbanks, Diego Castillo, Nick Anderson, and Chaz Roe pitched shutout ball for 4 innings.
Yankee Pitching
The Yankee bullpen matched that — Bill Nelson pitched 3 shutout innings (1 hit), and Luis Cessa pitched 2 shutout innings (no hits).
Yankee Defense
Clint Frazier made a terrific throw in the top of the 7th to nail a runner trying to stretch a single into a double and keep Tampa from mounting a rally.
WHAT A THROW! @clintfrazier pic.twitter.com/bRDpNjfDTo
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 19, 2020
Final Rally
The Yanks had a chance in the bottom of the 7th when they loaded the bases with 1 out against Diego Castillo — Mike Tauchman walked, Clint Frazier singled, Miguel Andujar grounded out moving the runners, and Mike Ford pinch hitting for Thairo Estrada got hit by a pitch — but Luke Voit struck out on a 3-2 pitch that some felt was low, and then Gio Urshela grounded out to end the inning.
And that was the old ballgame.
Some More Yankee Defense
Aaron Hicks made a terrific catch in the 8th in centerfield.
Aaron Hicks with the web gem! pic.twitter.com/RRHX2O5wvl
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 19, 2020
Etcetera
The Yanks are now 16-7; Tampa is now 15-9. Yankee ace Gerrit Cole (4-0 2.78) goes against elite Tampa young pitcher Tyler Glasnow (0-1 7.04) tonite.
So far this season, the Tampa bullpen has a 12-4 record; the Tampa starters have a 2-4 record.
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