NEW YORK YANKEES NOTES –
• The Yankees lost their second straight game and fell for the fourth time in their last five games…snapped their season-high five-game home winning streak, losing for just the third time in their last 14 games at Yankee Stadium…fell to 14-16 in series openers this season.
• The Yankees stranded a runner on third base in three innings (first, second and ninth)…were 1-for-15 with runners on base tonight.
• The Yankees fell to 1-2 vs. Tampa Bay (0-1 at Yankee Stadium)…have lost their last three home games vs. the Rays dating back to last season and have dropped six of their last 10 home games vs. Tampa Bay.
• RHP Bartolo Colon (5.2IP, 10H, 5ER, 4BB, 1K, 2HR) lost for the first time since 5/23 vs. Toronto, snapping his four-game winning streak…marked a season high in hits allowed and matched his season highs in walks and home runs surrendered…marked his most hits allowed since 6/19/07 w/Los Angeles-AL vs. Houston (11H)…his first-inning run allowed snapped a 13.1-inning scoreless stretch…of the 11HR he has allowed this season, nine have been solo.
• SS Derek Jeter (1-for-5) doubled in his first at-bat and is now TWO HITS
• 2B Robinson Cano (2-for-4) extended his hitting streak to 11 games…has hit safely in 23 of his last 26 games since 6/10, batting .353 (36-for-102) over the stretch…homered for the first time since 6/15 vs. Texas. shy of career hit No. 3,000.
• DH Jorge Posada (1-for-3) played in his 1,785th career game tonight, tying Don Mattingly for ninth place on the Yankees’ all-time list…has hit safely in 16 of his last 19 starts.
TAMPA BAY RAYS NOTES–
• The Rays won for the 13th time in their last 19 games….improved to 36-8 when scoring the game’s first run…are now 28-18 on the road this season, marking the best such record in the Majors in 2011.
• The Rays’ leadoff man reached in six of nine innings tonight, including each of the first three…had at least two men reach base in six frames.
• Tampa Bay improved to 2-1 vs. the Yankees in 2011 (1-0 at Yankee Stadium)…have won three straight games at Yankee Stadium and six of their last 10 in the Bronx.
• The Rays have collected 26 combined hits over their last two games and have recorded double-digits in hits in six of their last 12 games.
• RHP Jeff Niemann won his third straight decision, holding the Yankees to 1ER on 6H in a season-high 7.1IP (2BB, 4K, 1HR)…remains undefeated in five career starts vs. the Yankees (3-0, 3.10 ERA, 29.0IP, 10ER)…has not lost in his last four road starts…his 114 pitches were a season high, four shy of his career high (118 pitches on 7/10/09 vs. Oakland) and his most since 6/8/10 vs. Toronto (also 114)…he is now 16-2 in 24 career starts of 7.0 or more IP.
• 2B Ben Zobrist (3-for-3) finished a double shy of the cycle, tripling in his first at-bat and homering in his second…reached base five times (also 2BB) for the first time in his career…has now reached base in seven consecutive plate appearances (including yesterday’s game at Minnesota), one shy of the club record (8, done seven times, most recently by B.J. Upton 5/23-25/08)…is 8-for-12 with 1HR, 1 double, 1 triple and 2BB over his last three games, coming on the heels of an 0-for-18 skid…owns a .320 (58-for-181) average on the road in 2011.
• CF B.J. Upton (2-for-4) hit his 14th home run of the season, extending his team lead…has 6HR in his last 13 overall games, and now has 5HR in his last seven road contests.
Derek Jeter
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Nick Swisher
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Joe Maddon
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