Burnett gives an A+ performance
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |  | R | H | E | |
| NY Yankees | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 0 | |
| Tampa Bay | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
WP - Burnett (2-0) LP - Howell (0-1)
HR - Swisher (4)
It may only be the second week of the regular season, but A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher are making a push for the AL CY Young and MVP Awards. All kidding aside, both players are doing their best to get the Yankees off to a good start this season. Tuesday night they both played pivotal roles in the Yankees 7-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Once again the Yankees were looking for Burnett to pick them up after a terrible start the previous night by Chien-Ming Wang. Burnett not only picked them up, he carried them. He threw six innings of no-hit ball before Carl Crawford laced a single to left to start the seventh. In picking up the win, Burnett struck out nine over eight innings, while allowing just three hits and one walk.
With the game tied 2-2 in the eighth, the Yankees only top rookie candidate stepped up. Brett Gardner drove a ball over the head of Crawford in left for a lead off double. Derek JeterJoe Maddon stuck with left-hander J.P. Howell since Mark Teixeira’s tendinitis bothers him when he’s hitting from the right side. But Teixeira nearly hit one out, settling for a sacrifice fly and an RBI to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. followed with a bloop single to center to put runners on the corners with no one out. Rays manager
With Mariano Rivera warming up in the bullpen the Yankees put the game out of reach in the ninth. Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera stroked back to back singles to start the inning. Dan Wheeler looked like he would work his way out of trouble after retiring Ramiro Pena, who failed to get a sacrifice bunt down, and Jose Molina. But Gardner came through with a big two-out hit, this time powering up to center field for a ground rule double over the head of B.J. Upton, who slammed the outfield wall in disgust, for a 4-2 lead.
Then it was the captain’s turn. Jeter had been been in a 1-20 slump entering the game, but he smashed a Wheeler fastball over the fence in right-center for a back breaking 3-run home run.
Burnett cruised through the first six innings, retiring 17 of the 18 hitters he faced. A one-out walk to Pat Burrell was the only base runner he allowed to that point. Burnett struck out at least one batter in every inning except the third and struck out two batters in an inning four times. But he quickly ran into trouble in the seventh.
Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena followed Crawford’s no-no break up hit with singles of their own to cut the Yankees lead to 2-1. Burrell’s fly ball to right brought in the tying run before Burnett struck out Dioner Navarro and Molina picked Pena off of first base to end the inning.
The Yankees gave Burnett a quick 1-0 lead to work with in the first inning. Back to back singles by Gardner and Jeter, and a walk to Teixeira loaded the bases with no one out. Starter Matt Garza struck out Swisher, but Jorge Posada, who was in the lineup as the DH, drove in the first run of the game with a fly ball to left field. The Yankees extended the lead to 2-0 in the sixth when Swisher homered for the second straight night and the fourth time in six games.
Games Notes
Xavier Nady left the game after the seventh inning with sharp pain in his right elbow. Nady had Tommy John surgery on the arm back in 2001 and will be sent for an MRI on Wednesday.
Derek Jeter is now one home run behind Jason Giambi (209) for 10th place on the franchise’s all-time home run list.
The series wraps up on Wednesday with a 4:08 pm EDT start. Andy Pettitte (1-0, 1.29) faces off against Andy Sonnanstine (0-1, 9.64) in the rubber game of the series.
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