Yankees Sweep Series With Rays, Win 2-1 on Anthony Rizzo's Walk-Off Home Run
NEW YORK — It may have been a full year since the Tampa Bay Rays had been swept in a series of three games or more, but the issues behind the sweep that came Thursday night when the New York Yankees beat them 2-1 are very fresh.
And very real. And very current.
The Rays just can't hit anymore. For the third straight night in the Bronx, they wasted an outstanding pitching performance of their own in a loss to the front-running Yankees, who now have won a stadium-record 14 games in a row and have baseball's best record at 47-16. The Yankees are a full 12 games ahead of the Rays, who are now just 35-28 after losing five of the first six games on this road trip that started in Minnesota and finishes this weekend in Baltimore.
Thursday's loss was hard to swallow because the Rays got another full day of great pitching, even on an ''opener'' day for the first time since May 20. Jalen Beeks was ''opened'' the game after Drew Rasmussen was forced to miss his start with a hamstring injury, and he started the parade of seven Rays pitchers, none of whom pitched more than two innings. Beeks and Matt Wisler each pitched two innings to start the game, not allowing any hits.
The Yankees have the top offense in the American League, but they got only four hits Thursday night. First baseman Anthony Rizzo had two of them, including an RBI single in the fifth inning off of struggling Rays reliever Ryan Thompson. Thompson had walked two batters prior to Rizzo's hit.
Rizzo also hit the game-winner, a solo home run off of reliever Shawn Armstrong in the bottom of the ninth to give them the 2-1 win.
RIZZ😲
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 17, 2022
Yankees walk it off for the sweep🧹👏
(via @Yankees) pic.twitter.com/dy9KqrC2jE
That was an odd spot for Armstrong, pitching in a tense tie game in the ninth inning. And Rizzo, who has 267 career home runs, got the best of him.
“Shawn, give him credit, that’s not a role that we use him in that much,” Cash said. “I like the way his stuff has trended, but Anthony Rizzo’s done that to a lot of people.”
The Rays had only three hits themselves, a fifth-inning solo home run by Francisco Mejia and harmless singles from Yandy Diaz in the first inning and Harold Ramirez in the fifth, who got on with an infield hit but then was immediately caught stealing just prior to Mejia's home run.
This was the first sweep of the Rays since they lost four games in Seattle from June 17-20 last year. It was the first time they were swept at Yankee Stadium in three years.
Tampa Bay hitters scored only four runs total during the three games. They hit just .177 during the series — 17 for 96 — and 14 of the 17 hits were singles. Had they been able to put together any kind of rallies, the outcomes could have been different every night.
That's how good the pitching was. The Rays allowed only three earned runs the entire series. The Yanks scored eight times total, with those five unearned runs making a big difference, especially since the miscues all came on routine plays.
The Rays now head to Baltimore for the second time this season, looking to snap out of their funk. They play Friday night in an early 6:05 p.m. ET start, then play at 4:05 p.m. on Saturday and 1:35 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Watch Kevin Cash's postgame press conference
"We're frustrated, there's no doubt."@RaysBaseball manager Kevin Cash says the team is in a tough stretch right now but that the team is going to pull out of it. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/LOJs9QU6JL
— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) June 17, 2022
Related stories on Rays baseball
- KIERMAIER INJURED: Tampa Bay center fielder Kevin Kiermaier was forced to leave Wednesday night's game in New York because of some tightness in his calf and Achilles area. He said it's been bothering him for about a week, but got worse on Wednesday and made it difficult to run. CLICK HERE
- LAST PITCH TO FIRST: Starting pitchers put on a show for all to see for a couple of hours, but there are dozens of hours of work that take place behind the scenes in between starts. Tampa Bay pitcher Drew Rasmussen took on his journey between games last month, from the last pitch to the first pitch the next time out. CLICK HERE
- RASMUSSEN TO IL WITH HAMSTRING INJURY: Tampa Bay right-hander Drew Rasmussen, the No. 2 man in its starting rotation, was placed on the 15-day injured list on Wednesday with a left hamstring strain. He's made all 12 of his starts this season, and has five wins. He had been scheduled to pitch on Thursday in New York. CLICK HERE
- YANKS BENEFIT FROM MORE UNEARNED RUNS (Wednesday): Brett Phillips dropped an easy fly ball in the fifth inning, and it led to three unearned runs after Kyle Higashioka hit a three-run homer off of Rays starter Shane McClanahan It was the third straight day Tampa Bay outfielders committed errors on routine plays. This one led to a 4-3 Yankees victory. CLICK HERE
- YANKEES WIN OPENER (Tuesday): A pair of bad errors in the fourth inning by Tampa Bay outfielders Manuel Margot and Randy Arozarena were all that the New York Yankees needed to win 2-0 on Tuesday night in the first game of an important three-game series at Yankee Stadium. CLICK HERE
- DIAZ SAYS 'I WAS SAFE: A questionable overturned call in the sixth inning flipped the script for the Tampa Bay Rays in their game with the New York Yankees on Tuesday night. Yandy Diaz was called out at second base after a review, but he said "I think a 5-year-old would have been able to see that I was safe at second.'' CLICK HERE
- RAYS 2022 SCHEDULE: Here is the Rays' complete schedule for 2022, with results and stats thus far, and gametimes and locations for the rest of the year. CLICK HERE
Tom Brew is the publisher of Inside The Rays, and has been with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation network for three years. He is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his four-decade career at the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has written four books.