Rays counting on rookie pitcher to top Yankees (Jul 24, 2018)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Once you've beaten Luis Severino in 2018, anything is possible.
So the Tampa Bay Rays, after tagging the Yankees ace for 11 hits in a 7-6 win in Monday's series opener, hope to keep their momentum against New York another day on Tuesday, having now won five in a row against a Yankees squad that won the first five meetings of the season.
The Rays (51-49) have danced around .500 all season, and if they are to continue their success against the Yankees, they'll trust rookie Yonny Chirinos. The 24-year-old had an impressive April six-game debut before going on the disabled list with a forearm injury, then playing at Triple-A Durham the rest of this season.
Chirinos started with great promise, not allowing a single run in his first three starts and a combined 14 1/3 innings. He's now a more mortal 0-1 with a 3.71 ERA, and he was winless at Durham, going 0-2 with a 5.28 ERA in eight starts. In his last three outings, he has a 2.25 ERA, with just three combined earned runs over 12 innings. He's never faced the Yankees, which may or may not be an advantage for a young pitcher.
The Yankees (63-35), having seen Severino take just his third loss in a dominating 2018 season, will start 29-year-old Masahiro Tanaka, who is 7-2 with a 4.54 ERA and no losses in his last 11 starts. His last outing was sharp, going 6 1/3 innings and allowing only two runs on six hits against Cleveland last week.
New York, well behind the best team in baseball in the division-leading Red Sox, have now dropped three of four and four of six, with two more against the Rays this week. Tanaka has had good success against the Rays over his career, with a 7-2 record and 4.10 ERA, though he hasn't faced them yet this season.
Tanaka opened his career 6-0 against Tampa Bay, including a 4-0 mark in 2016, but he stumbled last season, going 1-2 with a 9.22 ERA.
Since June 17, the Yankees are 0-5 against the Rays and 17-9 against everyone else in baseball. Even the small breaks have gone Tampa Bay's way, like the final out Monday, where the Rays missed a force play to end the game at second, but got the throw to first in time to get Gary Sanchez and keep the tying run from scoring.
"It was a huge play," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Didn't see that one happening. ... The story of the game is we scored seven runs on a Luis Severino start. When you do that, you should win."
The Rays had to burn through seven pitchers to hold off the Yankees, seeing their lead dwindle to a single run after allowing two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh. Jose Alvarado got the last four outs for a huge save, and they'll turn to Chirinos on Tuesday, hoping for more big innings from their young pitchers against a tough lineup.
