Yankees 17
Devil Rays 3
ST. PETERSBURG – Joe Torre shuffled his lineup last night and drew four aces.
Torre moved Alex Rodriguez from fourth to second, welcomed Gary Sheffield back by hitting him fourth, used Jason Giambi in the third hole and inserted Hideki Matsui where he is the most productive: fifth.
“We are at the point in time where we are looking for results,” Torre said before his revamped lineup laid a 17-3 whipping on the Devil Rays in front of 14,048 at Tropicana Field. “We are trying to get things to work immediately.”
Since Derek Jeter spanked Doug Waechter’s first pitch for a single and the Yankees finished with 20 hits, the Yankees took Torre’s words to heart.
Giambi’s third homer in as many games and his 30th of the season was a three-run blast off Waechter in the first when the Yankees scored five runs. Giambi went 2-for-4 and drove in five runs.
Matsui went 3-for-3 and drove in four runs. Jorge Posada also had four RBIs. Robinson Cano and Bernie Williams had three hits each.
Jaret Wright was the beneficiary of the hitting orgy and improved to 5-2. In his fourth start against the Devil Rays, Wright allowed three runs (two earned) and five hits in seven innings.
The Yankees’ second straight win and third in four games, coupled with the Red Sox loss, sliced Boston’s AL East lead to 2½ games. The Yankees remained one game behind the Indians, who lead the wild-card race.
It’s the first time since Aug. 31 that the Yankees have been 2½ games out of first.
The victory started a crucial six-game road trip that moves to Toronto Friday. It was the Yankees’ sixth win in 17 games against the last-place Devil Rays.
Every Yankee starter had at least one hit and Waechter (5-10) didn’t make it out of the first inning. He gave up five runs, five hits, walked one and was toast after 24 pitches.
The Yankees batted around in the first, second and sixth innings.
Outfielder Mike Vento entered the game in the sixth inning and was the 51st player used by the Yankees this year. That’s a club record. He will remember his major league debut for another reason. After grounding into a fielder’s choice for the second out of the eighth, Vento strayed off first and was caught moving back toward home plate for the final out.
The barrage of runs continued in the sixth when the Yankees plated seven runs.
Tim Corcoran walked A-Rod with the bases loaded and Giambi followed with a two-run, ground single to right that upped his RBI total to five. Sheffield walked and Matsui’s single to center scored two runs and up the lead to 15-2. Jorge Posada added a two-run single that made it 17-2.
Even though he took a 5-0 lead to the mound in the first and a 10-2 cushion in the second, Wright didn’t look comfortable through five frames, despite blanking the Devil Rays in the second, third, fourth and fifth.
Waechter, who was 1-0 with two no-decisions against the Yankees this year and went nine innings on Aug. 16 but didn’t get a decision, couldn’t register an out before being hooked in the first inning.
Derek Jeter hit Waechter’s first pitch to right-center and advanced to second on Aubrey Huff’s bobble. A-Rod followed with a single to right and with runners at the corners Giambi smoked a 1-1 pitch into the right-field seats for a 3-0 lead.
The beating continued when Sheffield singled and Matsui reached on catcher’s interference. Williams’ single loaded the bases for Posada and when Waechter walked him to force in a run, Dewon Brazelton surfaced from the bullpen.
He fanned Cano and Jeter to end the inning around Bubba Crosby’s grounder to first that plated the Yankees’ fifth run of the inning.
After Travis Lee’s two-out single cut the Yankees’ lead to 5-2 in the home first, the Yankees tacked on five more in the second when Matsui had a two-run double and Williams, Posada and Jeter drove in runs.