The New York Yankees beat Rays

The New York Yankees combined the strong pitching of Ivan Nova with some home run power to beat the visiting Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 on Wednesday and jump past their American League East rivals into second place in the division. Nova checked the Rays on two hits through eight shutout innings before Tampa knocked him out in the ninth with back-to-back triples by Desmond Jennings and B.J. Upton. Reliever Rafael Soriano came on to retire Matt Joyce, Ben Zobrist and Hideki Matsui, ending the threat and notching his eighth save. Nova improved to 7-2, striking out five and issuing just one walk in a dominant performance backed by home runs from Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano. Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon tipped his cap to Nova.  “He had command of his breaking stuff, he pitched well,” he said. “He was very good. We just couldn’t get guys on base to try and rattle him.”from gulf times.