Field Level Media
Sep 2, 2020
Mike Brosseau homered twice, and the first-place Tampa Bay Rays ended their season series against the host New York Yankees on Wednesday night with a 5-2 victory.
A night after Aroldis Chapman threw a 101 mph fastball over his head, Brosseau hit a two-run shot in the first off Jordan Montgomery (2-2) and a solo drive in the fourth off Jonathan Holder.
It was the second baseman's second career multi-homer game, and three of his five homers this season were against the Yankees.
Randy Arozarena also homered for the Rays, who won 8 of 10 meetings in the season series. The Rays (26-12) also improved to 20-4 in their last 24 games and moved 4 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees (20-15) in the AL East.
The teams played without their respective managers as New York's Aaron Boone and Tampa Bay's Kevin Cash were suspended one game for their roles in Tuesday's incident. Chapman was suspended for three games but is appealing the ban.
Tampa Bay's Charlie Morton returned from missing three weeks due to right shoulder inflammation and faced nine batters in two-plus hitless innings while being limited to 36 pitches.
John Curtiss (2-0) followed Morton and pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
Clint Frazier homered in the sixth for the Yankees, who lost for the ninth time in their last 13 games. DJ LeMahieu hit an RBI single in the ninth.
Montgomery got only two outs in the first inning and allowed four runs on five hits. He was lifted after issuing a walk to Nate Lowe that loaded the bases.
There was no fireworks from Tampa Bay's side after Cash appeared to make a threat at the Yankees. New York reliever Ben Heller was ejected in the fifth inning after hitting Hunter Renfroe in the leg.
There was a five-minute drone delay with one out in the first as Luke Voit batted. The teams briefly came off the field after center fielder Manuel Margot noticed a drone flying over the outfield.
Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead when Arozarena hammered a 3-1 pitch into the left field seats, his first home run of the season. Two batters later, Brosseau belted a 2-2 curveball into the visiting bullpen beyond the left-center field fence.
--Field Level Media