Rays sweep theYankees
Rookie Jake Bauers and the Tampa Bay Rays made it a lost weekend for the New York Yankees. An injury to Gary Sanchez turned the trip into an even bigger loss.
Bauers led off the 12th inning with a home run and Tampa Bay completed a three-game sweep of the Yankees with a 7-6 victory Sunday.
“It’s a crazy feeling,” Bauers said.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Sanchez hurt his right groin/hip abductor trying to beat out a double-play grounder in the 10th and “it’s probably going to be a DL situation.”
“What can I say?” Sanchez said through a translator. “That’s the way baseball is sometimes. Now I’m just hoping it’s not a long time.”
Sanchez will undergo an MRI exam Monday.
Giancarlo Stanton doubled twice and homered while going 5 for 5 for New York. The Yankees had been the only team in the majors that hadn’t lost three in a row this year — this was the latest into any season they had gone without losing three straight since August 1954.
“Just a frustration weekend, but you just turn the page from it,” Boone said.
Bauers, who tripled earlier, homered on the first pitch from Chasen Shreve (2-2). Five previous New York relievers held Tampa Bay hitless for eight innings.
Brett Gardner opened the 12th with a bunt single that saw Rays reliever Jonny Venters strain his right hamstring and depart the game.
Venters hadn’t pitched in the majors since the 2012 NL wild-card game with Atlanta until joining Tampa Bay this season. The lefty had three Tommy John surgeries (2005, 2013, 2014) and another other major procedure in 2016.