The Yankees let one slip away in Tampa

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 4-3. The game took place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Freddy Garcia made the start for the Yankees and pitched well. David Robertson didn’t pitch so well in relief. Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano led the Yankees offense. Matt Moore pitched ok for the Rays and the bullpen shut the Yankees down. The Rays offense was led by Will Rhymes and B.J. Upton. 
Garcia pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up two runs on five hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four. Cody Eppley pitched one inning giving up a hit, Boone Logan pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a walk and a run and Dave Robertson pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and an unearned run. Robertson suffered his third loss of the season. Clay Rapada struck out the only batter that he faced and Chad Qualls made his Yankees debut. Qualls pitched to two batters, striking out one. Moore won his fifth game of the season pitching seven innings giving up nine hits and three runs with three walks and three strikeouts. Joel Peralta pitched a perfect inning and Fernando Rodney pitched a perfect inning to earn his 23^rd save of the season.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Curtis Granderson had an RBI and Teixeira had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Alex Rodriguez had a hit and drew a walk, Cano had two hits and an RBI and Andruw Jones had a hit. Jayson Nix had a hit, Chris Stewart had a hit and drew a walk. Jeter and Teixeira each had a double. The Yankees were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Nix had a stolen base. Teixeira committed an error.

Carlos Pena had a hit and an RBI, Upton had two hits and an RBI and Jeff Keppinger had a hit. Sean Rodriguez drew a walk, Rhymes had two hits and Brooks Conrad had a hit and an RBI. Conrad had a double, Upton and Pena each had a homerun. The Rays were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base.

The Yankees jumped on the Rays scoring two runs in the first inning. Teixeira hit an RBI double and Cano hit an RBI single. In the fourth Upton hit a solo homerun to make it 2-1. Pena hit a solo homerun to tie the game at two in the sixth inning. Granderson hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2 in the seventh. Conrad hit an RBI double to tie the game at three in the seventh and an error let the fourth run score. The Rays would hold onto the 4-3 lead.

The Yankees have lost eight straight games at Tropicana Field. The Yankees and Rays will play two more games in this series. The Yankees record dropped to 48-31 and the Rays record improved to 42-38. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Tuesday night.