ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Manager Aaron Boone made two batting order changes, putting Alex Verdugo in the leadoff spot and phenom Ben Rice in the cleanup spot, but they didn’t help matters as the Tigers went hitless for a combined eight at-bats.
But the manager found all the points the Yankees needed Wednesday night in an unusual place: the seventh hole.
Trent Grisham had two RBIs in the Yankees’ long-awaited 2-1 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field.
Grisham, who entered the game with a team-low batting average of .172, hit a deep fly down the left field line in the second inning, but Randy Arozarena couldn’t handle it, and the ball bounced off the low wall near the 315-foot marker.
Anthony Volpe ran fullback from first base to score the first run of the game.
In the fourth inning, Grisham hit another fly ball to Arozarena and then sent Gleyber Torres home on a sacrifice fly.
“[They were] “It felt really similar,” Grisham said of his two swings at Rays starter Zach Eflin. “Just getting ready early and trying to relax. He’s in the zone and he’s not walking as many batters.”
But Grisham’s biggest contribution came in the top of the eighth, when the left-handed center fielder swatted a Yandy Diaz ball wide of the right-center field gap to protect Clay Holmes’ 2-1 lead.
“I knew he hit the ball pretty well right from the get-go,” Boone said.[It] Grisch looked like he had a good chance, like he always does, so I wasn’t sure, but I immediately felt like he was going for it.”
There was some anxiety in the dugout, but the Padres’ two-time National League Gold Glove winner made it look easy.
“Again, I was relaxed and ready to go,” Grisham said. “He hit the ball a lot better than I thought he would, so I just had to adjust my course and work on it.”
It was the Yankees’ seventh win in their last 24 games, but the sixth-year veteran took umbrage at the notion that the win was a “relief.”
“I don’t think there’s a ‘relief,'” he said. “I mean, we’re looking to win more than one game. We come onto the field every day expecting to win and prepared to win, and we intend to do that.” [Thursday] And in all future matches too.”
