ST. PETERSBURG, Florida, USA – Rich Hill looked solid in six innings, Austin Meadows led a batting festival against Corey Klüber and the New York bullpen, and the Tampa Bay Rays doubled the Yankees 10-5 on Friday to cut a streak of four consecutive defeats.
Hill (1-0) accepted four runs and the same number of hits – all with two outs in the third inning – before withdrawing his last 10 rivals.
The 41-year-old left-back who has played with 10 different teams over 17 seasons received 7 strikeouts and did not give away tickets.
Tampa Bay scored five times early in the game against Klüber (0-1), who completed his second opener with the Yankees. Meadows shot three of the Rays’ 13 hits.
Five Tampa Bay players get at least two catches.
Aaron Hicks and DJ LeMahieu connected on two home runs for the Yankees, who have lost nine of 11 regular-season games to the reigning American League champions Rays.
Keeping rules of social distancing, 9,021 spectators gathered at Tropicana Field, where no public was admitted since October 8, 2019, when the fourth game of the divisional series was played against the Houston Stars.
For the Yankees, the Venezuelan Gleyber Torres 4-1. Dominican Gary Sanchez 3-1.
For the Rays, Cubans Randy Arozarena 5-1 with a score and a push, Yandy Díaz 3-2 with a score and a push. The Dominican Willy Adames 4-2 with a score and two drives.