By JOHN LEMBO
ST. PETERSBURG — Hunter Feduccia and Yandy Diaz hit consecutive home runs in the fourth inning, Ian Seymour struck out 12 and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 6-4 on Tuesday night.
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Victor Mesa Jr. also homered, and Richie Palacios had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run for the Rays, who extended their lead in the AL East over the Yankees to four games.
Seymour (6-1) allowed three runs on five hits without a walk in 5 1/3 innings. Bryan Baker worked a scoreless ninth for his 24th save.
The Yankees struck out 17 times against five Tampa Bay pitchers and became the first American League team whose batters struck out 17 times in consecutive nine-inning games. New York fanned 17 times in a 5-1 win over the Rays on Monday night.
Paul Goldschmidt and Jose Caballero each struck out four times. Goldschmidt is in an 0-for-30 slide. New York’s slumping offense had 11 hits, reaching double digits for the first time since June 17.
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Trailing 3-2 in the fourth, the Rays scored four times off Will Warren (7-4). Palacios tied the game with an RBI double before Feduccia hit a two- homer to right-center. Diaz followed with his 13th homer of the season.
Diaz had also singled home a run in the second. He has 451 RBIs as a member of the Rays and passed Aubrey Huff (449) for fifth place in franchise history.
The Yankees took a 3-2 lead in the third Ben Rice’s three-run homer that traveled 382 feet to left field. It was the 26th homer of the season and second in the series for Rice, who will represent the Yankees in the Home Run Derby on Monday.
Rice also singled twice for the Yankees.
Up next
Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole (3-3, 4.01 ERA) will face Rays LHP Shane McClanahan (7-5, 3.05) in the third game of the four-game set on Wednesday.
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