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Crawford's grand slam carries Rays to series sweep

Apr 25, 2007 - 4:22 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Carl Crawford was not going to allow the return of the 2006 Cy Young Award runner-up to overshadow his performance.

Crawford hit a grand slam and had four hits as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays notched a 6-4 victory over the Yankees to sweep the two-game series.

Despite the return of ace Chien-Ming Wang from the disabled list, the Yankees could not find an answer for Crawford. With the Devil Rays trailing, 3-2, in the seventh, the three-time American League stolen base champion sent a flat slider off reliever Mike Myers (0-1) over the right field fence to give Tampa Bay a 6-3 advantage.

"It was the same pitch (as strike two), I was just trying to put the ball in play," Crawford said. "I was just glad to hit it. I was hoping (it was gone). I wasn't sure. I think that's probably the biggest home run I've hit."

"(I left) a breaking ball over the plate and it's something that's very easy to hit," Myers said. "He hit it well and I was just hoping (it would) get to the wall and that'd be about it, but he put the bat on the ball, he hit a mistake and that's what you're supposed to do with it."

Crawford was the only hitter Myers faced.

"We got (Crawford) in a situation where he had to swing at something close and (Myers) just mislocated," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "They were both breaking balls. He tried to get it away and he didn't get it away."

"Unfortunately, when you come into that situation, either it's good or bad," Myers said. "There's no in-between. You have to get the guy out. Today, obviously, he didn't get the job done."

Wang, who was making his first start of the season since returning from a strained right hamstring, allowed two runs and nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.

"Wang, literally, pitched his tail off," Torre said. "We're certainly pleased with that and we let one get away. It's been a tough trip in that regard. We've had opportunities to win most of the games but we just couldn't close the deal."

Juan Salas (1-1), who came in to relieve Tampa Bay starter Scott Kazmir, recorded the final out of the seventh to pick up the win.

Jae Kuk Ryu and Shawn Camp combined to allow a run in the eighth before Al Reyes pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in as many chances.

Kazmir fought through his recent illness and allowed three runs - one earned - and five hits in 6 2/3 innings.

"Being in bed (with flu-like symptoms) for the past couple of days, you've got to get back in the swing of things," Kazmir said. "By the fourth inning, I was already out of sweat. It was all adrenaline (but) we got a quality win today."

Hideki Matsui homered in his first at-bat to start the scoring for the Yankees and Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-3 with a walk, ending his 23-game hitting streak. In April, Rodriguez has hit 14 home runs - which tie the major league record - and tallied 34 RBI, one behind the pace that Juan Gonzalez set while with Texas in 1998.

Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter left the game in the bottom of the first inning with an apparent bruised left thigh injury after being hit by a pitch from Kazmir.