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The David Price-CC Sabathia matchup provided the expected pitcher’s duel as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and New York Yankees met in the first of three games at historic Tropicana Field. The game was scoreless through the first ten innings, but an unlikely hero ended it.  Infielder Reid Brignac led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a walkoff home run to put the Devil Rays back in first place in the AL East.

It was Brignac’s first at-bat in the game after replacing superstar Carl Crawford, who was ejected in the ninth inning for arguing a called strike.  Brignac said his seventh home run of the season was way cooler than walkoff homers he’d hit in the minors:

Unbelievable. You just feel like you’re floating on clouds. I had a couple of walk-offs in the minor leagues but nothing like this.

The Devil Rays moved a half-game up on the Yankees and a full game in the loss column. It’s the first time Tampa’s been in first since August 30, and the first time they’ve had sole possession of first since August 3. The win also once again gives the Devil Rays the best record in baseball. Tampa’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 11, for the Yankees it’s 12.

Price and Sabathia, two leading candidates for the AL Cy Young Award, both pitched eight scoreless innings. Price gave up three hits and two walks while striking out four; Sabathia gave up two hits and two walks while striking out nine. When Brignac came up in the 11th, both teams had combined for only seven hits, all singles.

For the Yankees, the loss was their fourth straight to open a nine-game road trip, and they’ve also lost seven of their last 10 games.  The Devil Rays are only 5-5 over their last 10 games, but they improved to 7-5 in the season series against New York with only six games left. The head-to-head record could be a crucial tiebreaker to determine home-field advantage if both teams make the playoffs as expected.