New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Box Score on Jul 07, 2019

Charlie Morton struck out 10 in 5 2/3 effective innings and the Tampa Bay Rays scored twice in the first inning to salvage a four-game split against the New York Yankees with a 2-1 victory Sunday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Tommy Pham had an RBI double off James Paxton (5-4) and scored on a groundout by Avisail Garcia as the Rays won for the fourth time in 13 meetings with the Yankees this season.

Brett Gardner homered for the third straight day as the Yankees finished the first half by going 16-4 in their last 20 games. New York headed into the All-Star break with a 6 1/2-game lead on Tampa Bay in the American League East.

Morton (10-2) reached double digits in wins before the All-Star break for the second time in his career and lowered his league-leading ERA to 2.32 ERA. He held the Yankees to one run on five hits while throwing 100 pitches.

Morton kept the Yankees off balance by constantly throwing his curveball and recorded his 13th career double-digit strikeout game. The right-hander struck out four of the first seven hitters, recorded two more in the third with two runners on and fanned Aaron Judge twice.

Morton improved to 13-2 in his last 26 starts since Aug. 17 and ended his outing by fanning Edwin Encarnacion on a foul tip with Gary Sanchez on first.

Adam Kolarek retired Gardner to end the sixth and Andrew Kittredge recorded the next five outs. Left-hander Colin Poche retired Didi Gregorius to end the eighth and Emilio Pagan fanned two in a perfect ninth to record his fifth save.

Paxton racked up 11 strikeouts in six innings. He allowed two runs on seven hits and recorded his 14th career double-digit strikeout game.

Travis d'Arnaud opened the game with a double and scored when Pham easily reached second as nobody covered the bag. Pham moved to third on a single by Yandy Diaz and scored when Garcia barely avoided hitting into a double play.

Gardner made it 2-1 by hitting his 15th homer in the second when he lifted a 0-1 fastball into the right-field seats.

Morton allowed hits to Breyvic Valera and Austin Romine to start the third but fanned Aaron Hicks and Judge before retiring Gregorius.

--Field Level Media