Yankees 6, Rays 4
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Yankees are back in first place in the American League East.
Russell Martin homered and knocked in three runs and New York exploited a rare defensive breakdown by Tampa Bay to win 6-4 on Wednesday at Tropicana Field and steady itself after blowing a 10-game division lead since July.
With the win, New York opened a one-game lead on Baltimore, which lost at Toronto, and a 2.5-game bulge on the Rays.
Tampa Bay had won four consecutively while New York, which held a players' meeting before the game, had dropped 10 of its last 14.
New York took a 6-4 lead in the seventh when Rays starter Matt Moore faltered against the bottom of the Yankee order and Elliot Johnson's two-run throwing error proved costly. The Yankees got consecutive singles by Andruw Jones - who entered the game batting .201 - and Steve Pearce (.143) before a sacrifice bunt sent them both to scoring position. Reliever Kyle Farnsworth induced a grounder to second by Derek Jeter (3-for-5), but Johnson fired home extremely wide, allowing both runs to score.
The miscue capped a forgettable game for Johnson, who earlier dropped a Jeter pop that led to a run, and botched a squeeze bunt attempt in the second.
Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda (13-10) was good enough, allowing four earned runs on eight hits. Moore (10-9) allowed four earned runs on eight hits with nine strikeouts. Rafael Soriano earned his 36th save.
Martin's 15th home run of the season with two out in the sixth gave the Yankees back a 4-3 lead an inning after allowing the Rays to tie.
Martin's two-RBI ground-rule double in the third helped give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. Jeter began the rally when the Rays' Johnson dropped his flare to center - it was ruled a single - and Matt Moore walked Robinson Cano with one out. Alex Rodriguez laced a run-scoring double to the left-field corner and scored with Cano when Martin's squib to right hopped the fence.
The Rays tied the game on a two-run Ben Zobrist triple in the bottom of the fifth, however, in a rally that began with a two-out, bases-empty walk to Sam Fuld. Desmond Jennings followed Fuld's walk with a sinking-liner single just in front of the Yankees' Jones, and was running on the 2-2 pitch when Zobrist pulled a ball off Kuroda to the right-center gap. Zobrist had fallen behind, 0-2, to start the at-bat.
The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a two-out Evan Longoria single. Fuld had led off the game with a single and moved to second on a Jennings sacrifice bunt.
NOTES: Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, defending himself over being later than customary before a game at Oakland, accused Rays manager Joe Maddon of arriving "every day at 4 o'clock" during a heated radio interview on Wednesday. Maddon, who this May had called Valentine a "coward" for allegedly ordering a pitcher to throw at Luke Scott, indulged in a retort as he arrived for his pre-game scrum on Wednesday, saying, "Sorry I'm late. I just got here." ... Rays top home run hitter B.J. Upton (18) was rested. ... Yankee Stadium will host Madonna concerts on Thursday and Saturday while the Yankees play at Baltimore. The now-crucial series is part of a 22-game Yankees stretch against the AL East.
