Rays tighten gap with 3-2 win over Yankees

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Reuters) - The surging Tampa Bay Rays moved to within one game of New York in the American League East with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Yankees on Friday.

Matt Joyce belted a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to erase a 2-0 Yankees lead and the Rays held on for their seventh successive win, tying a season high.

The Yankees jumped to an early 2-0 lead when the second batter of the game, Nick Swisher, smacked a two-run homer into the right field seats.

Rays rookie starter Wade Davis pitched brilliantly through seven innings, allowing just the two runs on four hits while striking out six to earn his ninth win of the season.

"To shut them down after having given up a two-run homer in the first inning tells you a lot about his makeup and his stuff," Rays manager Joe Maddon said of his starter. "I thought he had good stuff.

"It's a different moment for him. I was kind of curious where it was going to go and I thought he responded, obviously, very well."

Rafael Soriano collected his 29th save by pitching a scoreless ninth.

Yankees starter Phil Hughes (12-4) pitched six innings, allowing three runs on four hits while striking out six.

"He made one mistake," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

"He just didn't get it where he wanted to, and you hope that the one mistake doesn't cost you. But it did tonight.

"It's unfortunate, because he pitched a great game, but these are the types of games that you play against these guys."

New York third baseman Alex Rodriguez was 0-for-4 as he continued his quest to become the seventh player to hit 600 career home runs. The Yankees slugger hit his 599th on July 22.

(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor; Editing by Steve Ginsburg/Greg Stutchbury)