Austin Meadows and Randy Arozarena each homered as the Tampa Bay Rays continued their dominance over the visiting New York Yankees with a 4-0 victory Saturday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Rays beat the Yankees for the 12th time in the past 14 regular-season meetings. They have outscored New York by a 14-5 margin in the first two games of this series.
Meadows belted his third homer this season and seventh career against the Yankees just two batters into the game. He gave the Rays a 1-0 lead when he deposited a 2-1 changeup from Domingo German (0-2) off the foul pole in right field.
Related: MLB power rankings 2022 – Houston Astros, New York Yankees battle for No.1 spot
Arozarena, who had three hits, launched his first homer of the season when he led off the third inning by hitting German’s first-pitch fastball over the wall in center field. Including last season’s five-game American League Division Series, it was his fifth homer in 10 career games against the Yankees.
Francisco Mejia sandwiched the homers with a two-run single with one out in the second inning. He gave the Rays a 3-0 lead when German could not field his comebacker and the ball deflected off his glove into right field, allowing Joey Wendle and Willy Adames to score.
Not all the news was good for Tampa Bay, however.
Chris Archer’s first start since returning to the Rays was cut short after 2 1/3 innings due to right lateral forearm tightness. He allowed three hits, tossed 42 pitches and departed after allowing a double to DJ LeMahieu.
Related: MLB games today – MLB schedule, TV info, scores, and key dates
After Archer departed, five pitchers combined for the final 20 outs.
Andrew Kittredge (2-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings, Jeffrey Springs tossed two frames while Ryan Thompson and Cody Reed pitched an inning apiece. Chris Mazza finished off Tampa Bay’s latest win over the Yankees by needing eight pitches in a perfect ninth.
New York lost its third straight game, went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and struck out nine times.
Aaron Judge returned from missing the past two games with soreness in his right side. He was 1-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.
German allowed four runs on eight hits in four innings.
–Field Level Media