ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees’ flight landed around 8:15 the night before, or just about the time the Tampa Bay Rays were beginning an epic game against the Boston Red Sox that stretched for 16 innings and nearly six hours. As the Yankees unwound, the Rays exhausted their bullpen, a development with significant repercussions Monday night.
Because of that overworked bullpen, the Rays were forced to bring in Alex Torres, who was called up Monday, to make his major league debut with the score tied in the top of the ninth. He issued three straight two-out walks, forcing in Curtis Granderson with the winning run. The Yankees erased an early three-run deficit to escape with a 5-4 victory in a game delayed for 18 minutes by a power outage.
After aiding in their eighth-inning comeback, Russell Martin worked a full count against Torres in the ninth before laying off a high changeup. “I just knew right away,” Martin said.
The victory rewarded a stellar effort by the Yankees’ bullpen, which worked three and two-thirds scoreless innings in relief of A. J. Burnett, and the headiness of Brett Gardner, whose forceful takeout slide in the eighth disrupted a potential double play, allowing Nick Swisher to score the tying run.
“You’ve got to do what you can to try to get that run across,” Gardner said, adding: “I’m definitely not trying to hurt anybody. That’s my job — to go in hard and make it difficult for him to turn it.”
The Yankees remained one and a half games behind Boston in the American League East while widening their advantage over third-place Tampa Bay, their closest competition in the wild-card race, to six and a half games. The teams’ last three games have been decided by one run, with the Yankees winning them all.
Even as Burnett sputtered early, allowing four runs in the first two innings, it could be argued that the Yankees held an advantage. The Rays needed eight relievers to work the final eight innings Sunday night, a day after using five relievers over the last three innings.
“When you get to their bullpen, they’re not going to have all their guys to use,” Martin said. “They can’t really match up like they normally would.”
Over 16 innings Sunday night and into Monday, the Rays managed three hits. They matched that total in four batters against Burnett, who allowed a walk, a single, a two-run double by Evan Longoria and another single, all within the first 11 pitches. Three runs wound up scoring, and another followed in the second. Not for lack of trying — he did, after all, put 14 runners on base — but Burnett did not give up another run, affording his teammates time to come back.
From the Rays’ factory of talented pitching prospects came Alex Cobb, a 23-year-old right-hander who arrived from Class AAA on Sunday night during the middle of the 1-0 loss to the Red Sox. That game ended at 1:54 a.m. Monday. Not 10 minutes later, Cobb was on the synthetic turf playing catch. Eighteen hours later, he was befuddling the Yankees.
His splitter and curve earned praise before the game from Yankees Manager Joe Girardi, and Cobb used those pitches to keep the Yankees off the base paths. He allowed one hit, on a first-inning bunt single by Granderson, until the fifth inning, when with two outs Mark Teixeira knocked in a run with an infield single. That accomplishment — only Teixeira’s second run batted in since July 2, a span of 58 plate appearances — might have been too much for the baseball gods to handle.
After the next hitter, Robinson Cano, took a 2-2 pitch for a ball with the tying runs on base, the lights flickered, knocking out a bank above first base. The theme song to “The Twilight Zone” blared over the loudspeakers as confused players and coaches gazed above.
A Rays spokesman said that a bolt of lightning had hit a branch line that goes into a substation feeding Tropicana Field. All service on that line experienced an interruption, affecting about 400 customers — not to mention the 22,471 paying customers awaiting a resolution to the Cobb-Cano clash. The crew chief Ed Rapuano asked Girardi if he wanted to continue playing, but he demurred.
“That was a big time in the game, and I want the lights all on in that situation,” Girardi said.
When power was restored, Cano grounded out on the first pitch, a microcosm of the Yankees’ late-inning struggles. Teixeira piled on in the seventh, striking out with two on, before the pivotal eighth. With two on and one out, Martin rapped a single off Kyle Farnsworth, loading the bases for Gardner, whose sharp grounder followed the same trail, scoring Cano.
A third straight ground ball, this one by Eduardo Nunez, went right to shortstop Elliot Johnson. He fired to second for the out, but Gardner came in hard, knocking Sean Rodriguez off balance and causing his throw to bounce wide, pulling Casey Kotchman off first. As Gardner jogged across the diamond, a throng of Yankee fans stood and cheered, welcoming him back.
“That’s what we teach,” Girardi said.
INSIDE PITCH
The Yankees lost some flexibility when Ramiro Pena was placed on the 15-day disabled list after undergoing an emergency appendectomy. His timetable for a return is unclear. To replace Pena, the Yankees promoted the 23-year-old third baseman Brandon Laird, who will back up Eduardo Nunez. Laird’s time might be short if Eric Chavez (fractured left foot) progresses smoothly in a minor league assignment, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday with Class A Tampa.
Via the New York Times
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