New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Match Player Stats On Sep 11, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Sep 11, 2017

NEW YORK -- Todd Frazier's three-run homer capped the Yankees' five-run fourth inning Monday night, and New York went on to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 in a game relocated to Citi Field because of Hurricane Irma's impact on Florida's Gulf Coast.

With their third consecutive win, the Yankees (78-65) extended their lead over the Minnesota Twins to four games in the race for the first American League wild card. The Rays (71-74) have lost four of five to fall four games behind the Twins in the chase for the second wild card.

A crowd of 15,327 took advantage of $25 tickets and attended the opener of three Rays "home" games at Citi Field, usually the home of the New York Mets. It is the fifth series in baseball history relocated due to weather and the second in two weeks. The Rays' home, Tropicana Field, hosted the Houston Astros-Texas Rangers series after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston.

The Tampa Bay area did not receive the direct hit that was feared from Irma, and Tropicana Field could re-open in time for the Rays to host the Boston Red Sox as scheduled on Friday.

David Robertson (8-2) earned the win by allowing just one hit over a career-high 2 2/3 innings. Starter CC Sabathia allowed one run on six hits and two walks while striking out six over 4 1/3 innings.

Tampa Bay's Adeiny Hechavarria went 3-for-4 with an RBI triple in the second inning. He finished a homer shy of the cycle and flied out to the track in right field in his final at-bat in the eighth.

Jake Odorizzi (8-8) took the loss after allowing the five runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks while striking out five over 3 2/3 innings.

Former Mets first baseman Lucas Duda scored the game's first run in the second when he drew a leadoff walk and came home on Hechavarria's two-out triple.

Odorizzi didn't allow a hit in the first three innings before the Yankees took advantage of a pair of errors to score five runs in the fourth. Aaron Judge led off with a walk, went to third on Gary Sanchez's single and scored on Didi Gregorius' sacrifice fly.

Odorizzi appeared to be out of the inning when Matt Holliday hit a two-out grounder to third, but the ball skipped under Trevor Plouffe's glove for a two-base error as Sanchez scored the go-ahead run.

Jacoby Ellsbury reached on catcher's interference for the 30th time to break the all-time record he shared with Pete Rose before Frazier hit a three-run homer off the second deck in left field.

Sabathia was pulled with two on and one out in the fifth and replaced by Robertson, who struck out Evan Longoria and Duda to end the threat.

NOTES: The Yankees scratched 1B Greg Bird (lower back stiffness) about an hour before first pitch and replaced him with Tyler Austin. ... The Yankees activated OF Clint Frazier from the 10-day disabled list. ... Rays OF Steven Souza (bruised left knee) missed his third straight game but took batting practice and could return to the starting lineup Tuesday. ... Rays RHP Nathan Eovaldi (Tommy John surgery) tossed a perfect inning for Double-A Montgomery on Sunday in his first game action since last August.