TOKYO, 31 March 2004 — Jose Cruz’s solo homer triggered a three-run onslaught to lead Tampa Bay Devil Rays to an 8-3 win over American League champions the New York Yankees in the Major League Baseball season-opener yesterday.
The Devil Rays were 2-3 down at the bottom of the sixth inning when the right fielder hit home an equalizer off Yankees starting pitcher Mike Mussina.
Tino Martinez, Julio Lugo and Toby Hall followed Cruz with three doubles to give the Devil Rays a 5-3 lead and knock out Mussina, who had his sights set on becoming the 100th pitcher in Major League history to record 200 career wins.
The Devil Rays went on another three-run onslaught in the seventh inning, including Martinez’s 300th career home run to make it 8-3, and then Lance Carter and Danys Baez shut out the remainder for the victory.
Earlier, Hideki Matsui had delighted a sell-out 55,000 home crowd by hitting a double to center-right at his first bat in the first inning, and Jason Giambi put the Yankees two up with a two-run homer off Victor Zambrano.
The Devil Rays evened the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning by Toby Hall’s single to right center, which brought Cruz and Martinez back home.
The Devil Rays had a chance to get ahead in the fifth inning with Rey Sanchez and Carl Crawford hitting a single each, but Rocco Baldelli’s hit was caught by centre fielder Kenny Lofton and Aubrey Huff’s by Gary Sheffield.
The Yankees again took the lead 3-2 when Rodriguez, the American League’s Most Valuable Player last year, and Sheffield hit doubles in the sixth inning, only to see Cruz square it.
It was a fourth time that the MLB regular season has opened outside the United States and Canada, and the second time it has opened in Japan, following the 2000 series between New York Mets and Chicago Cubs.
