Field Level Media
Jul 27, 2021
Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery spun five shutout innings and Gio Urshela drove in two runs, lifting New York to a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Making his fifth start in 2021 against the Rays, Montgomery (4-5) allowed five hits and three walks while fanning five to beat them for the third time in four decisions.
Urshela rapped two doubles while DJ LeMahieu doubled and added an RBI single for the Yankees. Ryan LaMarre hit a solo homer, and Gleyber Torres notched two singles and scored once.
All-Star Aaron Judge (COVID-19 injured list) played for the first time since July 11 and went 1-for-4 and was hit by a pitch.
Tampa Bay's Brandon Lowe stroked his 22nd homer, Randy Arozarena doubled home a run and leadoff hitter Manuel Margot (hamstring) returned after a 15-game absence and was 1-for-4 with a walk.
Rays starter Shane McClanahan (4-4) surrendered nine hits and three runs in six innings, walking three and fanning six.
In the third inning, Montgomery escaped a Rays scoring opportunity by getting Nelson Cruz to ground into a double play after Margot and Wander Franco produced one-out singles.
After Greg Allen opened the fifth with a double for New York, LeMahieu shot a single the other way to easily plate the speedster for the first run of the foes' 14th meeting this season.
In the sixth, Urshela pushed the advantage to 3-0 when he doubled to center off McClanahan to score Torres and Rougned Odor.
Lowe took advantage of New York's bullpen, which was woeful over the weekend in Boston, by swatting an opposite-field, two-run shot off a curveball from Chad Green. That cut the deficit to 3-2 after six innings.
After the Yankees grounded into their 97th double play in the eighth, LaMarre sliced his second homer of 2021 to right field for a 4-2 lead.
Arozarena drew Tampa Bay to within one with a ground-rule double in the bottom of the eighth, but reliever Zack Britton closed the frame by inducing a double-play ball from Mike Zunino.
In the ninth, hard-throwing Aroldis Chapman whiffed Kevin Kiermaier and got a diving grab by Allen in center to rob Margot before walking Franco on a 3-2 pitch.
After falling behind Cruz 3-0, the southpaw came back and punched out the slugger with an 84 mph breaking ball for his 19th save in 23 chances.
--Field Level Media