Friday, 4 a.m.
At first glance, maybe there is something different about these New York Yankees.
You remember the Yankees, the old Bronx Plodders, a team that always tried to ride its power to victory. But they were a station-to-station team that seemed confused when the power wasn’t on.
Is that ending? The new-look Yankees exploded late to crush the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-2, pulling away late to increase their lead in the AL East to 5 1/2 games. For most of the night, the Rays were smothered by Nestor Cortes, scoring only in the bottom of the ninth.
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“He came in as one of the better pitchers in baseball, and he certainly showed us why,” Rays’ manager Kevin Cash said. “We faced him last year and he was good. He looks like he’s elevated his game. He showed us a lot of deception. The fastball kind of jumps in on you, and the cutter plays off of that.”
The Rays stayed with the Yankees for awhile. Ryan Yarbrough threw a no-hitter through five innings. But the key play came with New York leading 1-0. With two out, Miguel Andujar grounded to Taylor Walls, who fielded the ball but stumbled as he threw. The ball skipped, and first baseman Harold Ramirez was unable to catch it. It was Walls’ seventh error of the year.
“In fairness to Wallsy, the guy playing first hasn’t had a lot of reps over there,” Cash said. “I’m sure Wallsy will be the first to say he could have made a better throw. It looked like his footing got tangled and he rushed the throw.”
The teams play again tonight at 7:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Jeffrey Springs starts for the Rays against Jameson Taillon.