A day after six inches of snow delayed the home opener by 27 hours, Gregorius recorded his second career multi-homer performance in a game played in a misting rain. The game-time temperature of 40 was the second lowest in 10 home openers at the new Yankee Stadium.
Gregorius lined a three-run homer into the lower rows of the first level beyond the right field seats off Chris Archer in the third inning. With one out in the seventh, he sent a first-pitch fastball from Austin Pruitt (1-1) into the second deck in right field.
Gregorius drove in his final two runs with a two-run single in the eighth off Sergio Romo.
It was the most RBIs by a Yankee since Alex Rodriguez drove in 10 on April 26, 2005, when he hit three home runs against Bartolo Colon in a game against the Los Angeles Angels at the old Yankee Stadium. It also was the most RBIs by a Yankees shortstop in team history.
Gregorius' big effort occurred on a day when Giancarlo Stanton heard boos for striking out five times for the first time in his career.
Gregorius' second homer came after Tyler Austin snapped a 4-4 tie by scoring on a throwing error by Rays third baseman Matt Duffy on Brett Gardner's sacrifice attempt.
New York's four-run seventh also occurred after New York's Tyler Wade was robbed of a home run by Carlos Gomez, who leapt over the right field wall to make the catch.
Austin scored the tiebreaking run after the Tampa Bay overcame a 4-1 deficit in the sixth on Adeiny Hechavarria's bloop single off Jonathan Holder and pinch hitter Denard Span's two-run double off Tommy Kahnle.
Kahnle (1-0) struck out the side in the seventh.
Gregorius also scored on Wade's base hit in the second. Before Gregorius' final hit, Aaron Judge drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth.
Tampa Bay scored its other run when Jesus Sucre scored on a throwing error by third baseman Brandon Drury in the third on a grounder by Duffy.
New York starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery allowed one run and two hits in five innings.
Archer allowed four runs and six hits in five innings.
--Field Level Media
Tampa Bay | NY Yankees | |
Chris Archer | Player | Jordan Montgomery |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
5.0 | IP | 5.0 |
8 | Strikeouts | 4 |
6 | Hits | 2 |
7.20 | ERA | 1.80 |
Tampa Bay | NY Yankees | |
Adeiny Hechavarria | Player | Didi Gregorius |
2 | Hits | 4 |
1 | RBI | 8 |
0 | HR | 2 |
2 | TB | 11 |
.500 | Avg | 1.000 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Tampa Bay | 7 | 0 | 9 | .212 | 17 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
NY Yankees | 11 | 2 | 19 | .324 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1 |