No Yankee fan should dare try using the excuse and blame Robertson of blowing the save or/and game. ONE run and in the very first inning is all the Yankee offense could muster up! Oh yes Neuman did pitch great but the Yanks left 8 men on base. But then again, the Rays left 11 on base, so they had more opportunities. Either way, did Robertson blow the game? Did the Rays squander scoring opportunities? Or maybe the Yanks were lucky they didn’t get bombed earlier and get blown away altogether. However you look at it, the Rays have their number, the Yankee offense is cold and starting pitching is nonexistent. We are in deep trouble and I don’t see any relief in the near future. Pettitte is a GIANT question mark! We need the offense to put BIG numbers up or we will NOT make the playoffs! Let’s go Yankees, wake up!
MLB Recap:
NEW YORK — No “Enter Sandman” blaring from the speakers at Yankee Stadium. No No. 42 running in from the bullpen. And last but not least, none of Mariano Rivera’s famed cutters were seen in the ninth inning of Wednesday night’s Rays-Yankees contest.
What the Yankees didn’t have combined with the Rays’ never-say-die attitude set up a four-run top of the ninth and a 4-1 Tampa Bay win with 38,024 watching.
The win snapped the Rays’ losing streak at three games and pushed the club to 20-11 on the season.
With the Rays trailing, 1-0, Sean Rodriguez led off the ninth against newly anointed Yankees closer Dave Robertson by lacing a single through the left side of the infield. Pinch-hitter Brandon Allen then singled to right and moved to second on Nick Swisher’s throw, putting runners on second and third with no outs.
Ben Zobrist drew a walk to load the bases before Carlos Pena struck out looking. B.J. Upton then hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored Rodriguez and tied the score at 1.
That brought Matt Joyce to the plate with a disturbing stat staring him in the face: Rays hitters were in the midst of a streak of 20 consecutive hitless at-bats with runners in scoring position, dating back to Sunday’s loss to the Athletics.
Robertson got ahead in the count, 1-2. But after fouling off the fourth successive curveball he saw, Joyce connected on Robertson’s fifth pitch, a fastball that Joyce said “got a little bit too much of the plate.” As the ball sailed out toward right field, Joyce crumpled to the ground after rolling his left ankle in the batter’s box. He recovered in time to see the ball clear the wall for a three-run homer that gave the Rays a three-run cushion.
“It’s always great to come up with a big hit like that, especially against the Yankees,” Joyce said. “And it’s just hard to celebrate when you’re lying on the ground after you rolled your ankle.”
Joyce managed to get around the bases in Kirk Gibson fashion — minus the fist-pumping — return to the dugout and get his ankle taped so he could play defense in the bottom of the ninth.
Falling down “hurt my pride a little bit, but after the ball went over the fence I think the pride got a good kick,” Joyce said. “Knowing it was a home run made it definitely easier to run around the bases.”
The Rays’ ninth-inning outburst erased a night full of offensive frustrations that saw the team strand 11 runners. So the dramatic end felt like a soothing tonic to the offense…..Read More
Box Score and Highlights:
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