Confident Cobb, Rays 'pen keep Yanks at bay
ST. PETERSBURG -- Four Rays pitchers held the Yankees to one run to lead the Rays to 4-1 win over the Yankees on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field. The Rays won the first series of the season, two games to one.Alex Cobb, who returned from Tommy John surgery at the
ST. PETERSBURG -- Four Rays pitchers held the Yankees to one run to lead the Rays to 4-1 win over the Yankees on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field. The Rays won the first series of the season, two games to one.
Alex Cobb, who returned from Tommy John surgery at the end of the 2016 season, started for the Rays and looked more like his old self, holding the Yankees to one run on four hits and a walk while striking out four in 5 2/3 innings to earn the win.
Jumbo Diaz and
"Great performance by [Cobb]," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Great performance by our bullpen. And the defense played really, really well behind the guys."
Corey Dickerson opened the scoring when he homered to lead off the Rays' first. The "barreled ball" to center field against Yankees starter
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Two-out trouble: The Yankees have been puzzled by Pineda's inability to limit damage, a trend which impacted his outing in the second inning. After Steven Souza Jr. was thrown out at the plate on a fielder's choice, Norris cashed two runs with a sharp single to right field. Following a mound visit, Norris then stole second base on Pineda and scored the Rays' fourth run as Dickerson lashed a single to right field. Pineda's .982 two-out OPS was the second-highest among all pitchers with at least 100 innings last year.
"It just came down to [the fact that] he made some mistakes with his fastball," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "The big one he made was to Norris. He had two outs, and it looked like he was going to get out of the inning without giving up a run. He just couldn't seem to get the third out and made a couple of mistakes, three hitters in a row with his fastball. It cost him."
• Yanks rotation working to build endurance
Bridging by Erasmo: Ramirez made his first appearance of the season, and it proved to be a big one. The Rays' right-hander successfully navigated the seventh and eighth innings to bridge the way to closer Colome, but it wasn't without some drama. He walked the first batter he faced, only to dodge further trouble by getting
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"I was really just trying to get my timing down. Get a good pitch to hit. Make sure my timing was there. And luckily, I got a good pitch to hit." -- Dickerson, who got the Rays started with his first Major League leadoff home run
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Cobb recorded his first home win since Aug. 21, 2014, vs. Detroit, going 957 days in between. He made five home starts in that span and went 0-3 with two no-decisions.
REPLAY REVIEW
The Rays unsuccessfully challenged a call at home plate in the second inning, as Souza was ruled out on
The Yankees successfully challenged a call at second base in the home half of the second inning, as
WHAT'S NEXT
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Bill Chastain has covered the Rays for MLB.com since 2005.
Bryan Hoch has covered the Yankees for MLB.com since 2007. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and on Facebook.