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New York Yankees Recap: Offense Stalls After 1st Inning As Rays Beat Yanks, 3-2

By Ricky Keeler|

For the second straight night, the New York Yankees (21-14) found a way to get on the board early as they scored two runs in the first inning. However, for the second straight night, the Bronx Bombers failed to score a run after the first inning as they fell to the Tampa Bay Rays (19-16) by a score of 3-2. Plus, the Yankees offense has not had an extra base hit in two straight games.

Coming into this game, the pitching matchup was Adam Warren vs. Nate Karns, a matchup that has happened three times this season alone. In the first two meetings, neither pitcher got a decision. However, tonight, it was Karns (3-1, 3.77)who would get the win while Warren (2-2, 4.50) would be the tough luck loser.

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Early on, the Yankees got off to a great start against Karns. The game started with back-to-back walks by Karns to Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner. After Alex Rodriguez flew out to center, Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann would both hit RBI singles to right field to give New York a 2-0 lead. The Yankees had a chance for more, but Carlos Beltran struck out looking and Stephen Drew, who was at third base tonight, flew out to center field to end the inning.

Warren took the mound with a 2-0 lead, but immediately gave one back. The second batter he faced, Steven Souza Jr., crushed a cut fastball to center field for his sixth home run of the season.

Then, in the second, Warren found himself in more trouble. Logan Forsythe would lead off with a double to center. Two batters later, Asdrubal Cabrera would tie the game with a RBI double to center. It was Cabrera’s 1,000th hit of his career. After Cabrera’s double, Joey Butler would follow up with a base hit to right to give Tampa Bay the lead. Warren would escape further trouble when he got Bobby Wilson to ground into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play.

After giving up six hits in the first three innings, Warren got into a groove. He gave up one hit in the final four innings he pitched. In the loss, Warren went seven inning, gave up three runs on seven hits, struck out seven and walked one. In three starts against Tampa Bay, Warren has 15 strikeouts this season.

New York had their chances to score in this game, but they went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left ten men on base. In the second, New York had Didi Gregorius on third and Jacoby Ellsbury on second after back-to-back singles and a double steal, but Gardner struck out and Rodriguez grounded out to short to squash that scoring chance.

Another notable scoring chance for the Yankees came in the fifth inning. After back-to-back two out singles by Teixeira and McCann, Beltran lined a base hit to center field. Teixeira tried to score on the play, but Kevin Kiermaier fired the throw home and Wilson made an excellent tag to prevent New York from tying it up.

That would be the last inning that Karns would throw. In the win, he went five innings, gave up two runs on seven hits, struck out six and walked two. After Karns, the Rays bullpen held their own. The combination of Xavier Cedeno, Brandon Gomes, Kevin Jepsen, and Brad Boxberger (who got his 10th save of the season) gave up a combined three hits and struck out six over the final four innings of the game.

Andrew Miller came in for the Yankees in the bottom of the eighth and struck out the side as he appeared in a game for the first time since May 8.

Next Game: The New York Yankees will look to salvage a split of this series tomorrow night at 7:10 PM ET. You can catch the game on YES. Chase Whitley (1-1, 3.06) will make his second start this year against Tampa Bay. He will go up against Erasmo Ramirez (0-1, 8.38)

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