• Rays take 2-1 lead on Yankees.
Tampa Bay Rays righthander Charlie Morton didn’t try to overthink things coming into Game 3 of the AL Division Series.
Facing a Yankees lineup averaging nearly nine runs a game in the postseason, Morton said, “I tend to not look at teams with a streak that they’re on. I don’t like to look at teams as a group. ... I really try to just look at individuals and how they’ve been doing.”
Similarly, if Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka focused on the individuals he was facing, and one would assume he did, center fielder Kevin Kiermaier’s .308 batting average and two homers would have been cause for pause.
Morton’s individual approach worked Wednesday night in the Rays’ 8-4 win over the Yankees. He limited the New Yorkers to four hits and one earned run with six strikeouts over five innings at Petco Park. The effort included two strikeouts of Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who had homered five times in four playoff games.
“Pretty outstanding,” judged Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash.
The victory moved Tampa Bay within one win of claiming the best-of-five series and returning to the ALCS for the first time since the Rays reached the 2008 World Series.
“Every loss hurts and stings,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But we have a great opportunity in front of us still. We’ve got to go out and try to get a W tomorrow and force this thing to a Game 5.”
Stanton couldn’t be contained the entire game. He hit a two-run homer off Rays rookie left-hander Shane McClanahan in the eighth
Rays 8, Yankees 4
inning. The 410-foot shot nearly took out a palm tree in center field. Stanton became the first player in major league history to homer in his team’s first five postseason games, but it was too little, too late against a Tampa Bay team that pounded New York pitchers for the second straight night.
Morton was greatly aided by Kiermaier, whose threerun homer off Tanaka in the fourth inning broke open a 1-1 game. Tampa Bay left fielder Randy Arozarena’s third homer in three nights, this one leading off the fifth, and catcher Michael Perez’s two-run homer in a threerun sixth proved insurmountable.
Morton said coming back against Tampa Bay after it has built a significant lead is a tall task for an opponent because of the Rays have a relentless offense and strong bullpen.
“It’s just not an enviable position,” he said.
Arozarena is a rookie from Cuba who was acquired over the offseason in a trade with St. Louis. His homers in Game 1 and Game 2 had both come in the first inning. He was 3for-4 in Game 3 and now is batting .600 (12-for-20) in five postseason games.
“It’s pretty spectacular,” Cash said. “It’s wowing us all in the dugout, that’s for sure. When you’re sitting there watching it first hand, it’s pretty remarkable.”
Morton retired the first seven hitters he faced before the Yankees’ Brett Gardner singled to left field with one out in the third. An error by Rays third baseman Joey Wendle allowed the Yankees an unearned run that tied the game two batters later on Aaron Judge’s sac f ly.
But Morton pitched his way out of further danger, retiring the Yankees’ Luke Voit on an infield grounder to shortstop to end the inning with the bases loaded.
The 36-year-old Morton is accustomed to showing up and performing well on the big stage. In 2017 with Houston, he became the f irst pitcher in major league history to win two Game 7s in the same year. It included five scoreless innings to beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS.
Morton also performs well at Petco Park. He improved his career record here to 4-0 with a 2.01 ERA.