Pena, Rays Deal Yanks 4th Straight Loss

Carlos Pena drove a 1-0 pitch from Phil Coke just over the right-field wall in the 10th inning for his first hit of the game, giving Tampa Bay a soggy 4-3 victory over New York.
       
“I think it was a fastball away,” Pena said of his major league-leading 12th home run. “He probably put it where he wanted it. I was glad I was able to put a barrel on it.”

The deciding homer came two innings after the Yankee's Mark Teixeira hit a tying double and sent them to their fourth straight loss.

Stuck in a season-long slump, Teixeira hit a three-run double with two outs in the eighth to make it 3-all. But with one out in the 10th, he stranded a runner at third with a shallow fly ball and slammed his helmet several times in the dugout.

“I've got to get that runner home,” Teixeira said. “I tried to hit a fly ball and I popped it up a little bit. Little things.”

Evan Longoria, Akinori Iwamura and Dioner Navarro also drove in runs for the Rays, who are on the first leg of a three-stop, seven-game road trip.
       
It was perhaps fitting that after going the entire game without a home run, it would ultimately end on one. There have now been 39 homers hit through 12 games at the new Yankee Stadium, many of them over a right-field wall that measures just 314 feet down the line.

Only a few thousand fans were left to see it after a 28-minute rain delay sent most of an already meager crowd home midway through the eighth inning. The rain held off until the final out, when it began falling heavily once again.
       
“It's a tough loss. No loss is enjoyable, but this is a tough loss,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “Coke made one mistake. He got too much of the plate.”

The game was an entertaining pitcher's duel most of the way, with the defending American League champs scratching out a 3-0 lead off A.J. Burnett.
       
Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine shut out the Yankees until the eighth, when Ramiro Pena and Jose Molina reached on hits. After Damon drew a two-out walk, Teixeira roped his tying double off J.P. Howell as a light rain suddenly turned into a downpour.
       
“It gave us a lift for a little while,” Teixeira said. “We just found another way to lose.”
       
The Rays got help from their speed on the bases. Carl Crawford had one of their three steals, joining Bert Campaneris, Rickey Henderson and Corey Patterson as the only players since 1954 to steal a base in nine straight games. Crawford is perfect in 20 tries.