Suddenly, they look like the Rays you remember from last season.
The Tampa Bay Rays lost their third straight game Thursday night, getting swept by the New York Yankees and falling back to .500 on the season and dropping to fourth in the AL East.
This time, the Rays lost 3-2, striking out 15 times against the Yankees. Starting pitcher Luis Severino struck out 11.
Aaron Hicks hit two home runs and drove in all three runs for the Yankees. He had a two-run homer in the seventh off Xavier Cedeno for the winning runs.
Tampa Bay threatened to tie the game in the eighth, putting runners on first and third with no one out. But Dellin Betances got both Kevin Kiermaier and Evan Longoria to strike out looking and Brad Miller grounded out to end the threat.
“He’s one of a handful of pitchers you can totally understand his success,” said Rays’ manager Kevin Cash.
The Rays had trouble making contact the entire night. Kevin Kiermaier, Steven Souza Jr., Brad Miller and Daniel Robertson all struck out three times.
Tampa Bay starting pitcher Matt Andriese threw well, allowing only one earned run on five hits through six innings.
The Rays now travel to Boston for tonight’s game, which features Chris Archer against Rick Porcello.
