ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The season’s biggest series to date on the line. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner going for the other guys.
Really, does any doubt exist over whom the Yankees want pitching in this spot?
The starting rotation turned in the Yankees’ favor, and sure enough, so did this Tropicana Field series, with Masahiro Tanaka leading his team to a 7-1 victory over the Rays and Blake Snell that drew the Yankees (24-16) within a half-game, again, of AL East-leading Tampa Bay (24-15).
Don’t let the final score fool you; this was a tight, 3-1 contest through eight innings when, as a testament to the suckiness of this dump of a ballpark, the Trop suffered a power outage.