The New York Yankees salvage the final game of the series in Tampa Bay

The New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 6-4 on Wednesday night. The game took place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and didn’t pitch so well. The Yankees bullpen was great, Derek Jeter and Russell Martin led the offense. Matt Moore started for the Rays and pitched ok, their offense was led by Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria. 
Kuroda pitched six innings giving up eight hits and four runs with two walks and three strikeouts. Kuroda lost his 10^th game of the season, Boone Logan pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and striking out two and Dave Robertson pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and striking out two. Rafael Soriano picked up his 36^th save of the season pitching a perfect inning. Moore lost his ninth game of the season pitching 6 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and six runs with four of them being earned. He walked one and struck out nine, Kyle Farnsworth pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and a strikeout, Jake McGee pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts and Wade Davis struck out the sides in a perfect inning.

Jeter had three hits, Robinson Cano drew two walks and Alex Rodriguez had a hit and an RBI. Martin had two hits and three RBI, Andruw Jones had a hit and Steve Pearce had a hit. Rodriguez, Martin and Jeter each hit a double and Martin hit a homerun. The Yankees were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Jeter had a stolen base.

Sam Fuld had a hit and a walk, Desmond Jennings had a hit and drew a walk and Zobrist had a hit and two RBI. Longoria had two hits and an RBI, Matt Joyce had a hit and Luke Scott had a hit and an RBI. Jeff Keppinger had a hit, Lobaton had a hit and drew a walk and he hit a double. Zobrist hit a triple and Scott hit a homerun. The Rays were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Elliott Johnson committed an error.

Longoria hit an RBI single in the first to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. In the fourth the Yankees scored three runs to take the lead. Rodriguez hit an RBI double and Martin hit a two run double. In the fifth Zobrist hit a two run triple to tie the game at three, Martin hit a solo homerun in the sixth to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the sixth Scott hit a solo homerun to tie the game at four. The Yankees took the lead for good in the seventh inning. Jeter reached on a fielders choice, a run scored and then another on an error. The final was 6-4 Yankees as their bullpen shut the Rays down.

The Yankees salvaged the final game of the three game series. The Yankees record improved to 77-59. The Rays record dropped to 75-62. The Rays dropped to 2 ½ games back of the Yankees in the AL East. The Yankees are back in sole possession of first place with a one game lead over the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees will begin a four game series in Baltimore on Thursday night.