The Rays stay tied with the Red Sox after both clubs pulled out wins tonight.

Bartolo Colon
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Bartolo Colon was in line for the win when he came out of the game. It wasn’t his best outing, letting up seven hits over less than six innings, but he only let two runs cross the plate. With the Yankees bullpen being as solid as it had been all year, the 3-2 lead in the  sixth inning seemed like it would be enough.

Jeremy Hellickson gave up six hits and three earned runs in this start.  He left the game after the sixth inning with the Rays down 3-2.  He was relieved by Jake McGee, who eventually earned the win.

Ben Zobrist started off the scoring early, hitting a two run home run in the bottom of the second to give the Rays a quick 2-0 lead.  The Yankees responded in the third with a Russell Martin solo shot, shrinking the lead to just one after three innings. That brings the Yankees home run total to 318, leading the majors.

The Yankees were able to tie the game in the fifth when Curtis Granderson knocked in his 120th RBI on a groundball double-play that scored Brett Gardner. They even took the lead for a brief period in the sixth on a Nick Swisher RBI double, his 85th RBI of the year.

Jorge Posada was intentionally walked to load the bases in the following at bat. Martin came up to the plate again, with no outs. However this time he wouldn’t deliver. Instead he hit a grounder to Evan Longoria, which was then turned into the third triple-play in team history, going 5-4-3 preventing further scoring. Although that ended the inning, the Yankees already did some damage taking the lead, 3-2.

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That lead wouldn’t last long. Rafael Soriano started the seventh inning. He had a rough start, walking BJ Upton and Longoria. Matt Joyce stepped up to bat next, hitting a huge three run home run to take the 5-3 lead.  That score would be the final.

In a game that matters much more to the Rays than the Yankees, both teams fought hard and the Rays came out on top.  This keeps them tied with the Red Sox for the AL Wild Card spot.

The next, and last regular season game for the Yankees will be tomorrow at Tampa, first pitch at 7:10pm, pre-game at 6:30pm.  If the Rays and Red Sox end the season tied, there will be a one game playoff in Tampa to decided the wild card winner.

The Yankees first post-season game is scheduled for Friday September 30th, first pitch at 8:37pm. You can catch all your Yankees post season action on 104.5 “The Team” ESPN Radio!

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