The Yankees were inactive on Monday, alongside a majority of the top teams in the American League. Their direct competition in the Tampa Bay Rays were the lone exception, as they had to face off with the two-time defending champion Dodgers in Los Angeles. With a bit of breathing room in the division race on the line and with no one else to share the spotlight, today we’re going to give them the full recap treatment.
Tampa Bay Rays (41-28) 3, Los Angeles Dodgers (46-27) 4
Tampa drew the sixth man in Los Angeles’ rotation to open this series, and even though
Eric Lauer has been looking better of late since donning Dodger blue instead of Blue Jay blue, he struggled out of the gate in this outing. Lauer worked a flyout and strikeout to nearly collect a clean first inning, but Junior Caminero ripped a double to right to keep the frame alive and Ryan Vilade made Lauer pay for it, crushing a two-run shot on the very first pitch he saw.
The Rays kept at it in the second inning, this time getting a leadoff single from Austin Slater and a walk from Cedric Mullins to ignite the rally with no outs. However, they’d need to manufacture their way into a run this time, getting a sacrifice bunt from Nick Fortes and a sacrifice fly from Taylor Walls to score Slater. With the top of the lineup back at the plate, Yandy Díaz couldn’t cash in the other runner, stranding him at third on a groundout.
The inability to put up a crooked number immediately came around to hurt Tampa, as the Dodgers had an answer in the bottom of the second against Nick Martinez. After going down in order in the first, Mookie Betts led off with a double to left, and Max Muncy turned it into a runners on the corners threat with a grounder to first that got contained but couldn’t be converted into an out. Kyle Tucker, who has had his fair share of struggles in his first season with Los Angeles, battled his way into a 3-2 count before he found a changeup hung up enough to crush for a game-tying, three-run blast.
There was a chance for the Rays to take the lead right back in the third, but they managed to waste it. Jonathan Aranda got hit by a pitch to lead off, and a ground ball moved him over to second. After a fly out, Ben Williamson managed to single out to right and Aranda took his chances rounding third. It was a foolish send though, as Tucker gunned the sluggish Aranda down at the plate with plenty of time to spare to end the inning.
Both starters got into a bit of a groove from there, Martinez getting the Dodgers to go down in order in the bottom of the third and Lauer working around a two-out walk in the fourth. Martinez did nearly allow a two-out rally of his own in the bottom half of that inning, giving up a single to Tucker and a double to Ryan Ward, but Dalton Rushing struck out to neutralize things. Lauer ended his day with six innings of work to his name, scattering six hits and allowing the three runs, while Martinez lasted until one out in the sixth but gave up less hits and walks.
Steven Matz was trusted with the seventh inning for the Rays, and got Rushing to line out to start. Miguel Rojas was called up to pinch-hit for Adam Freeland in the next at-bat, and the first pitch he saw was a middle-in sinker that he demolished for a go-ahead solo shot.
The Dodger bullpen put the clamps down as soon as they gained that lead. Kyle Hurt had navigated around a single in the seventh, and Will Klein gave up a leadoff single but managed to induce a couple of ground balls to get the next two outs of the eighth. Alex Vesia was called on to get the final out with the speedster Chandler Simpson pinch-running, and he got Mullins to get under a fastball up and out of the zone to strand him. That left the ninth for Tanner Scott, and the Dodger closer did his job — a one-pitch grounder, a strikeout of Walls, and a groundout from Díaz ended it.
The loss puts Tampa a game-and-a-half out of New York as the Yankees now open a homestand beginning with Chicago, and though the White Sox have been surprise upstarts tied for the division lead they have to like their chances of gaining a little more ground while the Rays face one of the best teams in baseball.
