ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A former teammate created a speed bump for the playoff-contending Tampa Bay Rays.
Nathan Eovaldi pitched six gritty innings, Christian Vazquez hit a three-run homer and the Boston Red Sox beat the Rays 7-4 Sunday.
Tampa Bay started the day one game up on Cleveland for the second AL wild card. The Rays won the first two games of the series by identical 5-4 scores in 11 innings.
“Every loss now you’ve got to find a way to bounce back,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “Eventually you do run out of mulligans. We’re not there but we’ve got to make sure we don’t get to that point.”
The defending World Series champion Red Sox were eliminated from postseason play Friday night.
Eovaldi (2-0) gave up three runs and seven hits in picking up his first win as a starter since last Sept. 24. The right-hander had elbow surgery to remove a loose body in late April and has been building up innings over the last month.
“I want to finish strong,” Eovaldi said. “I feel like I’ve missed so much time as it is now.”
Eovaldi was traded by Tampa Bay to Boston in late July 2018 and won both his playoff starts and ended up with an 1.61 ERA in six overall appearances.
“Did an outstanding job,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Good to see him finishing the season strong.”
Boston designated hitter J.D. Martinez drove in two runs and is one RBI away from his third consecutive and fourth overall season of at least 35 homers and 100 RBIs.
Rays two-way player Brendan McKay got his first major league homer on a solo shot off Trevor Kelley as a pinch-hitter in the ninth.
“My family was here today,” McKay said. “They came down, I think, last night and decided to come to a game today and they ultimately get to see it. Exciting.”
Martinez had an RBI single and Vazquez hit his homer off Ryan Yarbrough (11-5) as Boston went up 4-0 in the first.
Vazquez has 22 homers in 133 games this year. He went deep 10 times over 291 games during his first four seasons.
The Rays scored a run in each of the first three innings off Eovaldi, including Joey Wendle’s third-inning homer, to get within 4-3.
Boston took a 6-3 lead in the fourth when Andrew Kittredge replaced Yarbrough with one-out and walked Martinez with the base loaded and later threw a wild pitch.
Yarbrough allowed six runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings.
“All-in-all, very frustrating today,” Yarbrough said.
Tampa Bay All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe, out since July 3 with a bruised right shin and later strained left quadriceps, was reinstated from the 60-day injured list and went 1 for 3 with a walk.
NEW YORK (AP) — CC Sabathia wiped tears with his hands and the top of his size 56 jersey. Honored at Yankee Stadium ahead of his retirement at season’s end, his sentimental side emerged as his wife, mother and children read tributes during a video displayed on the center field scoreboard.
“This is the first time I got emotional,” Sabathia said after the New York Yankees’ regular season home finale Sunday against Toronto.
True to his nature, the 39-year-old left-hander thanked the training and clubhouse staff by name. He watched retirement ceremonies for Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte, but this was different.
“It’s kind of surreal,” he said. “To have a day for myself feels weird.”
Sabathia was given a lap around the field in a golf cart, passing the bullpen that will be his home during the postseason.
He was presented with art by Charles Fazzino portraying his accomplishments, and the Yankees announced they were giving the Sabathia family a 10-day vacation to Japan.
Sabathia spoke briefly and posed for photos with his family and the entire team. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch to his 60-year-old mom — Margie was his first catcher.
He started crying during the video produced by Brandon Mihm, Brian Spector and Nick Tyrell of the Yankees staff, unable to contain himself when his family read the tribute letters.
Sitting in the dugout, Brett Gardner told teammate Aaron Boone he had to put on sunglasses to hide his tears.
“I was crying,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I almost had to go down in the tunnel. I was about to lose it really, really bad.”
Sabathia envisions a future role with the Yankees, perhaps as an adviser or instructor.
“I just feel like I’m going to be here,” he said in the clubhouse, where gifts commemorating Sabathia’s career were placed on the chair of every teammate. “I’m not going anywhere. I live here. I’ll be at the Stadium.”
Sabathia was drafted 20th overall by Cleveland in 1998 from Vallejo High School near San Francisco. Sabathia made his big league debut in 2001 and was 17-5 in his first season.
“When I showed up, I didn’t plan on playing this long,” he said. “I’m from Vallejo. I’m from the inner city. I’m from the hood, so just making it was a big deal. So I never really thought past that first year.”
Sabathia is 5-8 with a 4.99 ERA over 22 starts, a season interrupted by four trips to the disabled list because of a chronically bad right knee that one day will require replacement surgery.
His is 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,091 strikeouts in a big league career that began in Cleveland from 2001-08 and included a brief stay in Milwaukee before he signed with the Yankees in December 2008. A six-time All-Star, he won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award and was MVP of the Yankees’ win over the Angels in the 2009 AL Championship Series. He made a pair of starts for New York in the World Series win over Philadelphia.
“Nineteen years of kind of pitching the way that I have, like emotionally, I’m kind of exhausted,” he said. “It will be good next year to just kind of give that a break and my body a break, but I’ll definitely miss the guys, the relationships I have in here.”
New York seems set on a postseason rotation of Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, Luis Severino. Sabathia and J.A. Happ are switching to a relief role.
Sabathia pitched out of the bullpen just once, when he allowed a run at Detroit as the Yankees lost Game of the AL Division Series. He will start at inning Tuesday at Tampa Bay, then pitch again next weekend at Texas, perhaps entering mid-inning.
“I’m nervous. I’m excited,” he said. “I don’t know what to expect.”
Sabathia has heard the debate over whether he is worthy of the Hall of Fame. He’s watched Mariano Rivera celebrated for his induction this year and anticipates Derek Jeter getting enshrined next summer.
“I’ve seen all the parties and stuff,” he said. “I love parties, so it would be fun to get in.”
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