The New York Yankees are shutout as they fail to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night.  The game took place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida and the final score was 2-0.  Luis Cessa started for the Yankees and he pitched well and Luis Severino pitched well again out of the pen.  Billy Butler, Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks each had two hits but no one had an extra base hit. 

Cessa pitched six innings giving up six hits and two runs with two walks and six strikeouts.  He lost his third game of the season.  Severino pitched two innings giving up a hit and he struck out three. 

Blake Snell won his sixth game of the season pitching five innings and giving up five hits and no runs with three walks and six strikeouts.  Chase Whitley pitched 2 2/3 innings giving up two hits and no runs with no walks and three strikeouts and Alex Colome pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and recorded his 35th save of the season. 

Brett Gardner had a hit, Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit and Gary Sanchez drew two walks.  Butler had two hits, Mark Teixeria drew a walk and Gregorius had two hits.  Hicks had two hits and the Yankees were 0-8 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.  Sanchez had a pickoff. 

Logan Forsythe had a hit, Kevin Kiermaier had three hits and Brad Miller had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk.  Corey Dickerson had a hit and an RBI, Curt Casali had a hit and Richie Shaffer drew a walk.  Casali hit a double, Dickerson hit a homerun and the Rays were 1-4 with four men left on base.  Kiermaier was caught stealing and Casali was picked off.  Forsythe committed an error and Casali had a passed ball. 

In the first Miller hit an RBI single to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.  In the sixth Dickerson hit a solo homerun to push the lead to 2-0.  2-0 would be the final score. 

The Yankees won two out of three and will head to Toronto to start a four game series on Friday night.  It will be the last road series of the year as the Yankees will then come back home for their final six games of the season. 

New York Yankees end their losing streak with a victory in Tampa Bay

The New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.  The game took place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida and the final score was 5-3.  Michael Pineda started for the Yankees and he pitched well and the bullpen was pretty good.  Billy Butler and Ronald Torreyes each had two hits and Gary Sanchez had three RBI. 

Pineda pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up five hits and two runs with a walk and 11 strikeouts.  Tommy Layne pitched to one batter and struck him out, Luis Severino pitched 1 1/3 innings striking out one and he won his third game of the season and Tyler Clippard pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with two strikeouts.  Dellin Betances pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and recorded his 12th save of the season.  

Drew Smyly pitched six innings giving up four hits and a run with two walks and three strikeouts.  Brad Boxberger lost his third game of the season pitching an inning and giving up four hits and four runs with a strikeout and Eddie Gamboa pitched two innings giving up two hits and two walks with a couple of strikeouts. 

Brett Gardner had a hit and an RBI, Aaron Hicks had a hit and drew a walk and Sanchez had a hit, three RBI and drew two walks.  Butler had two hits, Mark Teixeira had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Didi Gregorius had a hit.  Torreyes had two hits, Mason Williams had a hit and Butler hit two doubles.  Teixeira and Sanchez each hit a homerun.  The Yankees were 2-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.  Gardner had a stolen base. 

Logan Forsythe had two hits, Evan Longoria had two hits and Brad Miller had two hits and two RBI.  Alexei Ramirez drew a walk, Longoria hit a double and Miller and Forsythe each hit a triple.  The Rays were 1-3 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. 

In the third Miller hit a two run triple to give the Rays a 2-0 lead.  In the fourth Teixeira hit a homerun to cut the lead to 2-1.  In the seventh Gardner hit an RBI single to tie the game at two.  Sanchez hit a three run homerun to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead still in the seventh.  In the eighth a wild pitch cut the lead to 5-3 and that would be the final score. 

The two teams will play game two of three on Wednesday night. 

The Yankees offensive woes continue in Kansas City as they drop another one

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Kansas City Royals by the score of 5-1 on Saturday night. The game was in Kansas City, Missouri and the Royals came into this series 0-10 at home. The Royals have now taken two out of the first three games of the series. The Yankees scored three runs in three games against the Orioles at home before this series. Although they have done a little better in the three games here so far, they scored once Saturday night and were shutout on Thursday night. They did score six runs on Friday night but four of them came in one inning. The Yankees offense is very anemic right now and they need to get it turned around. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and didn’t make it past the fifth inning. The bullpen did ok but not great. Curtis Granderson led the Yankees offense with a couple of hits. 
Kuroda pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up three runs on six hits with two of them being earned. He walked three and struck out two. Kuroda is now 2-4 on the season. Clay Rapada faced one batter and retired him, Cody Eppley pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit, two runs and a walk and Boone Logan pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk. Freddy Garcia pitched two innings giving up a walk and striking out one. Felipe Paulino picked up his first win for the Royals. He pitched six innings giving up four hits and no runs with two walks and six strikeouts. Jose Mijares pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run and struck out one batter, Kelvin Herrera pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and struck out one and Tim Collins pitched one inning giving up a hit and striking out a batter.

Granderson had two hits, Alex Rodriguez drew a walk and Robinson Cano had a hit. Raul Ibanez had a hit, Russell Martin had three hits and an RBI and Eduardo Nunez had a hit and drew a walk. Granderson had two doubles, Martin and Nunez each had one. Martin also hit a homerun. The Yankees were 0-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. They have had a big problem with that this year, last year as well especially in the postseason. Jeter committed an error

Tyler Dyson had an RBI for the Royals. Alex Gordon had four hits and an RBI, Billy Butler had two hits and three RBI and drew a walk and Eric Hosmer drew a walk. Jeff Francoeur had a hit and drew a walk, Mike Moustakas drew a walk and Chris Getz drew two walks. Alex Escobar had a hit. Butler had two doubles and Gordon had a double. The Royals were 3-14 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Escobar and Getz each had a stolen base. Francoeur had an outfield assist.

In the first inning Butler hit a two run double giving the Royals a 2-0 lead. In the fifth Butler had an RBI double extending the lead to 3-0. In the sixth Dyson hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 and Gordon hit an RBI double to make it 5-0. The Yankees scored their only run on a Martin homerun in the seventh inning.

The Yankees record dropped to 14-13 and the Royals improved their record to 9-17. The two teams will wrap up their four game series on Sunday afternoon. The Yankees will go for the split and the Royals will be looking to take three out of four. Phil Hughes will make the start in maybe his final audition as they could move him back to the bullpen with the loss of Mariano Rivera. The Yankees offense just has not been able to get going. They have sorely missed Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher but they still have guys in the lineup that can get it done. They just aren’t producing right now and it is frustrating.