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Kazmir, Navarro shine as Rays defeat Yankees

Sep 5, 2008 - 3:47 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- It didn't come easy, but the Tampa Bay Rays finally returned to their winning ways against the New York Yankees.

Scott Kazmir allowed only one hit in six innings and Dioner Navarro tied his career high with four hits as the Rays held off the Yankees, 7-5, on Thursday.

Willy Aybar homered and had three RBI for the Rays (85-53), who salvaged the final game of the three-game series with the Yankees (75-65). The Rays, who own the best record in baseball, also opened a 3 1/2-game lead over the Boston Red Sox (82-57) atop the American League East Division.

The Yankees, who had scored 28 runs in winning their last three games, fell 11 games behind the Rays in the AL East and 7 1/2 behind the Red Sox in the AL wild card race.

"We just have to continue to do what we did tonight," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "Grind it out and have good at-bats. It's good to keep them (the Yankees) in our rear-view mirror because they've played well against us. To lose three in a row would not have been a good feeling at all."

The Rays went into the ninth with a 7-0 lead, but Jason Hammel allowed five runs, including a three-run home run to Derek Jeter and a solo shot by Alex Rodriguez. Dan Wheeler came on to retire Xavier Nady for the final out and his 11th save of the year.

"We had a chance to sweep them," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "That would have been big for us, but we didn't and you have to move on."

Kazmir (11-6) allowed only a fifth inning leadoff double by Cody Ransom. The All-Star lefthander struck out seven and walked five and improved to 3-1 in his last nine starts.

"Kaz was very good," Maddon said. "I'll take it. The way the Yankees have been playing us, we needed that pitching performance."

He also improved to 7-1 in 12 starts at home this season.

"Everything felt good," Kazmir said. "I was getting ahead. I got ahead when I needed to and made the pitch when I needed to. It's always good when you have a lead, especially early. Just to come out and take care of business today was huge for us."

Trever Miller and Chad Bradford each pitched a scoreless inning before Hammel to secure the Rays' 53rd win in 74 home games.

Tampa Bay provided Kazmir with all the offense he needed with a five-run second.

Gabe Gross had an RBI double, Jason Bartlett a sacrifice fly, Akinori Iwamura an RBI single and Aybar capped the inning with a two-run single.

"I can't live in the past, you have to focus on the present and that's what I did today," Aybar said. "It's a little frustrating at times, but you have to keep swinging."

Darrell Rasner (5-10) left after 1 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and five earned runs. He walked two and struck out one.

"I couldn't get anything going from the get go, it was a struggle," Rasner said. "I just couldn't find it tonight. I am ashamed of what I did tonight. That's embarrassing."

Navarro had three singles and a double to pace the Rays' 14-hit attack.

Aybar's solo homer in the fourth and B.J. Upton's eighth-inning sacrifice fly accounted for the Rays' final two runs.

Ransom had three of the Yankees' seven hits, including a ninth-inning RBI single. Rodriguez's home run was his third in as many nights and the 550th of his career.