Henn Rocked As Yankees Fall To Devil Rays

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The New York Sun

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays keep tripping up the Yankees.


Casey Fossum took a shutout into the eighth inning for his first victory as a starter since August, and the Devil Rays ended New York’s six-game winning streak with a 5-4 victory last night.


Tampa Bay, the worst team in the American League at 24-46, is 2-1 at Yankee Stadium this year and 4-27 in all other road games. The Devil Rays beat rookie Sean Henn for the second time and improved to 5-2 against New York, winning four straight from the Yankees for the first time since the franchise started play in 1998.


“I don’t know,” Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella said. “Let’s enjoy this win and come out here and play hard again tomorrow and try to win another one.”


Hideki Matsui hit a three-run homer off Lance Carter in the eighth as the Yankees rallied from a five-run deficit to make it close. Danys Baez relieved and walked Jorge Posada, then got four straight outs for his 10th save in 16 chances, completing a six-hitter.


The Yankees outscored their opponents 45-16 in sweeping Pittsburgh and the Chicago Cubs to start a 13-game home stand, but they didn’t get a hit against Fossum (3-5) until Matsui’s leadoff double in the fifth. New York’s only other hits against him were Alex Rodriguez’s double leading off the seventh and Robinson Cano’s single opening the eighth.


Fossum had been 0-7 in 12 starts since beating Cincinnati for Arizona on August 28. While Fossum had been 0-2 in six starts this year, he did win twice in 11 relief appearances.


“We’ve been playing pretty good as a whole lately,” Derek Jeter said. “We just couldn’t figure him out for the first seven innings.”


Cano’s eighth-inning hit chased Fossum, and Carter allowed singles to Jeter and Gary Sheffield, the latter driving in a run. Matsui’s eighth homer was a drive to right on a 1-2 changeup.


New York could have had a bigger inning, but Tony Womack and Rodriguez popped out against Carter. Baez ended the eighth by fanning Jason Giambi, who went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts and again was booed at home


Henn (0-2), roughed up at Tampa Bay in his major league debut on May 4, did little better in start no. 2. Pitching because Kevin Brown is on the disabled list with back spasms, Henn allowed four runs – three earned – four hits and seven walks in 4 2/3 innings.


“I don’t know what it was. The easiest thing to say was, well, I was nervous,” Henn said. “I didn’t have it. I was all over the place.”


Henn, who lowered his ERA from 19.29 to 10.29, got in trouble in the second, walking four and falling behind 3-0.After Carl Crawford’s bases-loaded walk forced in the first run, Julio Lugo grounded the ball between third and shortstop. Jeter’s throw to third bounced into the seats as two runs scored, one on the infield hit and one on the error.


After Henn departed with two on in the fifth, Damon Hollins lofted a single to short right field against Paul Quantrill to drive in another run. Jorge Cantu added an RBI double in the sixth, a drive to right-center that popped out of the glove of Sheffield, who made a long run.


Henn’s next turn in the rotation is slated for Saturday against the Mets.


“Right now he’s still scheduled,” Joe Torre said. “We’ll see if we have a better option.”


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