The New York Yankees lost their first series of the season this afternoon in Tampa. The Yankees won their series with the Nationals, swept the Orioles, swept the Red Sox, then split the series with the Phillies and now have lost this series with the Tampa Bay Rays 3 games to 1.
This loss was heartbreaking for James Paxton, who has not pitched well this season in his first two starts. But today a new James Paxton showed up to pitch game 4 of the Ray’s series. He pitched with confidence and his fastball was working. He pitched 6.1 innings using only 77 pitches while striking out eleven.
Two bad pitches in the seventh inning spoiled his scoreless outing. With one on in the seventh, he allowed a two-run homer followed by a Brandon Lowe homer to tied the score at 3. Unlike in this first two outings, he had control over his fastball that was between 92 and 93 mph and touched 94 a couple of times. When he left the game he was visibly upset.
The New York Yankees scored first when they loaded the bases in the first inning and a hit by pitch brought in a run for the 1-0 lead in the game. Â With two on at the fifth innings, Gio Urshela has a long sac fly driving in both runs for the 3-0 Yankee lead. Then in the sixth Paxton gave up the three runs for a tie score.
The tied score lasted into the bottom of the ninth inning when fans began to think about the man on 2nd rule. But that was not to be had when Zack Britton couldn’t hold down the Rays. At the bottom of the eighth, a spectacular double play kept the Yankees tied.
Although the Yankee tried at the top of the ninth they failed to score. In the bottom of the ninth Britton gave up a single to Perez that scored Brandon Lowe from third base for the Ray’s 4-3 win. Ryan Thompson got the win and Zack Britton took the loss.