SF. PETERSBURG, Florida – It took the newest Yankee to be most successful.
Rougned Odor, who played his first game since arriving in a Rangers deal, delivered a double RBI single in the 10th inning on Sunday to lead the winning race before the Yankees retreat for a win with 8-4 over Rays.
A three-game losing streak erupted and came after the Yankees had plenty of previous chances to take the lead – and failed.
Aaron Judge started 10th on the second and Aaron Hicks was trampled by a pitch by Collin McHugh. Mike Tauchman gave Gleyber Torres a quick hug as he left the field.
With the pitch inside, Torres came close and Willy Adames easily threw the Judge on the plate.
As it looked like the Yankees were ready to squander another opportunity, Odor – designated to be assigned by the Rangers before Opening Day – gave his first hit as a Yankee to score Hicks.
Gary Sanchez followed with a simple score to make it 6-4 and Gio Urshela then came up with the fourth hit of the day, an RBI single on the right that also scored Sanchez when Manuel Margot let the ball go. He passes.
Albert Abreu, just mentioned on the alternative site, finished the game with a score without a 10th score.
Before the match, Aaron Boone insisted that his team is ready to break out, despite recent poor performance.
“If the guys we have, as talented as they are, go there regularly, stringing the rat together, I promise you the results will be there,” Boone said. “And someone will have to pay for the fights this first week.”
That turned out to be Rays – at least in the 10th.
With an earlier half, the Yankees bats were still lost because they found a way not to score in a wild ninth.
Urshela started the half with a hard ball in the middle, which a diving Adames deflected in the right field, allowing Urshela to reach second place for a double lead.
Brett Gardner did not beat Urshela in third place and took a walk.
DJ LeMahieu then hit a grounder in the third to force Urshela, but Kevin Padlo’s throwing error allowed Gardner to finish third and LeMahieu to finish second.
With Judge on the set, Diego Castillo jumped on a field and Gardner started to come home, but receiver Mike Zunino took it from the air and Gardner was caught in a summary for the second outing.
Judge followed by briefly grounding to end the threat.
Torres tied it with an RBI single in the eighth, but the Yankees’ struggles with the scorers in the scoring position continued.
The back-and-forth game was also a drama, as warnings were issued to both banks after Jordan Montgomery punched Austin Meadows in the shoulder at the bottom of the first half.
Then Montgomery hit Meadows again, this time on the left wrist, with two exits and no one uncovered in the fifth. The referees met, but let Montgomery stay in the game.
It was the fourth time in this series that a Rays batter was hit with a pitch.
Montgomery put the Yankees in a hole in the second.
He allowed Mike Brosseau to gain a single advantage and, after a couple of flights, Zunino crushed a 3-2 change in the left seats to give the Rays a 2-0 advantage.
It was short-lived as Tampa Bay opener Brent Honeywell Jr. was eliminated after two perfect innings in his MLB debut and replaced by former Michael Wacha.
The first four Yankees Wacha faced the base, Urshela throws a two-run shot to the center, which went about 453 feet, scoring Gary Sanchez to tie the game at 2-2.
Gardner reached a single field and moved into third place on LeMahieu’s double rule on the right. A walk to the Judge loaded Hicks’ bases, which came into double play.
He scored for Gardner, but helped Wacha escape the half, as he then led Giancarlo Stanton to strong ground in the third to maintain 3-2.
Wacha withdrew the last nine fights he faced before being replaced by Cody Reed to start the seventh.