ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Where would the Yankees be without Alex Rodriguez? Well, probably at 3-7.
The Yankees remain in the AL East cellar but are one game better than they might have been thanks to A-Rod's two home runs and four RBIs on Friday, the last RBI coming on a soft, line-drive single to center in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie.
So right now, the guy who had to prove he belonged in this lineup is the Yankees offense.
Rodriguez helped the Yankees overcome a shaky start by Adam Warren and the futility of the rest of their lineup -- aside from A-Rod, the Yankees had just two hits all night -- and put his team in position to do something it hasn't been able to do so far this season: win a series.
Throwback night: A-Rod hadn't had a night like this in nearly three years -- two home runs, one of them a certified bomb (see below) -- and whatever doubts the Yankees might have had about his ability to perform after missing 19 months due to his drug suspension have to be evaporating with each at-bat. Rodriguez's second home run of the game tied the score at 4 and gave him 658 career homers, just two shy of tying Willie Mays, who sits in fourth place on baseball's all-time home run list. It was career multi-home run game No. 61 -- another magic number in Yankees lore -- for Rodriguez, who last hit two HRs in a game on May 23, 2012.
Arrest Warren: The Yankees' No. 5 starter was rolling along with a 2-0 lead for three innings, but the roof fell in on him in the fourth on an infield single by Evan Longoria (Didi Gregorius made a dazzling stop but skipped the throw past Mark Teixeira), a walk to Desmond Jennings and a three-run home run off the foul pole in right by rookie Allan Dykstra, his first career homer. Logan Forsythe followed that with a long home run over the left-center-field fence to give the Rays a 4-2 lead. That was Warren's last inning, and his final line -- 4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR -- did nothing to further the belief that he is better as a starter than as a reliever.
Bye-bye ball: A-Rod -- who else? -- wasted no time swinging the bat in the second inning, crushing Nathan Karns' second pitch, a 1-0 fastball, over the left-center field fence to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead, and himself home run No. 657. According to MLB Statcast, the home run was measured at 471 feet, the longest in MLB this season. Rodriguez also leads the Yankees in RBIs with eight.
Stephen B Leavin': The Yankees' second run of the game came on a fourth-inning solo home run by Stephen Drew, his third of the season, matching in nine games his entire output for 46 games as a Yankee in 2014. It was the 100th home run of Drew's career.
Just looking: The Yankees apparently came out with the aim of making Rays starter Karns work; they took just two swings, both fouls, out of the first 25 pitches of the game. The first two hitters, Jacoby Ellsbury and Chase Headley, went down looking, and the next two, Carlos Beltran and Teixeira, walked before Brian McCann broke the spell, swinging at three of the five pitches he saw and popping out to end the inning.
Three for three: Andrew Miller, all but officially anointed the Yankees closer by Joe Girardi before the game, earned his third save in as many tries, allowing a leadoff single to Logan Forsythe but striking out the next three Rays to end it.
Tanaka time: Masahiro Tanaka (1-1, 7.00) makes his third start of the season Saturday night, facing RHP Jake Odorizzi (2-0, 0.61), first pitch at 7:10 p.m.