Rays ReJoyce

Phil Hughes was cruising along, mixing a mid-90s fastball with a great curve. Then the 6th inning came along and all of that hard work changed in the blink of the eye. Matt Joyce belted a Hughes cutter into the right field seats with two aboard and the Tampa Rays went on to a 3-2 victory. The win moved the Rays to within one game of the Yankees in the AL East.

Hughes had allowed just two hits through the first five innings before John Jaso started the 6th off with a single. A one out walk to Evan Longoria brought the go ahead run to the plate in the person of Yankee killer Carlos Pena. The Rays 1st baseman bounced into a force out, but Joyce connected on a 2-2 pitch well out of the reach of a climbing Nick Swisher in right.

Rafael Soriano recorded his 29th save when he retired the Yankees in order in the 9th. It included getting Alex Rodriguez, who went 0-4, to pop up for the first out of the frame.

The Yankees took the lead off Wade Davis in the 1st when Derek Jeter led off the game with a single and Swisher followed with his 19th home run of the year. But that was all the offense the Yankees could put up on the board as they had just two more hits the rest of the evening.

It was only the 4th home run of the year for Joyce, but his second big one within a week. His home run broke up the duel no-hitter between Detroit's Max Scherzer and Tampa's Matt Garza on Monday. Garza would go on to complete the no-no.

Joba Chamberlain made a good appearance, retiring all six men he faced. Half of them were by strikeout.