Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton drove in two runs apiece in a seven-run sixth inning as the Tampa Bay Rays routed the New York Yankees 10-3 on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.
Left-hander David Price (18-6) went six solid innings as the Rays salvaged a split of the four-game series and sliced New York's lead to one-half game in the American League East.
Crawford went 3-for-5 to spark a 13-hit attack for Tampa Bay, which shelled Yankees ace CC Sabathia (20-7) for seven runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Joba Chamberlain relieved Sabathia with the bases loaded in the sixth and promptly surrendered a ground-rule double to Upton and a two-run single to Crawford to make it 8-3.
Price gave up three runs on eight hits while striking out seven and walking four to help the Rays clinch the season series against New York 10-8.
After losing the first two games of the series, Tampa Bay (91-61) outscored the Yankees 17-5 to pull even with New York (92-61) in the loss column.
Marcus Thames hit a two-run homer and Nick Swisher had an RBI single for New York.
Yankees reliever Javier Vazquez hit three consecutive batters to force in a run in the seventh.
Tampa Bay | NY Yankees | |
David Price | Player | CC Sabathia |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.0 | IP | 5.1 |
7 | Strikeouts | 6 |
8 | Hits | 10 |
4.50 | ERA | 11.81 |
Tampa Bay | NY Yankees | |
Carl Crawford | Player | Nick Swisher |
3 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 2 |
.600 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Tampa Bay | 13 | 0 | 15 | .361 | 22 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
NY Yankees | 9 | 1 | 14 | .257 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |