Yankees 5, Rays 1
The New York Yankees were facing elimination against the Tampa Bay Rays as Jordan Montgomery threw a 92.4 mph sinker for a first pitch strike to Yandy Diaz. By the time Aroldis Chapman threw a 99.7 mph fastball past Mike Brosseau, they had comfortably stayed alive Thursday night. The Yankees offense came through with two home runs, but it was the the pitching that came up in the big spot.
The Yankees put together a well-rounded performance with 11 hits while allowing three, for a 5-1 final.
Great Yankees Pitching
More than length, the Yankees needed quality innings out of Montgomery. The failed opener experiment in Game Two and a surprising bad start from Masahiro Tanaka in Game Three saw the Yankees pitching fail to keep them in the game, Tanaka, Deivi Garcia, and J.A. Happ combined for ten earned runs in 7 2/3 innings in those games.
Montgomery did his job in a gritty performance. He mixed his pitches well to cruise through the first two innings in 20 pitches He worked into and out of trouble in the next two innings, but he ultimately handed a 2-1 lead over to the Yankees top relievers. The left-handed pitcher finished with one earned run allowed on four hits and three walks in four innings. He also struck out four batters.
“I thought he was really good,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He dictated some counts, you saw some swings and misses on pitches out of the zone, and he made some big pitches when he needed to.”
After Montgomery exited, the adjective to describe the Yankees pitching went from gritty to dominant. Chad Green, Zack Britton, and Chapman combined for 15 outs while allowing one baserunner. That came on a Chapman walk to Brandon Lowe, who was the first batter he had faced since Game Two of the Wild Card Series on September 30th. Seven of the 15 outs that those three collected were strikeouts.
Probably the most impressive stat of the game was the Yankees’ ability to hold Randy Arozarena hitless. Arozarena had 11 hits in his previous four games before Thursday night.
Rays Pitching Held Up
The Rays pitching did not perform terribly, and it was a 2-1 game until the sixth inning. However, their opener combination of Ryan Thompson followed by Ryan Yarbrough were not able to dominate the Yankees’ bats the way that Tyler Glasnow and Charlie Morton had in Games Two and Three.
The end result was 6 2/3 combined innings while allowing four of the five runs on the night. Glasnow and Morton were able to miss bats, but Thompson and Yabrough were not, striking out three. Also, the Yankees were more patient , drawing more walks, showing Thompson and Yarbrough’s inability to fool them on breaking pitches out of the zone.
Rays Unable Capitalize Offensively
The Rays had their opportunities to capitalize against Montgomery, but they were unable to do so which cost them the game.
In the third and fourth innings, the Rays put the leadoff man on. In the third inning, they built off of the leadoff walk to load the bases although they could not record a hit. Their lone run came on a fielder’s choice ground out.
In the fourth inning, a leadoff single and two-out walk provided the Rays another good scoring chance. That was cut short by a Kevin Kiermaier ground out. Those proved to be the best chances the Rays would get all game so their inability to seize momentum was detrimental.
Yankees Struck Early
While the Yankees left 11 men on base, they were able to come through when they needed to. Luke Voit‘s solo home run and DJ LeMahieu‘s sacrifice fly in the second inning gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead they never surrendered. They tacked on with a two-run home run from Gleyber Torres in the sixth, and a two-out, two-strike RBI single from Kyle Higashioka.
“We’re always looking to get the lead early, and that was our game plan today and that was what happened,” Voit said.
Outlook
The Yankees pitching will again need to be a major factor in Game Five. Gerrit Cole will pitch on short rest for the first time in his career after the Yankees’ three most trusted relievers gave significant length, albeit efficiently, on Thursday. Throw in that Glasnow will start for the Rays on two days rest and there is no shortage of drama ahead of Friday’s series finale between the Yankees and Rays.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
