Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - James Loney went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBI to help the Tampa Bay Rays continue their road success against the New York Yankees with a 4-3 victory.
Loney's blast was one of four runs scored by the Rays over the first four innings in support of Chris Archer (9-8), who halted a two-start losing streak by allowing three runs over 6 1/3 frames.
Jake McGee tossed a perfect ninth to nail down Tampa's sixth win in seven trips to Yankee Stadium this season and the Rays' 12th triumph in their last 14 visits to the Bronx.
Ben Zobrist, Kevin Kiermaier and Ryan Hanigan each finished with two hits for Tampa Bay, with Zobrist contributing an RBI single.
The Rays put up nine hits in all against New York's Hiroki Kuroda (10-9), who allowed all four runs and lasted only 3 1/3 innings -- his shortest outing of the season.
Chris Young had a two-run single for the fading Yankees, with Jacoby Ellsbury finishing 2-for-3 with a solo homer in defeat.
Kuroda struck out the side in order in the first inning, but made a mistake pitch to Loney that the first baseman launched into the second deck in right to begin the second, staking Tampa Bay to a 1-0 edge.
The Rays hit Kuroda harder in the third, which Hanigan and Zobrist started with consecutive singles. Both later scored on back-to-back base hits by Evan Longoria and Loney to push the lead to 3-0.
Successive singles by Kiermaier, Hanigan and Zobrist in the fourth brought in another run and spelled the end of Kuroda's night.
Archer, meanwhile, opened his stint by retiring nine straight Yankees before Ellsbury deposited a fastball into the right-field seats to lead off the bottom of the fourth. New York then teed off on the right-hander an inning later to further close the gap.
A hit batsman and singles from Ichiro Suzuki and Stephen Drew loaded the bases for Young, whose hard grounder through the left side knocked in two to trim the deficit to 4-3.
Ellsbury followed with a single to left, but Drew was thrown out by Matt Joyce trying to and Young wound up doubled off second on Derek Jeter's inning-ending liner.
New York manager Joe Girardi argued that Hanigan had illegally blocked the plate before tagging out Drew, but the call stood upon an umpire review.
After Grant Balfour and Brad Boxberger protected the one-run advantage in relief of Archer, McGee overcame a couple of close calls in the ninth to notch his 17th save of the year.
Brian McCann's leadoff fly ball was hauled in at the warning track, and Carlos Beltran just missed a home run on a foul ball prior to also flying out.
Game Notes
Archer, who was rocked for 13 earned runs and 20 hits over 10 innings in his last two outings, moved to 5-0 in six career starts versus New York ... The Rays are now 13-4 at Yankee Stadium since the start of 2013, becoming the first visiting team since the 1967-68 Orioles to win 13 games there over a two-year stretch ... Rays outfielder Will Myers went 0-for-4 to have a 13-game hitting streak against the Yankees halted ... Outfielder Brett Gardner (abdominal strain) and second baseman Martin Prado (hamstring) were both held out of the Yankee lineup.
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