Four homers, Glasnow tilt Game 2 to Tampa
SANDIEGO— Randy Arozarena, Mike Zunino, Manuel Margot and Austin Meadows hit home runs, and Tyler Glasnow struck out 10 to set a postseason record for the Tampa Bay Rays, who beat the New York Yankees 7-5 Tuesday night to even their AL Division Series at one game apiece.
The Rays had enough pop to overcome a huge game by Giancarlo Stanton, who had two home runs and four RBIs. Stanton’s impressive power display included a 458-foot, three-run homer that landed under the giant video board in left field at Petco Park. It was reminiscent of the mammoth shots he hit in winning the Home Run Derby here in 2016.
“That was a good swing,” Stanton said of his long homer. “I was just glad to put the barrel on it. I didn’t really care how far itwas going. I knew it was out.”
Stanton has three homers this series and five in four postseason games. His grand slam in the ninth inning Monday night was the Bronx Bombers’ fourth homer in the 9-3 Game 1 win. The Yankees have 13 homers in five games.
Each team has hit six homeruns in two games at the downtown ballpark, where the outfield once had the reputation as a place where fly balls went to die. The fences were moved in before the 2013 season.
“Randy, it’s unbelievable what he’s doing right now,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “‘Z’ (Zunino) came up with just a big homer for us. Meadows, it’s good to see him get going; Manny just separating the game right therewas good. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that shutdown inning we were looking for. We needed every bit of them.”
Four Rays pitchers struck out18, an MLB postseason record for a nine-inning game and a postseason record for Yankees batters.
DJ LeMahieu had hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth, and Pete Fairbanks retired Aaron Judge on a grounder with runners on the corners to end the game.