No Sunshine For The Rays

The clouds remained over the Rays as they are now 2-7 over their last 9 games.  The Yankees didn't waste any time jumping on Snell to make his shortest outing of his life.  Holder of a career 3.19 ERA, Snell only got one out in the first inning and with little help from his bullpen allowed 6 runs.  The key was 4 walks.  While he clearly was not sharp, the Yankees were able to have great AB's and take close pitches rather than swing at close (balls) like Tampa did most of the series. 

DJ singled and then Luke was down 0-2 and worked his way back for a walk.  Sanchez homered to RF on a pitch probably just off the plate outside and then EE also walked on a 3-2 count after fouling off a few pitches and a 9 pitch AB.  After Hicks grounded out, both Torres and Maybin walked on 3-2 counts.  Again, the difference was that we either saw the ball well and/or had great AB's and didn't swing at bad pitches.

We finished off the scoring with a GS by Torres who swung at a high and outside fastball (maybe a strike) and tomahawked it to RC for a HR.

CC went 6 innings for only the 2nd time this year and both times he allowed one run in 6 innings to the Rays.  Congrats to CC on his 250th career win; he is a true horse and give him credit for making the adjustment from a power pitcher to a finesse pitcher.

I am a little worried about Hicks.  He is a critical player for us as the only other CF'r is Gardner and he should only start against righties.  Hicks became a good player the last 2 years (.839) OPS, but before that his OPS was roughly .640, his OPS this year is .668.  He hasn't gotten back into a groove so I would expect more, but we may see Gardner against some righties even as Hicks starts to hit.  If Hicks can give us a .750 OPS that is acceptable, but when we can get into the .800's it is a boost with his solid defense.

In the previous game, I neglected to mention a few good defensive plays.  Didi made a great pick on a throw to 2nd on a comebacker to Britton and then on a ball up the middle Didi turned a a DP on a very tough flip from Gleyber.  Didi was facing CF as Gleyber fielded the ball on the ss side of 2nd and the flip came where Didi crossed the bag a little before the ball got there so his right foot that was on the bag came off and then he tapped his left foot on the bag before turning his back to 1st and firing a strike to turn a DP on what could have been a single up the middle.  Stanton also made a nice play going into the stands to reach for a fly ball that a fan whiffed on.  It was a good play by Stanton to stay focused.

Bring on Houston for 4.  The goal is to take 3!