ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Blake Snell and the Tampa Bay Rays bullpen combined to strand 11 New York runners in a 2-0 win Thursday night that prevented a much-needed three-game sweep by the Yankees.New York went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, including 0 for 7 against Snell. The Yankees started play 2 1/2 games in back of Baltimore for the second AL wild-card spot and also trailed Seattle, Houston and Detroit.Snell (6-8) gave up five hits and three walks. New York had scoring threats in four of five innings against him, leaving the bases loaded in the third when Chase Headley flied out. Headley returned to New Yorks lineup after missing three games because of back tightness.Chase Whitley, in his third game since returning from Tommy John surgery, allowed two hits in 2 2/3 innings, and Alex Colome finished for his 35th save in 37 chances.Brad Miller had an RBI single in the first after Logan Forsythe led off with a catchable popup to right field that Aaron Hicks allowed to drop in front of him for a hit. Corey Dickerson hit a solo homer in the sixth off Luis Cessa (4-3), who gave two runs and six hits in six innings.Yankees rookie catcher Gary Sanchez threw out Kevin Kiermaier at second base in the third inning to end the speedsters run of 18 consecutive successful stolen bases attempts. Sanchez picked Curt Casali off second one inning later.Sanchez went 0 for 2 but walked twice.TRAINERS ROOMYankees: RHP Masahiro Tanaka will miss his start Monday at Toronto due to a slight lower right forearm strain. . Headley (back spasms) returned after missing three games. . Manager Joe Girardi expects 2B Starlin Castro (right hamstring) to play again this season.Rays: LHP Xavier Cedeno (neck) wont play again this season.INSTRUCTION TIMEYankees 1B Greg Bird (right labrum surgery) remains on target to take batting practice against pitchers at instructional league early next week. . Reggie Jackson and Alex Rodriguez are expected to spent time as instructors with the Yankees instructional league team.MOVING DAYYankees: Minor league LHP Phil Coke was traded to Pittsburgh for $1.Rays: INF Juniel Querecuto had his contract selected from Double-A Montgomery and started at third base in his big league debut.UP NEXTYankees: RHP Bryan Mitchell (1-1) will start against LHP Francisco Liriano (1-2) Friday night in the opener of a four-game series at Toronto.Rays: RHP Chris Archer (8-18) will look to avoid a team-record 19th loss when he pitches against LHP Drew Pomeranz (2-5) and AL East-leading Boston on Friday night. Yeezy NZ . Tracey comes to the Blue Bombers after spending over a decade with Queens University. Most recently he was the schools assistant football coach. Yeezy Boost 350 NZ . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. http://www.yeezyshoesnz.com/ . The 31-year-old Spain midfielder hasnt played since Madrid lost in the Copa del Rey final to Atletico Madrid in May due to back and foot injuries. Yeezy Powerphase NZ . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. Ultra Boost 19 NZ . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. VILLANOVA, Pa. -- Kris Jenkins hit a 3-pointer without much hoopla.He wasnt mobbed by his Villanova teammates and confetti didnt rain from the rafters. No streamers, no hysterical fans. Jenkins simply hustled back for a routine defensive assignment.His first 3 of the game simply helped the Wildcats open the season the same way they ended the last one -- with a win.Jalen Brunson scored 17 points, Jenkins had 16 and No. 4 Villanova opened defense of its national championship with an 88-48 victory over Lafayette on Friday night.Playing a game is probably the best thing we can do to get past last season, coach Jay Wright said.Jenkins hit a buzzer-beating 3 in the title game to lift the Wildcats to a 77-74 win over North Carolina. With a national championship banner hanging in the rafters, Jenkins naturally scored Villanovas 3-pointer of the season. Jenkins scored his first basket of the season off a turnover he forced at midcourt, hit his first 3 to make it 10-2 and helped the Wildcats storm to a 49-17 lead.Wright had said he wanted the Wildcats to put the White House visit, a parade, numerous awards shows and banquets, and other honors behind them as they opened the season. Villanova looked every bit like a team that could become the first repeat national champ since Florida in 2006 and 2007.Jenkins, who flirted with leaving for the NBA, said the Wildcats had moved forward.Its pretty easy to do because we have a team thats hungry, he said.The Wildcats, the three-time defending Big East champs, also have a team thats deep and versatile. Josh Hart, a preseason All-America, scored 13 points for the Wildcats. Reserve Mikal Bridges had 16 points and eight rebounds.Thats what a top team has, Lafayette coach Fran OHanlon said. It has a number of guys fighting for a lot of playing time and getting a lot of playing time.Brunson and Jenkins each hit foour of Villanovas 15 3-pointers.ddddddddddddNick Lindner led the Leopards with 10 points. LafayetteBIG PICTURELafayette: The Leopards continue to play Villanova, even with just one win in 10 career matchups. The Leopards missed 12 of 13 3-point attempts in the first half and scored only two points on their first 20 possessions. The Leopards, out of the Patriot League, wont play another team in the regular season close to a program such as Villanova. Lafayette does return to Philadelphia on Dec. 22 to play at Saint Josephs.Villanova: The Wildcats could use an easy one before they play at No. 15 Purdue on Monday. The Wildcats won their 40th straight game at the Pavilion and sold out the gym for the 170th straight time. Villanova is a whopping 98-13 there since the start of the 2013-14 season.THANKS FOR NOTHINGOHanlon played point guard for three seasons (1967-70) for the Wildcats. He had just one small problem opening the season at VillanovaJay didnt say he was going to win the national title, OHanlon said with a laugh.The Wildcats make a return trip next season and play Lafayette at the PPL Center in Allentown. OHanlon said the original pitch to his program was that the game in Allentown would be this season. When that fell through, the Wildcats offered Lafayette to come to campus this season.Yeah, thats some favor, Jay, OHanlon said. Im going to play the national champs twice. They may be twice (two-time champs) by that time.POLL IMPLICATIONSVillanova will remain ranked inside the top five.UP NEXTLafayette plays Monday night at Saint Peters.Villanova tries for a 3-0 career mark against the Boilermakers on Monday. Villanova won games in 1995 and 2012.---More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '