A three-run fifth inning propelled the New York Yankees to a 4-2 win Sunday to take the rubber game of the weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays and put the Yankees back into the playoff race.
Trailing 1-0 after four, the Yankees rebounded to take the lead in the top of the fifth. Brett Gardner put the Yankees in front with a two-run single (video) that scored Stephen Drew and Martin Prado, both of whom reached after the first two Yankees were out to open the inning. Gardner later scored from third when Jacoby Ellsbury grounded one up the middle for an RBI single.
The Rays started the scoring in the first. Evan Longoria's RBI ground out scored Ben Zobrist, but the Rays stranded Matt Joyce at third. Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson (L: 1-2, 2.56 ERA) then held the Yankees to only one hit through the four innings before allowing the three runs in the fifth. Hellickson left after that inning. He struck out five and walked two.
Hiroki Kuroda (W: 8-8, 3.97) pitched 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out one. He labored in the seventh, allowing the Rays to pull to within a run when Longoria drove home Joyce to make the score 3-2. Shawn Kelley later relieved and left runners stranded at first and third.
Mark Teixeira added an insurance run with a solo shot (20) into the right-center-flied bleachers (video) in the top of the eighth. Dellin Betances held the lead (18) in the bottom of the eighth, and David Robertson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 33rd save.
With the win, the Yankees move to within 3.5 games of the second A.L. Wild Card spot behind the Seattle Mariners with only Detroit in front of them. The Rays fell back to two games under .500 (61-63) after an incredible run that saw them come back from 18 games under the break-even mark eariler in the season.
The Yankees have an off day Monday and then a six-game home stand with the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox. The Rays have Monday off and then stay home for three with Detroit before traveling to Toronto and Baltimore.