Wednesday, 3 a.m.
Eventually, the streaks were bound to end. After all, the Tampa Bay Rays couldn't win forever, as much as it looked as if that was their plan.
The Rays lost for just the second time in 18 games Tuesday night, falling 5-3 in 11 innings to the New York Yankees. The Yankees snapped a 3-3 tie with Clint Frazier's two-out, two-run homer for the victory.
Tampa Bay could muster just three hits for the night -- Including home runs by Austin Meadows (again) and Kevin Kiermaier. But the team was scoreless after the fifth inning.
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"Austin comes up with the big two-run homer, and we couldn’t get anything going," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "(Domingo) German did a nice job. They went aggressive to the bullpen. We were teetering on breaking something open, but we never could. We did a good job of getting guys on base and taking our walks, but the big hit really eluded us for whatever reason."
The Rays lost a 2-0 lead in the third inning when starter Tyler Glasnow lost the strike zone. He walked two -- one with the bases loaded -- and threw a wild pitch as the Yankees tied the game.
"He threw the ball really, really well," Cash said. "You take away the two in the third inning when it got out of whack. Give Tyler a lot of credit for being able to reset it there and go as deep as he did and be as dominating as he was."
Glasnow said the third inning had nothing to do with a cut on his thumb.
“I think I got out of rhythm, Glasnow said. "Today, in general, it was hard for me to get a feel for my pitches."
After Glasnow went seven innings, J.P. Feyereisen and Pete Fairbanks threw a shutout inning each. Kittridge's gopher ball came in his second inning of work.
"I hung a slider," Kittredge said. "It was supped to be down and away and it was middle in. I haven’t looked at it. From what I saw on the mound, it looked middle in. I just didn’t execute it. I think it was the right pitch, I've just got to get it down and away."
For the Rays, it was a night of streaks being broken. The team had won five straight games, and 16 of its previous 17. It had won nine of its last 10 at Yankee Stadium.
Before Frazier's homer, he made a deciding defensive play in the eighth inning. With runners on first and third, Joey Wendle blooped a ball toward right field. Frazier dove and caught the ball at the last minute or the game might not have reached extra innings.
The Rays will play the Yankees again tonight at 7:05 p.m. at Yankee Stadium. Shane McClanahan will pitch for Tampa Bay against Jordan Montgomery.