ONE-hit WONDERS
Castro’s homer all Yanks need in win over Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — One hit in nine innings produced two runs and a skinny lead for the Yankees on Sunday.
To the Rays, who had to face Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman during the final three innings, the one-run lead might as well have been a double-digit bulge.
Working in the same game for the sixth time this season, the Holy Trinity of Smoke sealed a 2-1 victory over the Rays in front of 19,748 Tropicana Field customers who watched the Yankees win despite getting one hit, not batting with a runner in scoring position all day and without leaving a runner on base.
The only other time the Yankees won a game in which they were one-hit was July 10, 1914, against the Indians. Charlie Mullen provided an RBI single in the 1-0 victory, a game that lasted just six innings. The previous time the Yankees did not have an at-bat with runners in scoring position was May 23, 1984, against the Mariners. And the previous time they did not leave a runner on base was May 21, 2011, against the Mets.
The Yankees won all three games.
Seven of the final nine Rays batters whiffed. Betances got two in the seventh, Miller all three in the eighth and Chapman two of three in the ninth, when he posted his seventh save in as many chances and hit 103 mph twice, including the final strike to pinch-hitter Desmond Jennings.
“With the type of bullpen we got, it’s almost game over,” Starlin Castro said of his two-run homer off Jake Odorizzi in the seventh that scored Brett Gardner, who drew a 3-2 walk in front of Castro.
Until Castro’s seventh homer, a bolt to center field that stopped a 0-for-14 slide, the closest the Yankees came to a hit was Dustin Ackley’s ground ball to shortstop Brad Miller in the sixth. Miller momentarily bobbled the ball, and the throw to first on one hop was late. When the play was ruled an E-6, Odorizzi’s perfect game bid was dead, but the no-hitter remained intact.
The Yankees’ eighth win in 11 games pulled them to within a game of .500 at 24-25 and went to Nathan Eovaldi, who won his sixth straight and is 6-2.
“I felt my stuff was a lot better than it had been in the past,” said Eovaldi, who went six innings, gave up a run and six hits, walked two and fanned seven.
Eovaldi’s biggest challenge surfaced in the sixth with the Rays leading 1-0. Steve Pearce and Logan Morrison started the inning with singles in front of Steven Souza who was caught looking at a 100-mph heater. Corey Dick- erson popped up in front of a full-count walk to Mikie Mahtook .
That brought Curt Casali, the No. 9 hitter, to the plate and he fouled out to strand three.
“Whatever you do to take the lead is good,” Girardi said of having the best lategame pen in baseball ready to protect even the slimmest of margins.
Getting one hit and no atbats with a runner in scoring position isn’t a recipe for success, yet when the starter pitches as Eovaldi did and the lineup does enough to hand Betances, Miller and Chapman even the slimmest lead in the seventh, the Yankees’ chances at victory are better than most.