Yankees Battery Powers Past Tampa Bay

The Yankees best pitcher of the second half picked up his 14th win of the season and his catcher continued his mini-resurgence with his 17th home run of the year in the Yankees 6-4 defeat of the Tampa Bay Rays.  The loss dropped the Rays five games back in the AL East and four games behind Baltimore for the second wild card spot.

Hiroki Kuroda (14-10) was outstanding through the first five innings before he ran into trouble in the 6th inning, and the Yankees bullpen blanked the Rays over the final three innings.  Kuroda faced seven batters in the first two innings and struck out six of them. The only batter to make contact and put a ball in play was Ben Zobrist who doubled with one out in the 1st inning.

Kuroda ended his day with 10 K's, second only to his 11-strikeout performance against the Chicago White Sox on June 30. Kuroda's battery mate, Russell Martin, gave his partner a big boost when the Yankees got on the board with a five-run 3rd inning against Rays starter Matt Moore.

Eduardo Nunez, making another start at shortstop, drew a lead off walk and quickly stole second base. DH Derek Jeter followed with an RBI single to right to snap the scoreless tie. It was Jeter's 199th hit of the season and his only base knock of the day.

Jeter advanced to second base on the play and was sacrificed to third by the slumping Nick Swisher. Alex Rodriguez continued to swing a hot bat with an RBI single of his own for a 2-0 Yankees lead. Robinson Cano then walked and Martin deposited a pitch in the right field seats for a 5-0 advantage. Martin is one home run shy of his total from last season and two behind his career high of 19 that he established as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2007.

Zobrist homered off Kuroda in the 4th to get the Rays on the board, but A-Rod quickly got the run back with a sac fly after Nunez reached on an error and stole second and third in the bottom of the inning.  A loss of Kuroda's control and an oblivious Yankees fan nearly cost the Yankees the lead in the 6th.

Kuroda walked Jonathan Lobaton to start the frame and Desmond Jennings followed with a single. Zobrist hit a foul pop on the right side that 1st baseman Steve Pearce had a chance to put away. The ball was about a row deep into the seats, but a leaping Pearce collided with a Yankees fan who was looking for a souvenir and the ball fell free. The fan apologized and Pearce was forgiving (clearly this was not a "Bartman" incident), but Kuroda proceeded to walk Zobrist to load the bases.

Evan Longoria took advantage of the opportunity with a two-run single that cut the Yankees lead in half. The Rays pushed another run across, but the Yankees traded it for the double play Matt Joyce hit into. With the score 6-4, Kuroda k'ed B.J. Upton, who had the Golden Sombrero on the day, to end the inning.

The Rays put two aboard with two out an inning later, but David Phelps struck out Jennings to escape the jam. The last gasp for the Rays came in the 9th when A-Rod made an error that brought the tying run to the plate. But Rafael Soriano picked up his 40th save when Jeff Keppinger bounced into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play.