“This was not a boat accident.”
– Hooper, “Jaws”
No, this was not a defeat to tear off like an aberration, to whitewash it until one of those days.
Sure, the Yankees remain the leaders and favorites of the American League, even after their 1-0 loss to the Rays on Friday night at Tropicana Field. Yet they have a bona fide challenger to keep them honest in the form of that low-budget group in Tampa Bay. This season opener served as a sober reminder of that reality, not that the Yankees needed it.
‘We had a great time. I mean beat the Yankees, man, it’s a good team. It’s a tough team to beat, ”said Blake Snell, who started and threw the first three innings. “That it was really happy that we were able to celebrate that victory and celebrate afterwards is always a good sign.”
‘That was enormous. We absolutely needed this W, ”said Rays reliever Chaz Roe, the former Yankee, who grabbed the win. ‘Hopefully we get this momentum through [Saturday] and this doubleheader and take care of business. ”
A Rays sweep through the weekend would bind the two teams, and if that’s unlikely, it’s also unlikely that the Yankees will move away from their nemesis, despite what preceded this series.
The Rays stepped into the game 5-7 in this reduced season of 20 percent this season, a disappointment after the Astros took to five games in last year’s AL Division Series and the season began as a large selection of preachers for this division crown. Hence the urgency to go through and show the Yankees and themselves what they could do.
They have not hit much this season and have not improved on Friday, as Masahiro Tanaka’s five strong innings (no runs, one hit, five strikeouts, no walks) gave the Yankees reason to smile despite the final result. However, the Rays overheard as their arms closed off the Yankees’ tight lineup and performed flawlessly and impressively. The winning run came on Adam Ottavino’s eighth inning by Michael Perez, the home team capitalized on a few walks and a wild pitch after Perez fell to the ground as he hit a ball from his left knee.
As Rays manager Kevin Cash said, if you had told him prior to the game that his team would take two hits and still grab a win against the Yankees’ potent lineup, “I would have called you a liar.”
Honestly, however, the winner of the 2018 AL Cy Young Award and southpaw Snell, who still built up his stamina, won things with three hitless innings (and two walks), and even succeeded, as Cash put it, ‘They load up a bunch of rights. They upload a bunch of really, really good rights. Snell beat Aaron Judge in both of her two matchups, and Judge now has a single and six walks in 22 record appearances versus Snell, who dropped out 10 times.
“I say nothing because I know when he goes deep, I do not want anything back,” Snell said of judge. “He’s a great hitter. I have met him a lot and it has gone my way. He is sitting on a tear. Have a great season. ”
Of the five boys who freed Snell, only Diego Castillo demanded a bailout, leaving men on first and second to start the seventh, and Nick Anderson grabbed him, after loading the bases, by Gary Sanchez on three fields to hit. Shortstop Willy Adames stopped an eighth inning rally when he kicked Mike Tauchman trying to go from second to third on DJ LeMahieu’s bouncer on the left. In all, the Rays put a masterclass in pitching and fundamental baseball.
The Yankees are not the kind of team that would take an opponent if applied, a tight loss would call an accident. It’s not like they needed to hear a message from the Rays. They got one though.
‘It was farthest, but it was messy, it was messy. No, I’m just playing, ”Snell said when asked about the scene after the postgame. The Rays will just keep playing. The Yankees can not ignore them.
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