04/07: Mariano Rivera Opens Season with Blown Save; Yankees Lose, 7-6

Posted by: Patrick
The regular season got started for the Yankees on Friday, against the Rays in Tampa Bay. Unfortunately, it ended in defeat with Mariano Rivera blowing a save.

Going into the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees were up, 6-5. That was the score when CC Sabathia exited the game after 6 innings. From there, Rafael Soriano and David Robertson had each thrown a scoreless frame to keep the Yankees ahead.

Mo went against the top of the order and the Rays quickly tied the game. Desmond Jennings singled and Ben Zobrist tripled to bring him around. The Yankees then elected to intentionally walk by Evan Longoria and Luke Scott, to load the bases and create a force play at the plate.

Rivera brought the double play ball within reach by striking out Sean Rodriguez. The next batter was Carlos Pena and, unfortunately, he singled to center, ending the game in walk-off fashion.

"My fault," Rivera said after the game "I felt good. I don't make excuses. I just left the ball up."

Offensively, Raul Ibanez led the Yankees with a home run and 4 RBIs. Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez and Brett Gardner all had 2 hits a piece.

Rivera takes the first loss of the season and, because he only threw 1/3 of an inning, his ERA is 54.00. The Yankees play the Rays again, tonight at 7:10 PM ET, as Hiroki Kuroda makes his New York debut against David Price.

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