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The Yankees scored four runs in the 11th inning to beat the Rays, 8-4, at Tropicana Field. >> Box score
Seven takeaways from Friday's game
1) The Yankees got on the board with a first inning home run by Aaron Judge and he provided a go-ahead homer to left-center field in the 11th inning to give the Yanks the lead. The Yankees right fielder has nine homers on the season and 20 RBIs. It was the ninth two-homer game in Judge's young career.
2) Brett Gardner's three-run homer in the 11th inning broke the game open for the Yankees. Gardner went 3-for-5 on the night, raising his average to .240 on the season.
3) The Yankees didn't want to go to the traditional big set-up arms in the bullpen, instead using Nestor Cortes Jr. and David Hale in high-leverage situations from the seventh inning on. Cortes coughed up the lead, but Hale did a nice job keeping the Rays in check through the first out of the bottom of the 11th inning.
4) Yankees manager Aaron Boone had to turn to Aroldis Chapman once Hale allowed two straight singles with one out in the 11th inning. Chapman, who threw 29 pitches Thursday, was much sharper tonight en route to his 24th save of the season.
5) Masahiro Tanaka typically pitches well against the Rays and when they get to him it's been scattered solo home runs doing minimal damage. That was the case again tonight as Tanaka allowed two solo homers in 6 1/3 innings of work. Unfortunately, Tanaka was charged with two more runs as Cortes Jr. allowed two inherited runners to score and lost the lead in the process.
6) Mike Tauchman made a spot start tonight and delivered a two-run single in the fifth inning, which gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead. Tauchman doesn't swing a big bat, but he has generated some clutch hits in his sporadic time with the Yanks.
7) Aaron Hicks hit for Tauchman in the eighth inning and delivered a game-tying home run. Hicks now has seven homers on the season to go along with 26 RBIs in 39 games for the Bombers.
Highlights
#AllRise Up. pic.twitter.com/djwSfHvFyS
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 5, 2019
The Judge will see you again. #AllRise x 2 pic.twitter.com/rBhgfXzwPt
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 6, 2019
What's next
The Yankees continue their four-game set in Tampa on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. CC Sabathia (5-4, 4.04 ERA) takes on 2018 AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell (5-7, 4.87 ERA) at Tropicana Field.