BRONX, NY — Although it’s early in the baseball season, we can all agree: the matchup between the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees is one of the most entertaining and competitive affairs across Major League Baseball.
Tampa Bay, currently sitting at 30-11 (best record in MLB), leading the sport in an assortment of statistical categories, have kept their foot on the gas pedal while the Bronx Bombers, 23-18 (4th in American League East), are grinding tooth and nail to remain in the division race.
To start off, with six games played in the season series and seven left to go, it’s even at 3-3, while Tampa Bay leads New York in runs scored by a slim margin: 36-31. Uniquely enough, in the last six calendar days, both teams have erased six-run deficits against one another to later come out victorious…
DJ LeMahieu slides in safely at home during Yankees sixth inning rally – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
“These are some of the funnest games we’ve played all year,” Yankees Aaron Judge said on Saturday afternoon following New York’s 9-8 come from behind victory over the Rays. “They’re bringing it every single night and we’re bringing it every single night. It’s a lot of dirty at-bats, grinding at-bats.”
Grinding at-bats was an understatement as ‘Saturday’s Main Event’ lasted three hours and nine minutes.
Aaron Judge, 2022 American League MVP – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Nevertheless, Judge was a catalyst in the win, going 2-4 with two HR and four RBI, marking his 29th career multi-HR game, which ties Alex Rodriguez for fifth all-time in Yankees franchise history. In addition, Judge leads all of MLB since the start of 2017 with 224 home runs.
On the other side, for the Rays, Yandy Díaz (Sagua la Grande, Cuba), hit his first career grand slam, and now has 10 HR on the season — becoming the second Rays player with 10 HR this year (Randy Arozarena) and fifth with 22 or more RBI (Díaz, Arozarena, Josh Lowe, Wander Franco, Isaac Paredes).
Yandy Díaz and Rays in massive five-run fifth inning against Yankees – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Likewise, seven players in the Rays starting lineup for Saturday entered the game with a .250 batting average or higher.
Despite their power and tenacity in the lineup, defiant on Randy Arozarena (Havana, Cuba) and Wander Franco (Baní, Dominican Republic), Tampa Bay failed to execute in the clutch, leaving 16 runners on base.
“I felt like we were ready to go, a lot of aggressive swings,” Tampa Bay’s manager Kevin Cash said about the team’s offensive approach.
Randy Arozarena – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Furthermore, Arozarena and Franco, previous recipients of the American League LatinoMVP Rookie Award, combined to go 4-9 with three RBI and two runs scored. Jose Siri (Sabana Grande de Boya, Dominican Republic), a finalist for the 2022 LatinoMVP AL Rookie Award, played lockdown defense in center field, and at-the-plate, finished the day 0-3 with a walk and a run scored.
Jose Siri – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
What’s Next For Rays-Yanks?
The series finale will take place tomorrow Sunday May 14th with first pitch set for 1:35 pm ET. On the mound, Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt (1-3, 5.35 ERA) goes up against Rays Zach Eflin (4-1, 2.91 ERA).
Following Sunday, the Rays and Yankees will next meet in late-July/early August for a three-game series at Yankee Stadium (Monday July 31- Wednesday August 2nd).
Robert Rizzo is a journalist and co-editor of Latino Sports – Email: RobertRiz994@gmail.com
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