The Tampa Bay Rays have life in the race for the American League Wild Card! After eight innings from Tropicana Field, the Rays have pulled to within a run at 7-6.
After David Price was shelled for six runs in four innings and the offense managing just two hits through six innings, the bats awakened in the eight for the Rays as they scored six runs, highlighted by Evan Longoria’s three run home run off Yankees reliever Luis Ayala.
The Yankee’s “pitcher by committee” strategy had been highly effective through the first seven innings thanks to strong outings from Phil Hughes, AJ Burnett and Aaron Laffey. But, in the pivotal inning, the wheels came off when Andrew Brackman, Ayala and Boone Logan struggled with control.
The first two runs came via walks to Sam Fuld and Sean Rodriguez, BJ Upton hit a sacrifice fly with the bases load, and then Longoria cleared the remaining base runners with one swing.