Rays Finish Road Schedule With Win In Bronx

The Tampa Bay Rays erased a three-run fifth inning deficit with a seven-run inning, taking a 9-6 win over the New York Yankees in the final road game of the 2017 season.

Corey Dickerson, who has struggled mightily in the second half of the year, opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, blasting a Sonny Gray pitch into the second deck in right field for his 27th home run of the season.

But Jake Faria, making his first start in almost six weeks, did not have great command early.  He allowed back to back home runs to Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge -- Gardner's 21st homer of the year, Judge's 51st -- to start the bottom of the first and fell behind 3-1 in the second on a RBI single by Todd Frazier.

The right-hander exited after three innings, and Chih-Wei Hu's relief appearance started just as poorly, as he allowed a solo homer to Greg Bird.

The Rays came roaring back in the fifth.  Mallex Smith started the rally in the fifth with a one-out single, going to third on a base hit by Dickerson.  A wild pitch by Gray allowed Smith to score, with Dickerson moving to third on a throwing error by catcher Gary Sanchez.  Sanchez's bad inning continued as he had a pitch pass him to let Dickerson score to cut the deficit back to 4-3.  Lucas Duda drew a two-out walk and Wilson Ramos unloaded on Gray, blasting a two-run homer to straightaway center field, giving the Rays the lead for good.

Adeiny Hechaverria followed with a single, and reliever Jonathan Holder hit Daniel Robertson.  Cesar Puello singled in Hechaverria, and Peter Bourjos followed with a two-run triple to make it an 8-4 lead.

Tommy Hunter allowed a RBI single to Starlin Castro in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to three, but a solo homer by Trevor Plouffe off Chasen Shreve pushed the lead back to 9-5.

Aaron Hicks got New York back to within 9-6 in the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer off Chaz Roe, but the right-hander struck out Gardner and got Judge to fly out to end the game.

The Rays will finish off the 2017 season with a series against the Baltimore Orioles.  Jake Odorizzi (10-8, 4.25 ERA) will get the start in Friday's opener, taking on Wade Miley (8-14, 5.52 ERA).  First pitch is scheduled for 7:10, with coverage on WDAE beginning at 6:00 with The Inside Pitch presented by Sykes Lakeland.


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