The New York Yankees lose but Exit Sandman is a win

The New York Yankees lose but Exit Sandman is a win


The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the New York Yankees 4-0 on Thursday night. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and pitched very well. The Yankees offense only managed three hits.

Nova pitched seven innings giving up eight hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out five and lost his sixth game of the season. Dellin Betances pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a walk and a strikeout, Mariano Rivera pitched 1 1/3 innings and Matt Daley pitched to one batter and struck him out.

Eduardo Nunez had a hit, Robinson Cano drew a walk and Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk. Lyle Overbay had a hit, Granderson hit a double and the Yankees were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and left three men on base. Granderson and Overbay each had a stolen base.

Alex Cobb won his 11th game of the season pitching seven innings giving up three hits. He didn’t give up a run, walked two and struck out four. Joel Peralta pitched a perfect inning with a couple of strikeouts and Jake McGee pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.

Ben Zobrist had two hits, Wil Myers had a hit and James Loney had three hits and drew a walk. Evan Longoria had two hits and three RBI, David DeJesus drew a walk and In Delmon Young had two hits and an RBI. Luke Scott had a hit, Loney hit a double and Young hit a homerun. The Rays were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Scott was caught stealing.

Longoria hit an RBI single in the fourth giving the Rays a 1-0 lead. In the seventh Young hit a solo homerun to extend the lead to 2-0. In the eighth Longoria hit a two run single to push the lead to 4-0. The final score was 4-0 and the game was an afterthought. It was Mariano Rivera final home appearance of his career. It became a perfect and eloquent sendoff. Mariano faced four batters and retired them all and then was taken out of the game by two fellow core four members. Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter his longtime teammates came out to get him and a very moving scene took place. Rivera broke down and bear hugged Pettitte then he also hugged Jeter and those three shared a very tender moment. It was one time where the rule was broken, there was crying in baseball.

The Yankees record fell to 82-77 and the Rays record improved to 90-69. The Yankees will go to Houston and play their last three games of the season in Houston.