The New York Yankees inched closer to the AL East leading Red Sox and wild card leading Indians after downing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 9-5. The Yankees erased a four-run deficit to win the game.
The key was the sixth inning. Trailing by four runs, rookie Robinson Cano evened the game with a grand slam home run off losing pitcher Seth McClung (6-10). Alex Rodriguez also homered for the Yankees. The blast was his 42nd of the season.
Aaron Small was the winning pitcher for New York, improving his record to 8-0 on the year. He became the first Yankees pitcher to win his first eight decisions since Doug Bird accomplished the feat in 1980 and 1981.
Mariano Rivera got the final four outs to earn his 39th save in 43 opportunities this year.
Most importantly for the Yankees, the Red Sox lost to the Oakland Athletics Thursday to pull them to within 1 1/2 games of the division leaders. The wild card leading Cleveland Indians were idle and now lead the Bronx Bombers by just 1/2 game.
Cano doubled and tripled in addition to his grand slam and finished the game with a career high five RBIs. Bubba Crosby had three hits and two RBIs. He increased his hitting streak to a career high five games.
The Yankees now travel to Toronto to play a three-game weekend series with the Blue Jays. The Red Sox have three more games with the A's at Fenway while Cleveland hosts the last place Kansas City Royals for three games.
