First review aids Yankees
A-Rod HR upheld by instant replay
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Alex Rodriguez's ninth-inning homer was upheld in baseball's first use of instant replay, and the New York Yankees beat the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays, 8-4, last night.
Rodriguez, who went 3 for 4 and drove in four runs, hit a towering two-run shot off Troy Percival that third base umpire Brian Runge immediately ruled a homer when it bounced off the catwalk behind the foul pole in left field.
Rays catcher Dioner Navarro protested, bringing manager Joe Maddon out of the dugout. After convening, the umpires left the field to review the tape, a process that took 2 minutes 15 seconds to back the onfield call.
The Red Sox, who beat Baltimore, 5-4, moved within three games of Tampa Bay.
Edwar Ramirez (5-1) worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam after Carl Pavano ran into trouble in the fifth. He was the winner despite facing only three batters as the Yankees extended their road winning streak to a season-high six straight.
Rodriguez, who has two homers and nine RBIs in the first three games of 10-game, four-city trip, had a run-scoring double in the third off Edwin Jackson (11-9) and an RBI single in the fourth against Chad Bradford. The home run was his 31st of the season and 549th of his career, breaking a tie for 12th place with Mike Schmidt on the all-time list.
Robinson Cano, Ivan Rodriguez and Jason Giambi had RBI doubles off Jackson, who lasted 3 1/3 innings.
The Rays, who had one hit after the fifth inning, lost a series for the first time since the All-Star break. It was the third time since the break Tampa Bay lost consecutive games.
In losing the series opener, 7-2, Tuesday night, the Rays ran themselves out of a potential big inning and committed a throwing error that helped New York break the game open after Xavier Nady hit a two-run homer.
The Yankees built a 6-1 lead for Pavano. The righthander, making his third start since returning from elbow surgery that sidelined him for more than a year, couldn't get through the five innings required to get the win.
B.J. Upton singled and Carlos Peña walked to begin the fifth against Pavano, who was replaced by Ramirez with New York leading, 6-3. Cliff Floyd lined a single off second baseman Cano's glove to load the bases with no outs.
The Yankees escaped unscathed when Willy Aybar lined into a double play to Cano, who stepped on second before Peña could get back to the bag. Eric Hinske popped to Derek Jeter, ending the threat.
The Rays scored on Floyd's first-inning RBI double and Gabe Gross's two-run homer in the fourth as Pavano allowed six hits, walked two and struck out one in four-plus innings - his shortest outing since coming off the DL. Akinori Iwamura added an RBI double off Jose Veras in the ninth.
