Yanks mash past Rays for game 1 win

*Photo from the Fulton Sun*

NYY leads series 1-0

   The first game of this series, between AL East opponents, was hyped as a pitchers duel. The home run derby that ensued changed that narrative. Giancarlo Stanton hit a grand slam, 4 Yankees homered, and the New York Yankees mashed their way past the Tampa Bay Rays with a 9-3 win in game one of the best of 5 ALDS, being played at Petco Park in San Diego.

   The Yankees got the scoring started in the first inning, when Aaron Hicks hit a sac fly to make it 1-0 Yankees. The Rays quickly tied it in the bottom of the first on a Randy Arozarena solo homer to tie it at 1. It stayed that way until the 3rd inning, when Clint Frazier hit a solo homer to left field to make it 2-1 Yankees. In the 4th, Ji-Man Choi hit a two run homer to give the Rays a 3-2 lead. In the 5th, Kyle Higashioka and Aaron Judge both hit solo homers to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. It remained that way until the 9th, when Hicks hit an RBI single, and Stanton hit a grand slam, making it 9-3 Yankees. 

   Gerrit Cole got the win for the Yankees, throwing 6 strong innings. Cole allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and one walk, striking out 8 hitters. Cole said after the game that "Ultimately, you want to be playing your best baseball when it’s most important, that's how you get to the ultimate prize. I’m thankful to be a part of the organization, and thankful for the opportunity to lead the charge into the postseason." 

   Higashioka, who has become Cole's personal catcher of late, said of Cole's performance that "This is a tough lineup to navigate, because they’ve got some guys who are swinging a hot bat right now, we just tried to do our best to change speeds, use the whole plate, keep them off balance. Basically, we just pitched to Gerrit’s strengths."

   Blake Snell was hit with the loss for the Rays, lasting 5 innings. Snell allowed 4 runs on 6 hits and two walks, striking out 4. Snell said after the game that "It was just a weird night for me, I couldn’t get in rhythm, I couldn’t find consistency with pitches, so that was really frustrating. I had to battle with really not a whole lot. Overall, it was frustrating." 

   The Rays have not lost on back to back days in a month, the last time they had two losses in a row was on September 7 and 8 against the Washington Nationals. Choi was optimistic after the game because of that, saying that "Today is today and tomorrow is a new day, we will definitely have a different approach. We are still confident we are going to win. We have a confident group. Tomorrow we are going to bounce back and see where it goes from there." 

   The series continues on Tuesday, where the Yankees look to take a 2-0 series lead as rookie Deivi Garcia gets the start. The Rays will send Tyler Glasnow to the mound as they look to tie the series up.