Tampa Bay’s Isaac Paredes, right, celebrates with Yandy Diaz after Paredes hit a two-run home run off Yankees reliever Clarke Schmidt in the fifth inning Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla. Chris O’Meara/Associated Press
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Isaac Paredes homered in his first three at-bats and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Yankees 5-4 on Tuesday night, handing New York only its third loss in 20 games.
Paredes, who had four RBI, combined with Harold Ramirez for back-to-back homers in the first off Nestor Cortes, then put the Rays ahead 3-2 in the third and added a two-run drive in the fifth on the first pitch after Clarke Schmidt relieved.
It was just the second multhomer game for Paredes, who hit two against Detroit on May 18. He was hit by a pitch from Ron Marinaccio in the seventh.
Tampa Bay acquired the 23-year-old from Detroit on April 4 for outfielder Austin Meadows. Paredes is hitting .209 with eight homers and 16 RBI, and 10 of his last 13 hits have been for extra bases.
This was the seventh time a Tampa Bay player hit three homers after Jonny Gomes, B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria (twice), Travis d’Arnaud and Brandon Lowe. – the latter two against the Yankees.
The Rays led 5-2 before Marwin Gonzalez hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth off Colin Poche, who got his fifth save when pinch-hitter Aaron Judge flied out to the left-field warning track.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
DODGERS 8, REDS 2: Tony Gonsolin became the first pitcher in the majors to win nine games, Freddie Freeman drove in five runs and Los Angeles won at Cincinnati.
Gonsolin (9-0) gave up two runs and three hits through five innings.
PIRATES 7, CUBS 1: Bligh Madris hit his first major league home run and fellow rookie Roansy Contreras pitched five solid innings to lead Pittsburgh over visiting Chicago.
Madris connected in the sixth inning for a solo shot to right-center field off Mark Leiter Jr. to close the scoring. That came a day after Madris had three hits in his big league debut.
INTERLEAGUE
NATIONALS 3, ORIOLES o: Erick Fedde allowed two hits over six innings, and visiting Washington beat Baltimore for its second straight victory following an eight-game skid.
Cesar Hernandez doubled on the game’s first pitch from Jordan Lyles (4-6) and scored on a double by Nelson Cruz to put Washington in front. Hernandez added an RBI grounder in the second inning.
NOTES
YANKEES: Relief pitcher Albert Abreu is back with the Yankees, two months after he was traded to Texas as part of the deal that brought catcher Jose Trevino to New York.
The 26-year-old right-hander was claimed off waivers from the Kansas City Royal. The Yankees opened a roster spot by designating pitcher David McKay for assignment.
Abreu has a 3.46 ERA this season for the Rangers and Royals, allowing 10 hits – three of them homers, in 13 innings with 12 strikeouts and 16 walks. He was obtained by the Royals on June 2 for right-hander Yohanse Morel and was designated for assignment by Kansas City on Friday.
Abreu is 2-1 with a 5.12 ERA in 41 relief appearances for the Yankees (2020-21), Rangers and Royals. He was traded from New York to Texas on April 2 along with left-hander Robert Ahlstrom for Trevino.
• The Yankees and Aaron Judge are not going to get an answer about his 2022 contract on Wednesday, at least not from an arbitrator. Despite reports earlier this season that the sides would meet with the arbitrator on June 22, the hearing is now scheduled for Friday.
So, there are at least two more days for the Yankees to try to avoid what seems like a very poorly-timed battle over $4 million. While the arbitrator is not allowed to take Judge’s 2022 performance into consideration, the Yankees have to. They should consider how Judge is leading this team that is on a historic pace and that this may be their best chance to end their World Series drought before they head into a meeting where they try to convince the arbitrator that he is not worth $21 million.
DODGERS: The Los Angeles Dodgers added outfielder Trayce Thompson to the active roster after acquiring him from the Detroit Tigers for cash.
Thompson returns to the Dodgers after spending parts of the 2016 and 2017 seasons with them. He hit .207 with 14 home runs and 34 RBI in 107 games over that span.
The 31-year-old outfielder, whose older brother, Klay, plays for the NBA champion Golden State Warriors, began this season with San Diego. Thompson went 1 for 14 with two RBI in six games before being cut on May 10. He joined Detroit a week later and was sent to Triple-A Toledo, where he was batting .299 with eight homers and 19 RBI in 25 games.
Thompson figures to help fill the void left by right fielder Mookie Betts, who is on the IL with a cracked rib.
BASEBALLS: Major League Baseball is standardizing procedures for rubbing baseballs and their removal from humidors in an effort to establish more consistency amid complaints about slickness that followed the crackdown on sticky substances.
MLB has been working on standards over the course of the season in response to feedback from players and sent a memorandum outlining the changes on to general managers, assistant GMs and clubhouse managers. Titled “Updates to Baseball Storage & Handling,” a copy of the memo was obtained by The Associated Press.
Scrutiny of baseball preparation – a minimum 13 dozen are readied for each game – has increased in recent years. Use of a humidor, began by Colorado in 2002, expanded to Arizona in 2019, three additional teams in 2020, then a total of 10 last year and all 30 this season.
MLB is mandating a ball be stored in a humidor for at least 14 days before game use, and ball storage must be recorded by the home team’s gameday compliance monitor and then certified in a signed form by the clubhouse manager.
CARDINALS: First baseman Paul Goldschmidt is out of the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers due to what Manager Oliver Marmol described as back tightness.
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