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Yankees Get to Devil Rays Bullpen for 10th Straight Home Opener Win
The New York Yankees (1-0) opened the regular season with a come from behind 9-5 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (0-1).
New York struck in the bottom of the first when Jason Giambi singled off of Devil Rays starter Scott Kazmir to plate Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu.
Tampa was able to get a run back in the top of the second when B.J. Upton singled home Akinori Iwamura with two-outs. But Yankees starter Carl Pavano got Chris Crawford to fly out with runners on second and third to end the inning.
Jorge Posada led off the bottom of the fourth with a homerun to right center and New York was back in front by two runs but Pavano couldn’t hold the lead for the Yanks.
In the top of the top of the fifth Elijah Dukes led off with his first career hit and it just happened to be a longball to bring the Rays back within a run. Crawford followed a single and stolen base by Upton with a single of his own to tie the score. Crawford then came around to score on a Rocco Baldelli single and Tampa had their first lead of the season 4-3. Pavano was replaced by Brian Bruney who gave up a single to Delmon Young that scored Baldelli and it became a 5-3 game.
Posada and Robinson Cano opened the sixth with singles which led to Kazmir being lifted for Shawn Camp. After Posada and Cano moved up on a sacrifice Camp hit Melky Cabrera to load the bases with one out. Derek Jeter then singled home a pair and the game was tied.
Jason Giambi gave the Yanks the lead in the seventh when he singled home Alex Rodriguez. The Yankees tacked on three more in the eighth, including a two-run bomb from Rodriguez to make the score 9-5.
Mariano Rivera came on in the ninth to strike out the side on 13 pitches.
HR: NYY; Posada (1), Rodriguez (1) Tampa; Dukes (1)
