The Rays’ Pitching is Excellent, but Their Offense is Lacking
Jameson Taillon pitched a two-hit ball over 8 innings after Nestor Cortes, giving the Yankees their longest sequential start streak in 9 years and leading New York to a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.
Gleyber Torres led off the fourth inning with a solo home run off Jeffrey Springs (2-2), and Matt Carpenter homered afterward in the inning in his second match with the Yankees.
By winning the 1st two games of the four-game series, the Yankees built a 6 1/2-game lead over the Rays. The Yankees won their fourth straight game after a season-low 3 losing streak to continue improving to 33-13, the best start in the majors since the Seattle Mariners started 34-12 in 2001.
Taillon (5-1) has gone 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA in his last seven starts, striking out 5 and walking none even as striking out on 62 of 93 pitches. He had not received an out in the eighth inning since August 7, 2018, when he pitched his second big league complete game for Pittsburgh at Colorado.
Cortes pitched eight-plus innings of one-run ball to help New York win the series opener 7-2 on Thursday. When CC Sabathia and Iván Nova were against Kansas City on July 9 and 10, 2013, Yankees beginners had not pitched 8 innings in games in a row.
Taillon struck out the first 12 batsmen he faced before Randy Arozarena’s leadoff single in the fifth. With a sixth-inning double, Manuel Margot extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
Clay Holmes struck out 2 batters in a perfect ninth inning to earn his 6th save in six opportunities, extending his scoreless streak to 24 innings as well as finishing the game in 2 h, 23 minutes.
New York has decided to pitch 6 shutouts, one less than the major league record.
Torres led off the fourth inning with his 8th home run, one shy of his season total. Carpenter strike his 1st major league home run until April 30 of last year one out later.
In his second big league start, Springs allowed two runs and five hits over 6 innings.
Tampa Bay has just scored once in eighteen innings against the Yankees.
UP NEXT
RHP Gerrit Cole (4-1, 3.31) will face RHP Corey Kluber (1-2, 4.42), who was 5-3 in 16 starts for the Yankees last season, including a no-hitter at Texas on May 19.
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