BOMBERS SWEEP THEIR WAY TO .500
ST. PETERSBURG Fla.— It’s back to the varsity schedule for the Yankees starting Monday night.
After stinking against the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Orioles to start the season, the Yankees got healthy on the Rays this weekend at Tropicana Field where Sunday’s 53 victory completed a threegame sweep in front of 21,791 and got the Yankees even at 66.
As they filed out of the clubhouse, the Yankees were on the way to Detroit for a fourgame series that opens Monday night at Comerica Park against the best team in baseball.
“They have a great team, forget the record,’’ Chase Headley said of the 102Tigers. “There is a lot of talent and great players. We have to play the way we played this series.’’
That means errorfree, which the Yankees were in the three games against the offensively challenged Rays. That means continued solid relief outings, like those that came from Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller on Sunday when they combined to get the final eight outs and Miller his fourth save. That means timely hitting, which the Yankees produced in the series by going 7for21 (. 333) with runners in scoring position to go with a homer and 13 RBIs.
“It feels good getting contributions up and down the lineup,’’ said manager Joe Girardi, who watched Mark Teixeira and Headley drive in two runs each, Garrett Jones collect three hits, including a fourthinning triple, and Alex Rodriguez go 1for3, walk twice and score once.
The lineup and lategame relief work was needed because Michael Pineda wasn’t sharp in his third start of the season, giving up three runs and seven hits in 5 ² / ₃ innings.
“I thought he had to fight through it today,’’ Girardi said of the righthander who left having thrown 92 pitches. “The slider wasn’t very good. For whatever reason, he wasn’t sharp.’’
Chris Martin got the final out of the sixth, Justin Wilson the first in the seventh with a runner on and Betances the final two to keep the 53 lead intact. Betances allowed a oneout walk in the eighth before catching Allan Dykstra looking at a 85mph curve ball for a strikeout and getting Brandon Guyer on an infield pop to end the inning.
Miller surrendered a leadoff double to Ryan Brett in the ninth but used a filthy slider to strikeout the final three batters for his fourth save in as many chances.
“With a tworun lead I don’t have to be quite so fine,’’ said Miller, who hasn’t been anointed the closer by Girardi but has thrived in the ninth inning. “I’m glad I kept him in the
ballpark. It’s not theway to start my inning off.’’
When the Yankees pulled into Florida on Friday, they were 36 and had dropped threegame sets to the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Orioles. They had committed 11 errors, Masahiro Tanaka and Pineda weren’t sharp, Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann weren’t hitting and Brett Gardner was hurt. Three wins against the Rays doesn’t mean the Yankees have completely turned it around. The Tigers won’t have Justin Verlander for any of the four games but Ian Kinsler, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Yo enis Cespedes provide a much more difficult meat of the order than what the Rays served.
“It’s a big series for us,’’ said Jones, who went 3for4 in his third start of the year. “We have to score runs and take the pressure off our pitchers.’’
Nineteen runs in three games certainly provides the pitchers a comfort zone but comparing the Rays and Tigers is akin to putting the J. V. and varsity next to each other.