NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Rizzo hit a solo home run with one out in the ninth inning and the streaking New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 Thursday night for their 14th straight home win.
The Yankees have their longest home winning string since taking 15 in a row at the original Yankee Stadium on Aug. 16-Sept. 26, 1961, when Roger Maris was chasing Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record.
Rizzo’s 16th homer gave the Yankees their seventh straight win overall and eighth series sweep this year. New York became the sixth team since 1930 and the first since the 2001 Seattle Mariners to win at least 47 of its first 63 games.
“It’s impressive,” Rizzo said. “We’re winning games in a lot of different ways, which is really good.”
Rizzo gave New York its eighth walk-off win of the season when he lifted a 2-1 sinker against Shawn Armstrong (0-1) into the right-center seats. Rizzo watched the ball soar into the seats, dropped his bat and was met with a wild celebration at home plate.
“Just a great at-bat by Anthony there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Getting into a good count and leaving some pitches that he should and then getting into one.”
It was Rizzo’s fifth career game-ending homer and first since July 26, 2018, for the Chicago Cubs against Arizona. The Yankees have four walk-off wins since their last home loss on May 23.
Rizzo hit a tying single in the sixth after the Yankees were no-hit into the fifth. He hit his game-winner homer after nearly homering in the first when his flyball was caught at the warning track.
Francisco Mejía homered for Tampa Bay, which dropped to 2-5 in the season series with the Yankees. The Rays also lost for the 10th time in the last 16 meetings with New York and dropped to 1-5 on their…
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