The Tampa Bay Rays bounced back from a rough weekend against the Detroit Tigers with a series-opening win against the New York Yankees. Tampa got a couple solo shots from B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena and then took advantage of a rare Mark Teixeira error to plate the winning run for the 4-3 victory.
Matt Moore had a rough start giving up four hits and two runs in the first inning by the young lefty settled in from there to keep his team in it. B.J. Upton cut the lead in half with a towering shot that flew into the first few rows of the left field bleachers after his patented pull follow-through. Pena then evened it up two innings later with a 400-foot bomb to right.
But the winning rally came together in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Dave Robertson came on in relief of Boone Logan. The first batter he faced was Brooks Conrad, who was pinch-hitting for Will Rhymes. Conrad came through will a clutch double ripped to deep right that scored the Sean Rodriguez to tie it at 3-3. Conrad would then score the winning run after Elliot Johnson sent a grounder to Teixeira, who committed his first error of the season at a costly time.
Joel Peralta and Fernando Rodney cleaned up the final two innings to make the one-run lead hold up. Both relievers went 1-2-3 and Rodney was nearly hitting triple digits on the radar gun. James Shields will take the mound on Tuesday for a potential series-clincher against the red-hot division rivals. Ivan Nova will take the ball for Joe Girardi.
Read more about the Rays at DRaysBay. For more in-depth coverage on the other side, visit Yankees blog Pinstripe Alley. Go to Baseball Nation for additional news and notes around the league.