Associated Press Aug 27, 2023 6:32pm ET4 minute read
Arozarena and Abreu at the center of two incidents that saw the Yankees-Rays clear the bench
Randy Arozarena gets in trouble with Albert Abreu twice in the eighth inning, resulting in the empty benches on both occasions.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brandon Lowe hit a home run and drove four carries as the AL wildcard-leading Tampa Bay Rays defeated the New York Yankees 7-4 in a contentious match on Sunday, keeping the away team winless since June.
Benches and bullpens emptied twice in the eighth inning after hitting one of five batsmen but taking no shots, and the Yankees lost their eighth consecutive rubber game.
“If you look at it from a different perspective, it’s a last-place team,” Lowe said. “We don’t need to worry about that. We need to focus on what we need to do later. If they lose a man, it won’t be as big of a deal as if we lost one of our boys. We focus on the big picture.”
Tampa Bay rebounded from a 4-2 deficit in the sixth when Harold Ramírez fired a bases-loaded two-out single against Ian Hamilton (2-2), which went just above an unresponsive second-place Gleyber Torres. and Lowe followed with a two-run single against Wandy Peralta.
New York (62-68) has lost six games under .500 and is in danger of ending its 30-season winning streak. The last 16 batters have played for the Yankees, who are 0-8-2 since they won two of three games in Oakland in late June. New York has only managed four hits or fewer 23 times.
“We weren’t very good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Everything was a challenge.”
Tempers ran high after Randy Arozarena was hit at 3-1 by Albert Abreu, the fourth Tampa Bay player to be hit. Arozarena was also hit twice by the Yankees on May 5, once by Abreu after a long home run.
“I think it was intentional,” Arozarena said through a translator. “If you look back [the] In the previous series he already beat me once. I’ve been met in previous series. You hurt Yandy [Díaz] They struck recently [Isaac] Paredes in mind so I think it was probably a problem for her.
Several players had to be detained, including Díaz. Arozarena stole the second and then the third, yelled at Abreu again and the players ran onto the field a second time.
Abreu said through a translator that he didn’t throw at Arozarena. Díaz was hit in the left forearm in Friday’s game and missed the last two games.
Osleivis Basabe was hit by Hamilton’s Carlos Rodon and Paredes and Jonathan Aranda while New Yorker Oswald Peraza went down by Zack Littell. Twelve Rays batters have been beaten by the Yankees and two by the Rays this season.
“You understand her anger?” Hamilton said. “I understand, but if you want to come here, I suppose you can come here. I wish we had one more game against them.”
The last time AL East rivals met until April 19, Rays fans erupted in cheers from an announced crowd of 22,624 as Lowe doubled a brace for a 7-3 lead and Arozarena jogged home.
Kyle Higashioka, DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Volpe hit home runs for the last-place Yankees, who lost 12-of-14. New York lost two of three games to the Rays and is 1-12-3 in their last 16 series.
Higashioka and LeMahieu had solo drives via a four-pitch sequence against Littell (3-4) in the third set, and Volpe hit with a two-run throw in the fourth inning that gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead.
Tampa Bay initially took a 2-0 lead. Arozarena hit a single, stole second place, advanced to center due to Higashioka’s throwing error, and finished when Harrison Bader’s throw for third place went past LeMahieu and caused another error. Lowe hit a home run on the next pitch, the tenth that Rodon allowed in 37⅔ innings — two fewer than his total in 178 innings for San Francisco last year.
Rodon, who started only the eighth time in an injury-plagued season after signing a six-year, $162 million contract in December, intermittently had 11 straight exits before knocking out in game five with two ons and two outs. He was replaced by Hamilton, who hit Isaac Paredes on the side of the helmet before defeating pinch-hitter Josh Lowe.
Paredes stayed in the game.
Littell allowed four runs and four hits in six innings. Jason Adam hit the ninth for his twelfth save from 18 chances.