It was just one start, but it was an encouraging one. Ivan Nova made his first start since being activated from the disabled list earlier in the week and spurred the Yankees to a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. The win, combined with a Baltimore loss to Oakland, but the Pinstripes back atop the AL East by themselves. The Rays fell four games back in the east and remained three back in the wild card.
The Yankees were counting heavily on Nova this year, especially after Michael Pineda went down before the start of the regular season, based on last season's 16-4 campaign. But Nova was erratic for most of the year before going on the DL August 23 with an inflamed right rotator cuff.
Saturday's game was a reminder of just how good Nova can be when he's healthy and hits his spots. His fastball had good velocity and his pitches darted around the strike zone. It helped that the Yankees gave him an early when Curtis Granderson smacked a 2-run shot off of Rays starter James Shields in the 2nd inning, and Eduardo Nunez followed with his first home run of the season.
Derek Jeter had just one hit on the day, but it produced a run in the 5th as Ichiro Suzuki scored from second base. Suzuki had singled and put himself in scoring position by swiping second.
The Rays finally got to Nova in the 6th on an Evan Longoria solo home run and Joe Girardi pulled his starter when Jeff Keppinger led off the 7th with a single.(Girardi's move, and he's not alone in doing it, defies logic. If you're going to pull a pitcher if anyone gets on base, why let him start the inning at all? You might as well let the relief pitcher start out of a windup rather than the stretch position.)
The Yankees bullpen decided to make the game close; Boone Logan picked up a force out, but Ryan Roberts double to put two men in scoring position. Joba Chamberlain froze the runners on Sam Fuld's come backer, but pinch-hitter Luke Scott singled to right to cut the Yankees lead to 4-3. Nova's final line showed two earned runs allowed in six innings with two walks and eight strikeout and just 85 pitches throwns (53 strikes. He won his 12th of the season and is 29-13 as a Yankee.
The Yankees got one back in the 8th when Robinson Cano doubled and scored on an Alex Rodriguez single and then it was up to Rafael Soriano to finish off the victory in the 9th. He did just that for his 39th save, but not before creating a little unecessary excitement.
Soriano allowed a one out single to Ben Francisco and walked Stephen Vogt (Vogt entered the game 0-17 on the season) with two down, but blew a high fastball past pinch-hitter Elliot Johnson for the final out.
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