Yanks Depart Florida With 6-4 Loss (3/30)

Thankfully for the Yankees, Mariano Rivera will be closing out games in the ninth this season as he has done for the past nine season. The Tampa Devil Rays rallied for three runs in the ninth off of Matt Smith to beat the Yankees 6-4. Jorge Cantu delivered a 2-out, 2-run double and Aubrey Huff followed with an RBI single. The Yankees had taken the lead in the eighth on a Luis Garcia sacrifice fly.

The Yankees will now head to Arizona for a two game exhibition series with the Diamondbacks on Friday and Saturday, before heading to Oakland for Monday's regular season opener. They finished the Florida portion of spring training with a 14-16 record.

Mike Mussina had his final spring training tune up this afternoon, going four innings and allowing 2 runs, including a home run to Russell Branyan. The Rays built a 3-1 lead before the Yankees tied it with two in the sixth, one of them coming off of the bat of Gary Sheffield's first home run. The Yankees managed to scratch out just six hits, however, with Miguel Cairo picking up a pair.

Jesuse Colome picked up the victory for the Rays with Jason Childers notching the save. Smith was tagged with the loss for the Bombers.

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