Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Alex Cobb took a shutout into the ninth inning and the Rays settled for a 8-3 win over the New York Yankees and bounced back from a devastating defeat on Saturday when the Rays lost a two run lead with two outs in the ninth inning.
Cobb was moved up in the rotation after Thursday’s off day to pitch against the Yankees and CC Sabathia. As it turns out that was a good decision.
“It worked out good, you know,” Cobb said. “When they told me I was pitching against the Yankees, you knew it was going to be a big game. Unfortunately, losing those first two games [of the series] made it more of a must-win. Not only that, having the bullpen kind of eaten up, I wanted to go out there and attack and have them put the ball in play and hopefully go deep in the game. And fortunately, I was able to.”
Cobb “was wonderful,” manager Joe Maddon said. “After what happened yesterday, to be able to come back and right us like that was outstanding. He was that good.”
Cobb is no stranger to success against the Yankees. He is now 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA in two starts against the Yankees this season.
Sabathia struggled for most of the day allowing seven earned runs on seven hits in seven innings, while striking out five and giving up two home runs, one to Sean Rodriguez and another to first baseman James Loney.
