During their recent cold streak, the Yankees have been desperately searching for someone to spark their offense.
They found him Saturday in the form of
Brett Gardner.
Gardner crushed a walk-off solo home run off
Erasmo Ramirez in the ninth, lifting the Yankees to a 3-2 win over the Rays at Yankee Stadium.
Gardner went 3-for-4 on the afternoon, tying the game with a bases-loaded infield single in the seventh. The hit likely would have plated another run had it gotten through to center, but Rays lefty
Xavier Cedeno was able to deflect it.
Gardner's late heroics helped the Yankees overcome nonexistent hitting in the early-going.
The Yanks' bats managed just one earned run -- coming on a wild pitch in the first -- on two hits in five innings against rookie
Blake Snell, who was making his major-league debut.
But thanks to a second straight strong start by
Masahiro Tanaka, New York kept it close.
Tanaka surrendered just two earned runs across seven innings, yielding five hits while walking one and striking out seven. He allowed an RBI double to
Corey Dickerson in the fourth and a solo shot to
Kevin Kiermaier in the fifth, but never let Tampa Bay extend its lead.
And with the Yankees' bullpen as good as it is this season, that's all the team really needed.
Dellin Betances fanned two in a 1-2-3 top of the eighth, and
Andrew Miller worked around a one-out single to put up his own zero in the ninth.
The Yankees then began the bottom of the frame with a couple of weak groundouts, before Gardner ended it by clubbing a 3-1 fastball into the upper deck in right.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Yankees clinched their first series victory since taking two of three from the Astros Opening Week. They are now 7-9 on the year, 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Orioles.
NEXT UP: The Yankees go for the three-game sweep on Sunday.
Michael Pineda (1-1, 5.29 ERA) and
Drew Smyly (0-2, 2.91 ERA) are slated to be your starters, with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m. ET.
