Meadows and Arozarena Homer In 4-0 Win
St. Petersburg, FL – For the second straight day the Rays scored in three consecutive innings against the Yankees. Austin Meadows hit his 3rd homer of the season in the first inning, Francisco Mejia drove in two in the second, and Randy Arozarena hit his first of the season in the fourth to give the Rays a 4-0 lead.
Andrew Kittredge (2-0, 2.45 ERA) gets the win as he took over for the injured Chris Archer in the third. The Rays then used four pitchers to cover the remaining six innings. With the win the Rays get back to .500 at 4-4 and have a chance to sweep the Yankees on Sunday afternoon.
Domingo German (0-2, 9.00 ERA) took the loss for New York who lose their third straight game and fall to 3-6 on the season. The Yankees bullpen shut the Rays down over the final four innings. Justin Wilson worked a scoreless fifth, Jonathan Loaisiga worked a scoreless sixth and seventh, and Luis Cessa worked a scoreless eighth.
Rays Score In Three Consecutive Innings Capped By Arozarena Blast:
Austin Meadows got the scoring started for Tampa Bay in the second inning hitting a homer off the right field foul pole. It was Meadows third home run this season.
Tampa Bay added a pair of runs on a Francisco Mejia single that bounced off of Domingo German‘s glove and went into short right field allowing Joey Wendle and Willy Adames to score pushing the Rays lead to 3-0.
Randy Arozarena lead off the third inning blasting a 420 foot solo home to straight away center giving the Rays a 4-0 lead after three innings. It was Arozarena’s first homer of the season.
Rays Bullpen Shuts Yankees Down In Relief Of Archer:
Chris Archer departed the game with what was later termed right lateral tightness. The Rays bullpen came in and shut the Yankees down for the remaining 6.2-innings.
Andrew Kittredge entered the game in relief of Archer with one out and DJ LeMahieu at second. He was able to strand LeMahieu and also added a scoreless fourth inning to his line. The stellar work from the bullpen continued as Jeffrey Springs followed Kittredge with two scoreless innings, Ryan Thompson and Cody Reed each worked a scoreless frame, and Chris Mazza came in to work the ninth inning and retired the Yankees in order to preserve the win.
Archer Departs With Injury:
Chris Archer was removed from the game with one out in the second inning with right lateral forearm tightness. He will be evaluated further tomorrow.
He had allowed just a single in each of the first two innings and departed after a DJ LeMahieu double. He made 13 pitches in the third inning, 42 for the game with 26 for strikes. His velocity sat around 91-92 miles per hour on his fastball. His final line was 2.1 innings allowing three hits while striking out four and walking none.
“Right now there’s not a ton of information likely he’s headed to the IL.” Kevin Cash said after the game. “We/re hoping its minor and it will be a short stint but I still think we need to have the doctors look at him. Kind of some forearm tightness crept up on the outside of the forearm which is what we would consider much better than the inside. Good in that regard and we’ll just see how he bounces back, but I would say its fair to assume that he’s going to miss a start.”
“The lateral part of my forearm the outside part of my forearm was tight. I though it was just something that kind of just comes and go because things come and go as you start but it lingered.” Archer said after the game. “I found myself altering how I was throwing a little it wasn’t worth it. Fortunately it’s nothing serious but there’s definitely some tightness in there that I need to get out so I’m glad we took the precautions that we did and I’m really glad the bullpen stepped up.”
After the game the Rays placed Chris Archer on the 10-day and re-called Brent Honeywell from the alternate camp. The Rays also announced that Honeywell will open in front of Michael Wacha on Sunday.
Rays Injury Report:
Nick Anderson (Right elbow sprain – 60 day ), Jalen Beeks (recovery from Tommy John surgery – 60-day), Yonny Chirinos (recovery from Tommy John surgery – 60-day), Oliver Drake (right flexor tendon strain – 60-day), Colin Poche (recovery from Tommy John surgery – 60-day), Chaz Roe (right shoulder strain – 10-day), Ji-Man Choi (arthroscopic surgery, right knee – 10-day), Kevin Kiermaier (strained quad – 10 day), Peter Fairbanks (strained right rotator cuff – 10-day)
Up Next For Rays:
The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees conclude their three game series Sunday afternoon at TBD. The Rays will utilize an opener (to be determined). It is anticipated that Michael Wacha (0-1, 7.20 ERA) will work the bulk innings. The Yankees will counter with lefthander Jordan Montgomery (1-0, 0.00 ERA).
