Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
NY Yankees 9, Tampa Bay 0
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, April 18, 2015
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Bob Davidson, 1B - David Rackley, 2B - Jerry Layne, 3B - Hunter Wendelstedt
Attendance: 20824

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Masahiro Tanaka threw seven innings of two-hit baseball and Chris Young's grand slam highlighted a seven-run seventh as the New York Yankees got a 9-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night at Tropicana Field.

The Yankees (5-6) tagged three Rays pitchers for seven runs on five hits in the seventh, including Young's two-out grand slam off reliever Grant Balfour.

Starter Jake Odorizzi took a shutout into the sixth for the Rays (6-6) and left trailing 2-0 in the seventh, only to see the Yankees break open the game off the Tampa Bay bullpen. Tanaka was dominant, combining with Yankees relievers on a three-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts and two walks, both in the ninth.

The Yankees had more hits in the seventh (five) than they did in the first six innings, first adding runs on sacrifice flies by second baseman Gregorio Petit and first baseman Mark Teixeira and an RBI single by leftfielder Brett Gardner.

Balfour was a strike away from ending the inning when Young crushed a shot over the wall in left for his third home run of the season and a 9-0 lead. One swing doubled his RBI total for 2015.

The Yankees had broken the scoreless tie in the sixth, with Gardner and designated hitter Alex Rodriguez drawing walks, then scoring on a two-out triple off the wall in right field by catcher Brian McCann for a 2-0 lead.

Odorizzi had allowed just one earned run in his first 19 2/3 innings of the season, lowering his ERA to 0.46 before running into trouble in the sixth.

Odorizzi gave up a single to third baseman Chase Headley to lead off the seventh before giving way to reliever C.J. Riefenhauser, and the inning unraveled from there.

Tanaka, who came in with a 7.00 ERA in two starts, gave up a single to Rays designated hitter David DeJesus to open the game, then retired the next 15 in order, with six strikeouts. Odorizzi, who entered the game with a 0.61 ERA in his first two starts, scattered three hits in the first five innings, striking out seven batters and walking none.

The dominant pitching came a day after the teams combined for five home runs in the Yankees' 5-4 victory to open the series. Odorizzi came in as just the third AL pitcher in the last 100 years to open a season winning consecutive starts of 6-plus innings while allowing two or fewer hits and one or fewer runs in both outings.

NOTES: The Rays have two dubious records early in the season. Their 10 players on the disabled list matches the most in franchise history, and by no coincidence, the team has nine rookies on the 25-man roster, the most they've ever had on the roster before Sept. 1 in a season. ... Yankees OF Brett Gardner, who had missed two games with a wrist injury before entering Friday's game as a pinch-runner and scoring the winning run, was back in the starting lineup, batting second. ... Rays LHP Drew Smyly, recovering from left shoulder tendinitis, will throw 70 pitches in his third rehab start Sunday for Double-A Montgomery. LHP Jake McGee (elbow surgery) will throw a bullpen session Sunday, and if all goes well, would line up rehab work in the minors. ... RHP Alex Colome (pneumonia) threw a bullpen Saturday and is expected to have a rehab assignment Tuesday.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
NY Yankees   Tampa Bay
Masahiro Tanaka Player Jake Odorizzi
Win W/L Loss
7.0 IP 6.0
8 Strikeouts 9
2 Hits 5
0.00 ERA 4.50
Hitting
NY Yankees   Tampa Bay
Brian McCann Player David DeJesus
3 Hits 2
2 RBI 0
0 HR 0
5 TB 2
.750 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
NY Yankees 10 1 16 .294 12 11 9 5 2 0
Tampa Bay 3 0 4 .100 10 10 0 2 0 0