Tampa Bay Rays snap New York Yankees’ five-game winning streak
By Brian Spaen
The Tampa Bay Rays end the New York Yankees’ winning streak on Friday night with four home runs by four different players.
Jose Lobaton, Evan Longoria, Matt Joyce, and Ben Zobrist all made the Yankees starter’s night a living hell. Hiroki Kuroda (11-9) would be charged for all seven runs given up. Lobaton had a three-run bomb in the second inning with two outs. He scored again in the fourth inning for a total of three RBIs on the night.
Kuroda gave up back-to-back jacks to Longoria and Joyce in the bottom of the third to make it a 5-1 lead. That happened right after Ben Zobrist hit into a double play.
Zobrist made up for it leading off the bottom of the fifth with a home run.
It may have been shaky to start, but Rays starter Chris Archer (7-5) glides to his seventh win after giving up just two runs and four hits in seven innings, also fanning four.
The Yankees went just 1-6 with runners in scoring position, while the Rays were efficient in leaving just one player on base all night.
Tampa Bay is a half game behind the Boston Red Sox, who open up a very intriguing series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the West Coast. The Yankees fall to 6.5 games back.