Shane Greene Continues To Impress As Yankees Even Series

Aug 16, 2014; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Shane Greene (61) delivers a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Griffith-USA TODAY Sports

When the Yankees called up Shane Greene from Triple-A to make an ’emergency start,’ they didn’t know what to expect. After all, the righty had an ERA of over 4.00 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. From his very start in the majors, he has been nothing but outstanding and impressive. His start today didn’t change any of that, as he pitched yet another gem to give the Yankees a 3-2 victory over the Rays.

Greene went six plus innings, giving up two earned runs, one of which were by Shawn Kelley when he came into relief. He had 10 strike outs, which is a career high. What makes it even more impressive is he struck out eight of the nine batters in the Rays line up at least once.

He was cruising through the game up until the sixth inning, with the help of Martin Prado hitting a two run homer in the top of the second. Greene started to get into some trouble when Matt Joyce hit a one out single, followed by another single by Evan Longoria. Yunel Escobar would then follow up with another single, which scored Joyce, and made the score 2-1. Greene would then escape the inning with further damage.

In the bottom of the seventh, Curt Casali reached base on a hit by pitch. Kevin Kiermaier would then come up to the plate, and hit a single, which chased Greene out of the game. Kelley comes in for relief, and gives up an RBI groundout to Ben Zobrist, which evened the score at 2-2.

In the top of the 9th, Brett Gardner beats out an infield single, and then reaches second on an error. Derek Jeter would then knock in the winning run, as he punches an RBI single to right field to score Gardner. David Robertson would then come into the game in the bottom of the ninth, and has the Rays go down 1-2-3, in which he picks up yet another save.

Now that the series is even, it would be a huge series win for the Yankees tomorrow, as they will face the Rays at 1:05 PM. Hiroki Kuroda will get the start for the Yankees, coming in with a 7-8 record and 4.03 ERA. Jeremy Hellickson will take the mound for the Rays, posting a 1-1 record and 2.03 ERA.