Rays Cruise Past Yankees in Opener as Bats Continue to Struggle

Brandon McCarthy gave up just two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings and Derek Jeter went 2-for-4, but since Alex Cobb bested the former with a scoreless 22-out performance and the offense remained nonexistent the Yankees were beaten easily by the Rays, 5-0, in tonight's opener at Tropicana Field.

For most of this evening's contest, in spite of the bats' continued struggles, the Yanks actually only trailed by two, a tolerable happening caused in the bottom of the first when a pair of singles and fielder's choices pushed across an early duo for Tampa Bay.

Nonetheless, due to the six-hit, eight-strikeout effort of the aforementioned Cobb the game didn't end up proving to be competitive, something that definitely wasn't helped out by a bottom of the seventh error by New York Third Basemen Chase Headley that allowed two more Rays to circle the bases. 

No, that mistake by Headley isn't fully to blame for Tampa's late outburst that also included a James Loney homer off Yankees' Reliever Esmil Rogers, but yes, you could argue that it gave Florida's AL representative a good amount of momentum, a luxury they certainly used to put things away in the final few frames.