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Gomes pounds Pettitte as Rays top Yankees

Apr 5, 2008 - 9:38 PM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- After sitting out the series opener and having a rough start on Saturday, Jonny Gomes was able to enjoy one of his most productive days at the plate.

Gomes equaled a career high with four RBI and blasted a three-run home run as the Tampa Bay Rays posted a 6-3 victory over the New York Yankees.

Edwin Jackson (1-0) pitched six innings, allowing just an RBI double to Alex Rodriguez in the first among five hits. He struck out four, walked two and threw 62 of 102 pitches for strikes.

Tampa Bay matched its best four-game start in franchise history and has scored 18 runs in the first two games of this series.

Gomes was not able to appear in Friday's 13-4 victory, as he served a reduced one-game suspension for his role in a spring training brawl with the Yankees.

Gomes, who had just one at-bat this season before Saturday, drove in four runs for the fourth time in his career - and did so after a difficult second inning.

He opened the inning with a single that went off the top of the right field wall and resulted in him being thrown out trying to stretch by right fielder Bobby Abreu. He also had a defensive misplay in the bottom of the inning, when he misjudged Hideki Matsui's fly ball for an error.

"I play right over there and I know it's a tough corner," Gomes said of his first at-bat. "I know if you hit the wall on a fly normally it bounces off, kicks off to the side. So I thought if it wasn't out, it would be a stand-up double and just caught a break for them on the bounce and threw me out."

Gomes also admitted that the winds affected his ability to judge the play.

"I lost it, high skies, real big winds blowing from left to right," Gomes said. "With the ball being that high, it was just an error. It is what you saw."

But in his next two plate appearances, Gomes atoned for the rough start. He lifted a sacrifice fly in the third and deposited a 2-2 pitch from Andy Pettitte (0-1) into the left field seats for a 5-1 lead.

"We needed some runs late in the game and I came up with guys on base and no outs," Gomes said. "I'm looking to put a ball in play."

"It was the tale of two players," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "He had a difficult day on defense and the ball off the wall obviously but redeemed himself with the home run, which was very, very big for us today. He just had two different kinds of games today."

Jackson worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second by striking out Derek Jeter. He also escaped trouble with two outs in the third by getting Jorge Posada on a flyout to right, did not allow a hit after Matsui led off the fourth with a single and retired the final nine hitters he faced.

Last year, Jackson did not record his first win until beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in his 14th start on June 29. In this one, he grew more confident after getting out of the second.

"Like we talked about the whole season, spring training and last season, that's just a big thing - getting out of the big innings," Jackson said. "I felt that was my big inning for the day and if I got out of that then we would definitely have a chance. They have bases loaded with one out and anything can go against you."

"I think that's what makes the difference in the ballgame," New York designated hitter Jason Giambi said. "We let him off the hook a little bit and he gets a little confidence going."

Dan Wheeler worked a perfect seventh and Trever Miller allowed four hits in the eighth, including Posada's two-run single with one out. Al Reyes recorded the final out of the eighth and Troy Percival tossed a hitless ninth for his first save with Tampa Bay.

Pettitte made his season debut and allowed five runs - three earned - and eight hits in five innings. He also plunked Carlos Pena twice.

Working on a limited pitch count because of back spasms, Pettitte threw 86 pitches and admitted he was tiring when Gomes hit his changeup.

"There's no doubt I ran out of gas there," Pettitte said. "I didn't have a whole lot of options of where to go."

The Yankees played their second game without manager Joe Girardi, who continued to battle an upper respiratory infection and watched the matinee contest from his office while bench coach Rob Thomson ran the team.

Giambi was pulled in the fifth inning with a sore left groin.