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BASEBALL

Two Ejections, Home Runs Make For A Rough Outing For New York As They Fall To Tampa Bay

Saturday nothing came easy for New York as they dropped their second one in a row to Tampa Bay by a score of 9-5.

Ejections and home runs played a big part into why New York had a tough outing. Tampa Bay designated hitter Corey Dickerson homered twice, including a mammoth three-run blast that approached the video board in right field at Tropicana Field, and the Rays chased Masahiro Tanaka early to win their fourth straight, a 9-5 victory over the Yankees on Saturday. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/231436240/rays-rough-up-masahiro-tanaka-yankees/?topicId=27118390

Masahiro Tanaka was pounded for six runs and nine hits -- including three homers -- in three-plus innings before Yankees manager Joe Girardi and pitching coach Larry Rothschild were ejected in the fifth. Dickerson hit a leadoff homer and Evan Longoria barreled a solo shot in the third inning, his 34th against the Yankees before Dickerson belted a three-run blast in the fourth. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/231436240/rays-rough-up-masahiro-tanaka-yankees/

Jesus Sucre also had a run-scoring double off Masahiro Tanaka, who has lacked command of both his splitter and his slider. The Yankees' ace has surrendered 14 earned runs on 16 hits -- and seven homers -- over his last two starts, recording just 14 outs against the Astros and Rays (27.00 ERA) "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/231436240/rays-rough-up-masahiro-tanaka-yankees/

After Tanaka's exit, Tommy Lane was able to wriggle out of a bases-loaded, none out jam in the fourth inning, with the big break coming as Steven Souza Jr. scorched a liner right at shortstop Didi Gregorious That drive had a hit probability of 85 percent, according to Statcast™. It was short-lived as the Rays batted around for the second consecutive inning in the fifth, with Logan Morrison's two-run single helping to ignite the on-field theatrics. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/231436240/rays-rough-up-masahiro-tanaka-yankees/

New York took yet another step back as they dropped to 24-16 on the season while Tampa Bay improved to 23-22 on the season. New York will turn to left -hander CC Sabathia for the finale. He  has a record of 3-2 with a 4.93 earn run average to go along with thirty-one strikeouts. CC Sabathia bounced back from a stretch of three rough outings by pitching 6/2/3 innings of shutout ball in his last start against Kansas City. He will take on Tampa Bay right -hander Chris Archer who has a record of 3-2 with a 3.70 earn run average. Chris Archer is coming off his worst performance of the season on the road against Cleveland Monday where he allowed six earned runs in five innings that included giving up five runs in the first inning while walking six batters of the 101 pitches he threw but only 57 of them were strikes. "according to https://www.mlb.com/gameday/yankees-vs-rays/2017/05/21/490757#game_state=preview,game_tab=,game=490757