Yankees 1, Rays 5: CC did bad, offense did nothing

The story for CC Sabathia this season has generally been that he's had "one bad inning". That was not the story today. Today, Sabathia had multiple bad innings and couldn't even make it out of the fourth. And the offense seemed to be trying to match his mediocrity every step of the way. After scoring nine runs yesterday, the Yankees managed just one today as the Rays won 5-1.

For the second straight game, the Rays got a run in the first inning. Logan Forsythe led off the game with a double. After Desmond Jennings bunted Forsythe over to third, Evan Longoria hit a ground-rule double to score Forsythe and make it 1-0.

The Yankees got that run back in the bottom of the second. Mark Teixeira led off the inning with a single and moved to third when Alfonso Soriano doubled. A Kelly Johnson pop up couldn't get the run home, but a Yangervis Solarte fly out did. Teixeira was able to tag up and score, tying the game at one.

However, the Rays would retake the lead in the top of the third. With one out in the inning, Jennings doubled to left. After an unintentional but also sorta intentional walk to Longoria, Myers came to the plate. Myers hit one towards the wall in right-ish center. Jacoby Ellsbury tried to make a catch against the wall, but the ball hit off the wall and caromed away from him and to right field. In the four hours it seemingly took Carlos Beltran to get to the ball and get it in, both runners has scored and Myers was able to come around and score himself for an inside-the-park home run. That gave the Rays a 4-1 lead.

The Rays then added more in the top of the fourth. With one out, Forsythe and Jennings reached on back-to-back singles. Longoria then grounded into a force out, which could have been a double play, but CC didn't get to the bag in time for Solarte to make a throw over. That brought Myers to the plate again. This time, Myers doubled down the line in left. That scored Forsythe and made it 5-1. That would also be the end of Sabathia's day. He went just 3.2 innings allowing five runs on ten hits and a walk. He was bad. Alfredo Aceves was brought in to make his first appearance since returning to the Yankees. Aceves struck out Sean Rodriguez to escape further damage. In the top of the fifth inning, it appeared as if Aceves might have to come out after injuring himself, but after a lengthy delay, he remained in the game.

Following that injury scare, Aceves was pretty good. He ended up pitching all the way through the ninth. He went 5.1 innings allowing no runs on three hits, while striking out five. Problem was, while that was happening, the Yankees' offense couldn't do a thing. The Yankees stranded several runners, most notably in the seventh, when they stranded two after having first and second with no one out. And the ninth inning would feature one more stranded runner as Grant Balfour finished off a 5-1 Rays' win.

The Yankees will now head out to California to take on the Angels in a series starting tomorrow. David Phelps will get the start in the first game of the series, tomorrow at 10 eastern.

Box score.