Tampa has the Yankees’ number, as Bombers can’t figure out Rays

Another day, another defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays. The New York Yankees fell 5-2 on Wednesday night in the last matchup of the season against their divisional foe, in a series that ended up heavily in their favor: they won eight games out of ten, which will potentially be the defining factor in the AL East division title race.

Last night, Tampa came out firing and chased Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery in the first inning. Mike Brosseau, the Rays player that Aroldis Chapman almost beans in the head on Tuesday, homered two times. It couldn’t get any worse.

“I’m very disappointed,” Brett Gardner told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “I’m not happy about it; I don’t think anybody in that room is. They’ve obviously played really well against us. They’ve had our number, and to this point, we haven’t really been able to figure them out. So the hope is we’ll see those guys again in October.”

Montgomery allowed hits to the first five hitters he faced, two homers among them. It was, without a doubt, a night to forget.

“I hung a couple pitches or put it there in good hitter counts,” Montgomery said. “They made some good swings.”

“I really made our bullpen go through it,” Montgomery said. “They threw great, they picked me up. I just put us in too much of a hole. But I’ll get back to work tomorrow and be ready to get the ball again in five days.”
In total, New York Yankees relievers combined to allow only three hits in 8 1/3 innings of work.

The Yankees were thoroughly outplayed

Still, the fact that the Yankees could only scratch a couple of victories against the Rays in ten games is especially worrisome, considering that the two sides could meet again in the postseason.

For the loser at that instance, there will be no tomorrow. Dropping a series in October and every effort to get there will go to waste.

“Our goal is always to win the division,” Gardner said. “I know that we’re obviously not in a good position right now, but we’ve got some baseball left. If we want to get where we want to be at the end of the season, we just have to play better. It’s just as simple as that.”

The Yankees are hoping to leave the Rays behind them. For now.