Rays even series against high-priced New York

by Gary Shelton on August 16, 2018 · 0 comments

in general, Tampa Bay Rays

Smith had three hits, including a home run./JEFFREY S. KING

Smith had three hits, including a home run./JEFFREY S. KING

Thursday, 4 a.m.

Someone has some explaining to do.

Maybe, someone has some change coming.

The high-priced New York Yankees, with their star-studded roster, lost 6-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays, a team that shops in the value bin, once again Wednesday night. It was the seventh time in 14 games that the Yankees, with a payroll of more than $177 million dollars (sixth in the majors) lost to Rays and their $71 million payroll (last in the majors).

The Rays have won seven of the last nine games against New York.

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Yarbrough won his 11th game of the seaosn./JEFFREY S. KING

Yarbrough won his 11th game of the season./JEFFREY S. KING

Tampa Bay's offense broke out after two subpar games in a row, led by Mallex Smith. Smith had three hits, including a double and a two-run home (his second of the season).

"Any time you go second deck in any ballpark, it's a big-boy home run," said

Lowe had his first two hits of the season./JEFFREY S. KING

Lowe had his first two hits of the season./JEFFREY S. KING

Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "Mallex has done a lot of good things. It’s been fun to watch him continue to make progress. We all were very confident in the thought that he was going to hit. But the way he’s hitting now, he’s having a lot of solid at bats and not missing pitches."

Kevin Kiermaier, Ji-Man Choi and Brandon Lowe all had two hits for the Rays.

For Lowe, it snapped a 0-for-19 skid since he was brought up from the minors. That was the second longest slump to start a career in Rays history

Chaz Roe worked his way out of trouble./JEFFREY S. KING

Chaz Roe worked his way out of trouble./JEFFREY S. KING

(Stephen Vogt was 0-for-25.)

"It was starting to get frustrating," Lowe said. "A big weight was lifted off my shoulder. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to get the first one out of the way. You feel a lot lighter after you get that first one."

Rookie pitcher Ryan Yarbrough got his 11th win, largely because he is usually the second or third pitcher when the Rays use an opener, which means he's often on the mound in the fifth or sixth inning. Still, he performed well.

"We can nitpick and say he’s had an up and own season," Cash said. "In all fairness, if you look at the body of work he’s done as a rookie pitcher, he's been tremendous."

Kiermaier had two hits to break out of his slump./JEFFREY S. KING

Kiermaier had two hits to break out of his slump./JEFFREY S. KING

The Rays' Chaz Roe also had his moment in the game. After he hit Neil Walker to load the bases, Roe struck out Austin Romine and got Ronald Torreyes on a grounder to third. Replay reversed a safe call in favor of the Rays.

.The Rays close out their series with the Yankees today. Blake Snell (13-5) pitches against Masahiro Tanaka (9-3) in a game that begins at 1:05 p.m.

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