Gittens Smashes 2 Homers in Tampa Hit Parade

TAMPA, Fla. - A day after falling in both ends of a doubleheader by a combined score of 20-3, the Tampa Yankees (21-23) woke up their bats and tallied a season-high 15 runs on a season-high 22 hits in a 15-0 victory over the Daytona Tortugas (24-20) on Sunday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Every Yankee batter recorded at least one hit and one run scored. Chris Gittens homered twice and paced the offense with his first four-hit game of the season.
Josh Rogers (W, 4-3) received plenty of run support to back his five and two-third shutout innings of work. The southpaw held Daytona to three hits and a walk while tying his season-high with eight strikeouts. Rogers threw 72 of 99 pitches for strikes.
Gittens led off the second with a single into right and scored when Nick Solak muscled a two-run home run over the short porch in the right field corner.
Jorge Mateo lined a leadoff double in the third and came around on a base hit to right by Kyle Holder . Later in the frame, Gittens crushed a solo home run over the wall in left-centerfield.
Tampa had its most productive inning of the season when the Yankees drove in seven runs on six hits in the fourth. Holder and Tito Polo hit back-to-back RBI singles leading up to a three-run blast by Gittens to the right of the batter's eye. The T-Yanks batted around and Sharif Othman capped the scoring with a two-out, two-run single.
Vladimir Gutierrez (3-4) suffered the loss for Daytona after surrendering nine earned runs on 12 hits in three and a third innings. The right-hander walked two, struck out one and threw 48 of 75 pitches for strikes.
Gittens, Solak, Jeff Hendrix and Mandy Alvarez strung together four-straight two-out singles to produce a run in the fifth. The Yankees rallied one final time in the sixth when Polo added an RBI single and later scored, along with Holder, on a pair of wild pitched by Tortuga reliever Juan Martinez.
RHPs Anyelo Gómez (1.1IP, 1H, 1K) and Dillon McNamara (2.0IP, 1H, 2K) pitched in relief of Rogers and completed Tampa's seventh shutout victory.
Gittens (4-for-6, 2HR, 4RBI, 4R) logged his first multi-HR game since 8/22/16 (vs. Greenville) while with the Charleston River Dogs. Solak (3-for-4, HR, 2BB, 2RBI, R) reached base five times.
Holder (3-for-5, BB, 2RBI, 2R), Polo (2-for-6, 2RBI, 2R), Hendrix (2-for-4, BB, R, SB), Alvarez (2-for-5, RBI, R), Gosuke Katoh (2-for-3, 3B, 2B, 2BB, R) and Othman (3-for-5, 2RBI 2R) also had multi-hit games.
Up next, the T-Yanks begin a seven-game road trip when they visit the Jupiter Hammerheads on Monday at 6:30 p.m. RHP Taylor Widener (2-4, 3,82 ERA) will face RHP Felipe Gonzalez (4-4, 4.36 ERA) in the opener of a four-game series.
The Yankees return home on Tuesday, May 30^th to begin an eight-game homestand with four-game series vs. the Charlotte Stone Crabs at 7:00 p.m. On BOGO Burgers Tuesday, fans can enjoy a "buy one, get one free" deal on burgers all night. For tickets and promotional information, call (813) 673-3055 or visit www.tybaseball.com.