SAN DIEGO – Randy Arozarena made a home run for the third straight game and Kevin Kiermaier and Michael Perez also went deep for the Tampa Bay Rays, who beat the New York Yankees 8-4 Wednesday night to claim a victory after reaching the AL Championship Series for the first time in 12 years
New York’s Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homerun against rookie Shane McClanahan down center in the eighth inning to become the first player with a homer in each of his team’s first five playoff games Stanton has six homers in those five games McClanahan made his major league debut in Game One Monday night
The Rays took a 2-1 lead in best of five Division Series Game 4 is Thursday night at Petco Park, which produced 16 home runs in three games – nine by Tampa Bay
Rays look to exit ALDS for second time They reached 2008 World Series before losing to Philadelphia Phillies
Arozarena, a 25-year-old Havana rookie nicknamed ‘The Cuban Rocket’, makes playoff breakthrough He outscored Gerrit Cole in the opening leg of Game 1, a 9-3 Yankees victory, and the rookie Deivi Garcia in the first leg of Game 2, a 7-5 Rays win
He hit a deep left-leading shot on Wednesday night’s fifth to chase Masahiro Tanaka and give the Rays a 5-1 lead
Arozarena went 3 for 4 with a walk He leads all players in the playoffs with 12 hits in five games He went unsuccessful in five playoff appearances in 2019 for St Louis, who traded him to Tampa Bay in January
« He has to be the best baseball player in the world right now, » Rays starter Tyler Glasnow said after Tuesday night’s win « What he’s doing is phenomenal »
Kiermaier hit a three-point shot in the home run deck just off Tanaka with no outage in the fourth to bring the score to 4-1 Joey Wendle was on board on a first single and Willy Adames on a walk
Perez hit a two-point shot to abandon Chad Green in the sixth Kiermaier was on board for a brace This was the 11th home run by a No 9 hitters in the playoffs, the most ever
Charlie Morton took the win after limiting the Yankees to two runs, one earned and four hits in five innings He struck out six and scored two to win his fifth straight playoff decision
Tanaka took the loss after allowing five runs and eight hits in over four innings He hit four and walked one
The Yankees loaded the bases twice in the third inning and only got one fly sacrificed by Aaron Judge Aaron Hicks hit an RBI double in the fifth
With the series on a neutral site, the AL’s first seed Tampa Bay was the home team in Games 1 and 2 and the Yankees beat the last ball in Game 3 and will. again in Game 4 It meant the Bronx Bombers wore stripes, one of the few times they’ve done it away from Yankee Stadium in recent decades. The last time they wore stripes in an NL park was on April 15, 1998, against the Angels in a game played at Shea Stadium after an expansion joint fell into the Yankee seats. Stadium
The Yankees played home games at Shea from 1974 to 1975 when Yankee Stadium was undergoing renovations Most recently they wore stripes during a series in London against the Boston Red Sox in 2019 and Tokyo on March 30 and 31, 2004, for a season opener against the Rays
Rays vs Yankees
World News – USA – Arozarena leads Rays power display in 8-4 win over Yankees
