Burnett's Bid for a No Hitter
The streak of hitless innings ended for A.J. Burnett in the 7th inning. Carl Crawford broke up the no hitter with a single. The shutout ended when Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena each hit consecutive singles. Crawford scored on Pena's single making the score 2-1. The next batter, Pat Burrell, hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at two and the Yankees were in jeopardy of losing a much needed win.
Fortunately for the Yankees, Rays starter Matt Garza was taken out of the game after 7 innings of work. Garza held the Yankees to two runs on five hits with one walk and had nine strikeouts. J.P. Powell took the mound for the Rays in the 8th and gave up a lead off double to Brett Gardner. Derek Jeter followed with a bloop single moving Gardner to third. Mark Teixeira, back in the lineup after a few days off to rest a sore wrist, hit a sacrifice fly and the Yankees took the lead.
Yankees Score More in 9th
With the Rays down 3-2 in the top of the 9th, relief pitcher Dan Wheeler took the mound hoping to hold the Yankees at bay. However, Wheeler's first pitch was hit for a lead off single by Robinson Cano. Melky Cabrera, who pinch hit for Xavier Nady, also singled giving the Yanks runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. Ramiro Pena, who started at 3rd base in place of the struggling Cody Ransom, flied out and Jose Molina struck out swinging.
Wheeler was on the verge of getting out of trouble but Gardner had other plans in mind. Gardner hit his 2nd double of the game driving in Cano from 3rd. The Yanks were up 4-2 at that point and the great Mariano Rivera was warming up in the bullpen to pitch the 9th. But once Jeter cleared the bases with a 3-run homer, it was no longer a save situation. Bruney pitched the 9th instead of Mo and struck out the side.
Cy Young Contenders
It may be too early to tell, but so far A.J. Burnett seems to be a likely candidate for the Cy Young Award this season. Through the tutelage of former teammate Roy Halladay, A.J. learned to make the most of his pitches and pitch deeper into games. Halladay and Burnett were teammates on the Toronto Blue Jays from 2006-2008. In each of these seasons, Halladay pitched 200+ innings.
Halladay, a 20 game winner last season, finished second to Cliff Lee in last year's voting, with an ERA of 2.78 and 206 strikeouts in 246 innings (Burnett lead the league in strikeouts with 231). Like Halladay, A.J. has won his first two starts of the season. It would be interesting if the former teammates were up against each other for the Cy Young Award this year. Halladay won the award in 2003 with a career high 22 wins. He also pitched a career high 266 innings that season.
