Yankees Send Message Taking Series From Rays

YANKEES 7 - RAYS 1

This wasn't supposed to happen.

When the Yankees lost Aaron Judge on April 20 to an oblique injury, joining a list of All Stars like Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius, and Miguel Andujar on the Injury List, it didn't look good for New York. Not for a team that was struggling to get back to .500, and along with the Red Sox, looked the biggest disappointment of the early season.

But this why the Yankees are the Yankees. They have as good, if not better depth in the minors than any team in baseball. They scout better than anyone, and they have put to rest the notion that the Yankees have no time for analytics. What the Yankees have done over the last four weeks is anything short of a miracle.

A team that was 6-9 after losing two of three to the Chicago White Sox at home, no less on April 14 has gone 18-7 since. They are 24-16, and are only a half game out of first in the AL East.

How did they do it? Relying on guys like Luke Voit, DJ LaMahieu, Gio Urshela, Cameron Mayben and Marc Tauchman. Who the hell are these guys? Exactly. Outside of Voit and LaMahieu, it's a cast of who's who in the Yankees lineup, but they are getting the job done because they are good, and because they can.

Sunday was no different. The Yankees pounded the Tampa Bay Rays to submission 7-1 on Mother's Day to take two of three from a weekend set. Who cares that the Rays threw two of the games best starter pitchers at them in this series, the Yankees won both times.

The Yanks got two early runs off reigning AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell to build a 2-1 lead. Then when Snell left, the Yankees offense kicked into high gear.

Luke Voit scored on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth to give the Yanks a 3-1 lead. Then in the ninth the Yankees rallied for four runs -- sparked by a solo blast by 23-year old Thairo Estrada to make it 4-1. After the Yanks loaded the bases on base hits by Austin Romine, Tuchman, and an intentional walk to Voit, Gio Urshela doubled in a pair to push the lead to 6-1. Finally the willy old veteran Brett Gardner caped it off with a sac fly to center, scoring Voit to make it 7-1, Yankees.

On the hill, Mashairo Tanaka earned his third win, going seven innings of five hit ball, allowing only a run with seven strikeouts. Tanaka is now 3-3.

Now only a half game out of first, and getting healthier by the day, the Yankees are clearly becoming the team to beat in the American League. Imagine how good this team will be when it is 100 percent healthy.