With the trade deadline approaching the New York Yankees began a weekend series with AL East rival Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg. The Rays, who are looking like sellers this year with a dismal record and another rebuild looming, looked to spoil the suddenly surging Yankees who have done quite well in the second half of the season so far.
Evidently, that’s how the script would play out. Jake Odorizzi pitched well through 6.2 innings while his counterpart Ivan Nova wasn’t as sharp. Nova, whose name has been highlighted in trade rumors for the last few weeks, allowed five runs including two homers off the bat of Corey Dickerson and Logan Forsythe as he was peppered throughout his 4.1 innings of action.
The five runs that Nova was tagged for would be all that the Rays would need to score a 5-1 victory over the visiting Yankees who fall to 52-50 on the year and 23-28 away from The Bronx.
The Play: Forsythe’s bomb puts the Rays in front (+1.07 WPA)
The Yankees were put in an early hole after this solo shot by Logan Forsythe in the top of the first inning. The homer came to start the bottom of the first as Forsythe took Nova deep. As fate would have it, it was the first of two home runs that would be delivered in the inning as Dickerson would follow with a solo home run of his own three batters later.
Notes
– Jake Odorizzi and the Rays’ bullpen put Yankee hitters at bay for the most part. Only one Yankee (Headley) was able to register a multi-hit game and although the Yankees collected 10 hits, they were only able to get one run across the plate.
– Hemming off that, it was yet another dismal performance and they could not make the most of their chances as they went 1-9 with RISP.
– Mark Teixeira was the Yankee hitter to bring in the lone run of the game. With two outs in the eighth, Tex singled to centerfield to bring in outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury.
– Alex Colomé notched the save for the Rays. It was Colomé’s 23rd save of the season as he continues to set a career-high mark in that category.
The Highlight: Headley’s heads up play
Although the Bombers would find the loss column, this excellent play by Chase Headley was the highlight on the defensive side of the ball. It was as good a scoop you’ll find and perhaps the type to even make Mister Softee jealous.
Up Next
The Yankees will look to avenge the loss on Saturday evening at 6:10 p.m. ET. The probable starters for the matchup are Nathan Eovaldi (9-6, 4.80 ERA) for the Yankees and Drew Smyly (2-11, 5.42 ERA) for the Rays.
Photo: Kim Klement / USA Today Sports