Wednesday, 4 a.m.
Isn't it time the Tampa Bay Rays stopped talking about the playoffs?
Oh, the numbers say one thing. Reality says something else. Right now, the Rays are closer to the AL East cellar than they are to being nrelevant baseball team.
The Rays, well, were bombed Tuesday night. The Yankees clubbed nine home runs in a 13-3 route of Tampa Bay. The Yanked had three home runs in a row in the first inning (Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton), and back-to-backers (Ben Rice, Stanton) in the fourth. Stanton, Bellinger and Jose Caballero all had two homers each.
The nine homers in a game were a franchise-most given up by Rays' pitchers.
In all, the Yankees had more than 3,000 feet of home runs. They fell short of the MLB record of 10 homers in a game.
Shane Baz was lit up again as a Rays' starter. Only once in his last six starts has he lasted until the fifth inning.
The Rays managed just eight hits, two each by Christopher Morel and Jake Mangum.
The Rays and Yankees play again tonight at 7:35 p.m. at Steinbrenner Field. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Cam Schlittler.