*Photo from the Associated Press*
Tampa Bay leads series 2-1
Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena is nicknamed the Cuban Rocket by his teammates. So far, in these playoffs, he is certainly living up to that name. Arozarena homered again, Michael Perez drove in 3 runs, and the Rays outslugged the New York Yankees in an 8-4 win to take a 2-1 series lead in the ALDS, putting the Yankees on the brink of elimination.
Perez got the scoring started for the Rays in the second inning, when he hit an RBI single to center field, making it 1-0 Rays. In the 3rd, Aaron Judge tied it up for the Yankees with a sac fly. In the 4th, Kevin Kiermaier hit a 3 run homer to center field to make it 4-1 Rays. In the 5th, Arozarena hit a solo homer, and Aaron Hicks hit an RBI double in the bottom of the 5th, making it 5-2 Rays. In the 6th, Perez hit a two run homer, and Ji-Man Choi hit an RBI double, making it an 8-2 lead for the Rays. In the 8th, Giancarlo Stanton hit a two run homer to make it an 8-4 game, which was all the Yankees could muster.
Arozarena is batting over .600 this postseason, which has been a breakout phase for Arozarena, who didn't get tons of playing time in the regular season. In the 3 games of this series, he has homered in all of them, plus game one of the wild card series against Toronto. Kiermaier said of Arozarena that "He’s the best player on the planet, he's incredible. He’s very unique in so many ways. Everyone loves him. He’s the man. What he’s doing is incredible."
Kiermaier continued on, saying that "We should all take a page out of his book in what his routine is and how he comes to the field each and every day. He just doesn’t think up there. He goes up there and he’s so raw in every facet of his game, and he goes out there and just does it night in and night out. It’s incredible."
Yankees manager Aaron Boone addressed the issue Yankees pitchers are having with Arozarena, saying that "We’ve got to find a way to obviously keep him in check, we'll continue to dive in and just try to execute pitches. We’ve made some mistakes, and he hasn’t missed them."
Charlie Morton got the win for the Rays, throwing 5 great innings. Morton allowed two runs on 4 hits and two walks, striking out 6 hitters. John Curtiss relieved Morton in the 6th, throwing 1 2/3 innings of scoreless ball before rookie Shane McClanahan came in, who allowed the two run homer to Stanton, but was otherwise sharp. Diego Castillo shut the Yankees down in the 9th.
Masahiro Tanaka took the loss for the Yankees, lasting 4 innings. Tanaka started the 5th, but gave up a leadoff homer to Arozarena, and his night was over. Tanaka allowed 5 runs on 8 hits and one walk, striking out 4 hitters. Chad Green came in after Tanaka left, allowing two runs in his appearance. Luis Cessa, Nick Nelson, and Michael King also pitched for the Yankees.
The series continues on Thursday, where Jordan Montgomery starts for the Yankees as they try to stay alive. Ryan Thompson will serve as the opener for the Rays.
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