Kluber roughed up as Rays beat Yankees
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays insist it didn’t matter who was on the other side of the field.
Yes, it felt good to unveil a couple of more title banners at Tropicana Field and beat the New York Yankees 10-5 in their home opener Friday. However, the reigning AL champions said it was important to break out of an earlyseason offensive funk regardless of the opponent.
Rich Hill pitched six strong innings, Austin Meadows, Joey Wendle and Brandon Lowe led a hit parade against Corey Kluber and New York’s bullpen, and the Rays thumped New York to end a four-game losing streak.
“There’s no denying it was different than what we saw the last two or three days,” manager Kevin Cash said, looking back on being swept by Boston at Fenway Park earlier in the week.
Hill, a 41-year-old lefty who’s played 17 seasons with 10 teams, allowed four runs and four hits — all with two outs in the third
inning — before retiring his final 10 batters.
Hill (1-0) struck out seven without issuing a walk, and Tampa Bay scored five early runs off Kluber (0-1) in his second start for the Yankees. Meadows had three of the Rays’ 13 hits, one of five Tampa Bay players with a multi-hit game.
Wendle and Lowe both doubled with the basesloaded, combining to drive in five.
Aaron Hicks and DJ LeMahieu homered for the Yankees. New York has dropped nine of 11 regular season meetings against Tampa Bay.
The Rays’ home opener drew a socially-distanced crowd of 9,021 to Tropicana Field, where fans had not watched them since Oct. 8, 2019, Game 4 of that year’s AL Division Series against the Houston Astros.