 since returning Sept. 1 from a groin strain and 1 for his last 28, dropping his average to .180. He hit a three-run homer off Jalen Beeks in a seven-run third inning, his first long ball since Sept. 10, and added an RBI single in the fifth.Severino (19-8) is competing for Masahiro Tanaka and J. A. Happ to start in the Oct. 3 wild-card game, most likely against Oakland. The Yankees began the night 1 1/2 games ahead of the Athletics for home-field advantage.Severino was 14-2 at the All-Star break but lost six of his next nine decisions before beating Boston and Tampa Bay in his last two outings. He gave up two runs and four hits in five-plus innings, appearing to lose concentration in the third inning.Brandon Lowe hit a two-run double with no outs, but Ji-Man Choi was thrown out trying to score from first. Choi was hurt on the play and needed stitches for a cut left ear and also experienced concussion-like symptoms.Severino is third in the major leagues wins behind Tampa Bay's Blake Snell (21) and Cleveland's Corey Kluber (20).New York improved to 97-60, its most wins since going 97-65 in 2011. The Yankees are 37 games over .500 for the first time since finishing 103-59 in 2009, their last World Series title.Adeiny Hechavarria homered against Jake Faria (4-4) leading off the third. Luke Voit had an RBI double, Beeks walked Neil Walker with the bases loaded, Miguel Andujar hit a sacrifice fly and Sanchez followed with his 17th homer. Sanchez's only other four-RBI game this year was April 11 against Boston.Andujar added his 26th homer in the ninth.Faria allowed three runs and four hits in 2 1/3 innings. His night ended after catching a108.5 mph head-high liner by Aaron Judge. The right-hander bent over afterwards with both hands on his legs and exhaled.TRAINER'S ROOMYankees: CF Aaron Hicks (left hamstring) should play within a few days, the Yankees said. ... SS Didi Gregorius (torn cartilage in right wrist) is the be re-examined Wednesday. ... INF Gleyber Torres (hip/groin) was scratched but could start Wednesday.Rays: CF Kevin Kiermaier (sore shoulder) started after missing one game. ... C Michael Perez (left hamstring) won't play again this season. ... Manager Kevin Cash said INF Daniel Robertson (left thumb surgery) is doing on-field work and is ready to have a normal off-season.STREAKINGRays LF Tommy Pham doubled in the first and extended his career-high on-base streak to 27 games, the longest active run in the AL. He has a hit in 26 of them. Pham got hit near the left elbow by a Severino pitch in the third but stayed in the gameMINORS' MATTERSINF Thairo Estrada hit a long homer in his first instructional league game against the Pirates. He started the year on the DL after being shot in the right thigh during a January robbery attempt in Venezuela and then had a regular season-ending back injury at Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes/Barre.UP NEXTYankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka (12-5) started Wednesday for the Yankees. He has allowed two or fewer runs in nine of his last 12 starts. The Rays will use relievers.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Yankees face Rays looking to bolster wild card lead 8h ago 3 min read On a night the longshot dream of the Tampa Bay Rays came to an end, the New York Yankees made as much news off the field than they did during the game.The Yankees used eight different pitchers in a 4-1 victory that eliminated the Rays from postseason contention. But it was other Yankees developments that made the real headlines.First of all, New York, with manager Aaron Boone continuing to deflect all questions regarding his wild card game starter, pushed Luis Severino back to Tuesday night's second game of the series, going with a complete Rays-type bullpen game Monday.The win, the Yankees' 96th of the season, kept the Yankees 1 1/2 games ahead of the winning Oakland A's for home field in the wild card game. The Yankees own the tiebreaker with Oakland by virtue of a better divisional record.Then, Didi Gregorius, who might have been lost for the season with torn cartilage in his right wrist, reported improvement and vowed he will play again this season."I feel way better," said Gregorius, who was given a cortisone injection Sunday. "It's a big improvement from yesterday to today. I'm feeling stronger. I'll get some exercises in and wait to see what's going to happen. ... I said the same thing yesterday; I said I'll be ready to go before the season ends." Said Boone: "He felt significantly better obviously with some of the range of motion things he's able to do. I would also temper it. The true indicator will come Wednesday when he's re-evaluated, and we see how he does." During the game, Aaron Hicks, who fouled a ball off his foot Saturday before getting the hit that led to Gregorius' injury diving into home plate, left with left hamstring tightness. "Hopefully it's nothing serious," said Boone, who added Hicks will have a precautionary MRI Tuesday.Brett Gardner, who replaced Hicks in centerfield, drove in the go-ahead run and then made a spectacular catch to keep his team ahead.The Yankees, winning for only the second time in seven games at the Trop this season (10-18 over their last 28 there), went with the bullpen game to give their starters an extra day of rest, but Boone said nothing should be read into anything when it comes to the wild card game."I think a lot of people have read too much into how Happ is set up right now," Boone said. "Happ is very much in the picture as a possibility for us and one of those good choices ... but how it lines up right now isn't by design or anything." The Rays will go with reliever Jake Faria to at least start Tuesday night's game, not as an "opener" but expected to give way to Jalen Beeks at some point.Tampa Bay came out of nowhere to make a bit of a late run at the A's but just ran out of time.Tampa manager Kevin Cash, asked about the Yankees' parade of relievers (two hits, 13 strikeouts), said, "I don't think it's fair for them to call it a bullpen day. It's more like a closer day because they all just kind of come in there and they've all got ... closing? It's wipeout stuff from the second that (Chad) Green steps on the mound and out, they're very special." Zach Britton pitched the ninth for the save and is showing real signs of returning to his dominating days as an Orioles.Kevin Kiermaier was out of the Tampa lineup with a shoulder injury and catcher Nick Ciuffo left with a bruised hand.Severino is 7-2 with a 3.06 ERA lifetime against the Rays, 2-1 with a 3.43 in St. Petersburg. He is 2-1 against Tampa Bay this season but was strafed by the Rays in July.Mallex Smith is 3-for-10 (.300) against Severino, but both Jesus Sucre and Joey Wendle are 1-for-9 (.111) and Kiermaier is 3-for-23 (.130).
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