Rallying into first
Urshela’s RBI single caps 3-run 9th for Yankees
NEW YORK — CC Sabathia shouted salty insults at the Tampa Bay Rays and said he tried to hit one of their batters, but both sides otherwise kept cool as the New York Yankees rallied for three runs in the ninth inning and a 4-3 victory Friday night that moved them into first place in the AL East.
Gio Urshela singled over Kevin Kiermaier’s head in deep right-center field to drive home the winning run with two outs. Luke Voit homered on the first pitch from Jose Alvarado (0-3) in the bottom of the ninth to make it 3-2, and New York tied it when pinch-runner Thairo Estrada scored on Alvarado’s bases-loaded wild pitch.
Voit and Urshela had three hits apiece. Kendrys Morales clubbed an early solo shot for his first home run since joining the Yankees
Willy Adames homered off Sabathia, who pitched six effective innings, and rookie Brandon Lowe hit a tiebreaking double against Chad Green with two outs in the eighth. Tampa Bay added another run on shortstop Gleyber Torres’ throwing error before rain caused a 35-minute delay in the bottom of the inning.
Torres doubled in the ninth to put runners at second and third with one out.
Jonathan Holder (3-1) struck out two in a perfect inning for the win.
No return for Paxton: James Paxton will not be back in the rotation this weekend. The Yankees’ left-hander, who is on the injured list with left knee inflammation, threw a bullpen on Friday. While Aaron Boone said it went well, the Yankee manager said the soonest Paxton could return from the IL would be next week.
“It went well today. (He) threw a bullpen, warmed up, then sat down and got up and pitched an inning and sat down again, warmed back up just to get the up and down thing going,” Boone said. “It went well. Another positive step. The next thing will be, how does he come in tomorrow, and then he’ll throw potentially another side on Sunday.
“He also (did pitchers fielding practice] today, coming off the mound and that all went well,” Boone continued. “If everything goes well, he’ll have another side on Sunday. If that goes well there is a chance we could possibly insert him [back into the rotation] on the road trip.”