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After nearly three weeks of offensive ineptitude, the Yankees erupted Thursday and that enabled them to split with Tampa Bay and get back to within four games in the AL East. To read the whole report, please upgrade your subscription. I have to keep asking, because not many have done so. Lets get to it.
When the Yankees flew down to Tampa Bay to start the biggest series of the season, every one of us were wishing they would find a way to win three of four and cut into the Rays’ lead in the AL East, but deep down we were going to be pretty satisfied if they could somehow manage a split in a ballpark where they typically fare very poorly.
That’s because this could not have been a worse time for this four-game set to pop up because the Rays were coming into it red hot and the Yankees were quite literally the worst team in MLB for nearly three weeks.
It started well with a 5-1 win Monday, but when they lost to Ian Seymour in the Tuesday game, it felt like any chance for a split was dead because they were going to have to face Tampa Bay’s rotation studs Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen in the final two.
Things went exactly as I expected Wednesday in a lifeless 3-0 loss to McClanahan, but let’s give the Yankees credit because Thursday afternoon they rocked Rasmussen, a guy who has owned them, knocking him out in the third inning on the way to a shocking 12-run offensive explosion that literally came out of nowhere.
So, they got the split they really needed and they left that hell hole in Tampa exactly where they were when they arrived - four games back in the AL East, five in the loss column which is a whole lot better than what it could have been. It’s funny, that’s exactly what I said back in May when Aaron Judge ended a four-game losing streak to the Rays with a walk-off homer. Had they lost that game, they would have been 5.5 back, seven in the loss column.
Brian Cashman joined the Yankees on the trip to Tampa and met with reporters Thursday, providing some updates on several matters.
“We needed a good one like that,” said Ryan McMahon, whose RBI double at the end of a 12-pitch at bat against Rasmussen ignited a six-run third inning. “We needed a good one like that where we stacked good at-bats, had good energy against a really good baseball team. That team over there, they’re definitely a tough squad. To do it against them definitely feels good.”
Before the game, GM Brian Cashman met with reporters and provided some important updates.
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