Rays: Travis d’Arnaud has career night, defeats Yankees all on his own

Travis d’Arnaud played hero last night as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 5-4 fueled by the journeyman catcher’s three home runs.

Heading into the ninth inning of Monday night’s game with the New York Yankees leading 4-2 over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays, the crowd of 43,173 at Yankee Stadium were prepared to celebrate becoming the 1st team in the American League to reach 60 wins this season.

That is until Travis d’Arnaud stepped up to the plate.

The 30-year-old backstop had already had two long balls on the night, driving in both of the Rays’ runs. With his team down a pair with two outs and as many on base, d’Arnaud faced the tall task of keeping the game alive, needing to avoid being retired by New York’s fire-balling closer, Aroldis Chapman. The Cuban Missile had the upper hand as d’Arnaud stepped into the box having gone 0-5 with two strikeouts and a walk against him a lifetime, and was one pitch away from closing the game out.

And then this happened.

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Down to his last strike, d’Arnaud took Chapman’s hanging slider the opposite way 355 feet into the second row of the short porch in right field. The three-run bomb was d’Arnaud’s third homer of the night and gave the Rays the 5-4 lead which ultimately ended up as the game’s final score.

Overall, d’Arnaud went 3-3 with two walks, three home runs, and five runs batted in. He becomes the first catcher to ever hit three jacks against the Bronx Bombers in one game, and also the first player to ever hit three jacks in a game while catching and batting leadoff.

This will forever be known as the Travis d’Arnaud game. That’s what happens when you defeat the New York Yankees all on your own, hitting a trio of homers to do so with the last one being a three-run go-ahead shot off of the closer on the road when down to your last strike.

What d’Arnaud did was unprecedented, and perhaps more importantly cut the Rays’ deficit in the division to five games behind the Yankees. If Tampa Bay can manage to edge out New York for the AL East crown come season’s end, this game will be remembered as having serious implications for such an outcome.