St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) – Reid Brignac homered off Sergio Mitre leading off the bottom of the 11th inning, and the Rays moved into first place in the AL East with a 1-0 win over the New York Yankees.
Brignac was a late inning replacement for Carl Crawford, who was ejected from the game in the ninth inning by home plate umpire Tom Hallion for arguing balls and strikes.
In the 11th, Brignac belted a 3-2 offering from Mitre (0-3) to send Tampa Bay into first place by a half-game over the Yankees. It was the first homer for Brignac since July 25.
The Rays re-gained sole possession of first place in the division for just the second day since their 52-consecutive day stay atop the division ended on June 13. They were also alone in first on August 3.