NEW YORK (CBSNewYorkAP) — Ryan Yarbrough became a big leaguer at a time when the highest esteem was reserved for pitchers who started games and those that finished them.
The Tampa Bay Rays left-hander has helped transform baseball in a role that does neither, and so he knows how rare a chance he got Thursday when manager Kevin Cash gave him back the ball with the chance to start and finish the ninth inning.
“My whole mission was just to get all three,” Yarbrough said.
Yarbrough ended a 24-start winless skid with Tampa Bay’s first complete game in more than five years, Austin Meadows homered off shaky Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and drove in five runs, and the Rays beat New York 9-2 Thursday.