Yankees Pin the Taillon the Rays

If you had told me on Wednesday afternoon that the Yankees would score just 2 runs in 2 of their next 3 games, and would win all 3, I wouldn't have believed you, but I would have gladly taken it.

Last night, in the 2nd game of this early-but-key series away to the Tampa Bay Rays, Jameson Taillon was fantastic. He pitched 8 innings, and allowed only 2 baserunners: A single by Randy Arozarena in the 5th inning, and a double by Manuel Margot in the 6th. Both were leadoff hits. He got out of each with little trouble. That's 8 innings, 2 hits, no walks, with 5 strikeouts.

At first, though, it looked like a frustrating night. The Yankees got singles by Joey Gallo and Kyle Higashioka to lead off the top of the 3rd, and got them to 2nd and 3rd, but couldn't score them. Then came the top of the 4th: Gleyber Torres hit a home run, and Matt Carpenter hit his 1st home run as a Yankee.

That would be all that they would get, but it will be all that they needed, as Clay Holmes showed that, when Aroldis Chapman comes back, he should be told that he's not losing his job due to his injury, he's losing it due to Holmes being more reliable.

Yankees 2, Rays 0. WP: Taillon (5-1). SV: Holmes (6). LP: Jeffrey Springs (2-2). The Yankees now lead the Rays by 6 1/2 games, 6 in the loss column.

The Yankees have secured no worse than a split of this series. Does that sound like "Mission Accomplished" to you? It doesn't sound like it to me. We're going to need to win at least 3 out of 4 to send a message to the Rays that we do not fear them anymore, and now, they should fear us.

The series continues this afternoon. Gerrit Cole starts against Corey Kluber, who pitched a no-hitter for the Yankees last year, got hurt, and was let go. Hopefully, this won't turn into another of Brian Cashman's dumb moves that leads to revenge, a la Nathan Eovaldi.