Xavier Nady hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5 Saturday, salvaging a split of the day-night doubleheader.Tampa Bay wound up the day with a two-game division edge over Boston, which split a doubleheader with Toronto. The Rays franchise has never won a doubleheader in 13 tries.
Derek Jeter collected three hits in each game and Wilson Betemit hit a solo homer in the nightcap for New York, which opened its final homestand at Yankee Stadium.
Four New York relievers combined to throw 5 2-3 innings after Sidney Ponson struggled in the makeup of Friday night's rainout. Damaso Marte (1-3) pitched a scoreless seventh, Joba Chamberlain worked the eighth and Mariano Rivera got three outs for his 34th save in 35 opportunities.
Rivera allowed pinch-hitter Evan Longoria's RBI single with two outs before Justin Ruggiano grounded out. Longoria returned to action in the opener after missing more than a month with a broken wrist, and hit a bases-loaded single.
Ben Zobrist hit his second career grand slam, but committed a crucial error for Tampa Bay.
Zobrist's fourth-inning slam made it 4-1. A pair of errors let New York take the lead in the seventh.
After led off with a single, Bobby Abreu followed an easy grounder to shortstop that Zobrist threw into right field. Jeter scored when Gabe Gross had trouble picking up the ball.
J.P. Howell (6-1) then struck out Alex Rodriguez, but Nady hit a 3-2 pitch from Grant Balfour into center field to give New York a 5-4 lead.
Abreu added an RBI single in the eighth for the Yankees.
New York is almost certain to miss the playoffs for the first time since 1993. The Yankees are nine games behind wild card-leading Boston with 14 games remaining (Associated Press - Sports).
