Evan Longoria hit a go-ahead homer and the Tampa Bay Rays beat New York 5-2 on Tuesday night to drop the struggling Yankees into a tie for first place in the AL East.

Coupled with Baltimore's 12-0 win at Toronto, the Yankees fell into a tie for the division lead with the surging Orioles after sitting atop the standings by themselves for 84 consecutive days -- New York's longest streak since 2004.

New York Yankees v Tampa Bay Rays
loading...

Desmond Jennings and B.J. Upton also homered for the third-place Rays, who pulled within 1 1/2 games of the Orioles and Yankees. Tampa Bay trailed by a season-high 10 1/2 games at the end of play on July 18.

Longoria hit a two-run shot off Freddy Garcia (7-6), wiping out a 2-1 deficit in the third inning.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi was ejected by plate umpire Tony Randazzo in the fourth inning.

It appeared New York's Chris Dickerson wanted timeout, but Randazzo did not grant it and Dickerson took a called third strike to end the inning. Dickerson didn't seem to like the call and moments later Girardi came storming out of the dugout, yanked his cap off his head and argued face-to-face with Randazzo.

Before heading back to the dugout, Girardi kicked dirt in the batter's box.

 

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM