Yankees Trail Past Rays and onto a Better Division Standing

Added by Tania Sullivan on September 23, 2010

With an 8-3 victory on Tuesday, the Yankees improve their division score with 2 games over Tampa Bay Rays, their rivals, in the American League East. A home run signed by Nick Swisher and a two-run double by Lance Berkman pushed the World Series champs onto a 5-0 first inning advantage.

Phil Hughes also threw 6-1/3 innings, marking his 17^th win of the season. Hughes prevailed despite problems with control that sentenced him to five walks and three runs. Hughes, who is in his first season as a starter said that ‘Whatever my role is, you’d like to be pitching well’, and further added that ‘Whether it’s bullpen or starting, it’s still throwing the baseball over the plate and having confidence.’

On the opposing side, Carl Crawford made an RBI single, putting the visitor team near 5-3 in the top seventh, but received a quick reply from Robinson Cano, with a two-run double in the bottom half of the inning, thus increasing Yankees’ lead.

Later in the game, Matt Joyce, hit a home run for Tampa Bay, in the second inning, finishing 2-3. Closing the game, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter had two hits for the Yankees, followed by an RBI single.