Where should we start?
The Yankees lost Zack Britton to the injured list, Gleyber Torres to a tight hamstring and then a game to the Rays, Thursday 10-5. Things did not get any better after the match, when manager Aaron Boone announced that James Paxton would receive an MRI from the start after feeling discomfort in his forearm / elbow.
Tampa Bay came to The Bronx and won three straight to take over first place in the AL East as the Yankees crashed into the Subway Series. They also lost six of seven to Tampa Bay this season.
The news of the injury to Britton and Torres is worrying – as expected.
With the loss, the Yankees were hovering in a multi-game series for the first time in nearly three years at Yankee Stadium, when Cleveland did it in 2017.
Paxton missed a hit until the fifth and the Yankees got homers from Luke Voit and Gio Urshela and it was still not enough as Adam Ottavino and Luis Avilan combined to give up five two-out runs in the sixth – including a three-run homer by Mike Zunino.
Voit gave the Yankees the lead in the first, calling a homer for a fourth straight game. The solo to dead center also extended his hit streak to 10 games.
When Paxton crossed early, the Yankees added their lead after Mike Tauchman finished with one from end in third and went to third on an Urshela double.
With the inside field Torres shot a ball too short, which was defeated by Willy Adames. Tauchman scored, but Torres struggled on his way to the first and was removed from the game for the fourth time with what the team called a tight hamstring. He was replaced by Thairo Estrada.
It was another battle for a lineup already without DJ LeMahieu (left thumb sprain), Aaron Judge (right calf sprain) and Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain).
Paxton fought in the fifth. He knocked out Hunter Renfroe to start the inning, but then ran Adames and Manuel Margot. Joey Wendle followed with a double to the left to score Adames and Margot to ban the game.
It was the only hit that allowed Paxton in his five innings and it was costly. The Rays took their first lead with the sacrificial fly of Mike Brosseau to the left.
After three strong innings by Trevor Richards, the right-hander was pulled out with one out in the fifth. With Voit in first place, Urshela took Diego Castillo deep as the Yankees went up again, 4-3.
Ottavino arrived at the start of the sixth and immediately gave a double to Yandy Diaz and ran pinch-hitter Brandon Lowe. He pulled back the next two fights, but Margot delivered a run-scoring single to ban the game.
Avilan came in and fired a bullet from the wall at Joey Wendle. Then Zunino hit one to the left to make it 8-4.
The Yankees’ stepped up a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Wade doubled, Aaron Hicks ran and Voit rode into Wade with a single, but Tauchman tapped out to the catcher to end the threat with the Yankees after three runs and they never got any closer.
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