Hunter Feduccia and Yandy Diaz hit back-to-back homers in a four-run fourth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays snapped a three-game winless skid by topping the New York Yankees 6-4 on Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Diaz went 2-for-4 with the homer, two RBIs and a run. Victor Mesa Jr. (solo home run) and Richie Palacios (double, two runs) posted two hits apiece.
Over 5 1/3 innings, starting pitcher Ian Seymour (6-1) allowed three runs on five hits. The left-hander recorded 12 of his 16 outs via strikeouts, setting a career high, and did not walk a batter.
With the victory, the Rays reestablished their lead in the American League East to four games.
The Yankees’ Ben Rice went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer, hours after being named to the Home Run Derby, but the club fell to 2-10 in the past dozen outings and struck out 17 times for second straight night.
Starter Will Warren (7-4) surrendered six runs on seven hits (three homers) in four innings. He posted three strikeouts and two walks.
The Yankees again had problems making contact as Seymour punched out five of his first six outs, and the Rays used the visitors’ weapon from the night before for an early lead.
The lefty-swinging Mesa was able to get his hands out on Warren’s 93 mph four-seamer and sent it down the right field line in the second. Diaz later added an RBI single to score Palacios.
However, with two outs in the third and two on, Rice sliced his 26th homer on a center-cut 92 mph sinker, a 382-foot, opposite-field shot to left-center to put the Yankees up 3-2.
In the fourth, Palacios’ gapped double plated Taylor Walls for a 3-all tie. Feduccia broke it two pitches later with a two-run shot to right, and Diaz followed by swatting an opposite-field dinger to right for a 6-3 margin.
The Yankees ran themselves out of the sixth as third baseman Junior Caminero threw out Cody Bellinger, who had widely rounded first on a single to right, to prevent first-and-third with one out. Kevin Kelly then fanned Jose Caballero for the third of the shortstop’s four strikeouts.
Ali Sanchez made it 6-4 in the seventh with a sacrifice fly, but the Rays’ All-Star closer Bryan Baker recorded his 24th save with a scoreless ninth.
