Yankees Play Home Run Derby in 13-3 Rout of Rays, Smash 9 Homers

Shane Baz and Tampa Bay pitchers gave up a franchise-record nine home runs on Tuesday in a 13-3 loss to the New York Yankees, losing a chance to gain ground in the wild-card race.

New York designated hitter Aaron Judge hit the first of nine Yankees home runs in the first inning against Tampa Bay Tuesday. | Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

TAMPA, Fla. — After a long, grueling two-week West Coast road trip, the Tampa Bay Rays were happy to be home when they welcomed their landlords, the New York Yankees, to Steinbrenner Field on Tuesday night.

They weren't happy for long.

In one of the worst losses in team history, the Rays got pounded 13-3 in a must-win game, giving up a franchise record nine home runs. That kind of bludgeoning had never happened before, and it started in an instant, right after a 1 hour, 55 minute rail delay. Rays starter Shane Baz gave up back-to-back-to-back one-out homers in the first inning to Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton.

It was also the weirdest inning in baseball history. Baz became the first pitcher at least since 1974 to give up three homers in the first inning and record three strikeouts to the first six hitters. It was the 11th time in Rays history that a pitcher allowed three consecutive homers, and the first since 2018 against Houston.

History, for sure. Bad history.

"I think if you watch it, it’s pretty cut and dry: It’s just over the middle of the plate,” Baz said when asked about his location issues. “Those pitches are easy to hit. They are easy to lift. I just left some pitches over the middle of the plate against a good team, and that’s the kind of stuff that happens.”

It was the second time this season that the Yankees have hit nine homers in a game. They also did it against Milwaukee in the first series of the season. No team in baseball history has ever had two nine home run games in the same season.

Baz lasted only three innings, and gave up homers to former teammate Jose Caballero in the second inning and Jazz Chisholm in the third, a two-run shot. Baz gave up six runs, and has now allowed 30 earned runs in his last 28 innings. In the past two months, he is 0-7 with a 6.85 ERA. And that was after starting the season 8-3 and often looking dominant.

“Over that stretch, I think just the execution hasn’t been very good,” Baz said. “When I’m behind in the count or ahead, it’s just been either walking guys or not executing a pitch. And that’s kind of what happens. Yeah. I don’t know how much more I can say about it.”

Rookie Ian Seymour, who's been really good since his July call-up, got roughed up, too. He gave up homers to Stanton and Ben Rice in the fourth and another one to Bellinger in the sixth. Caballero, who hit only two homers in 86 games with the Rays this season, hit his second — and the ninth of the game for the Yankees — in the ninth inning off Mason Montgomery.

"It's special to come to a place that I've been playing for a couple of seasons and have this kind of performance,” Caballero said. “It's really nice."

It was a disheartening loss for the Rays, who were hoping to make up some ground in the wild-card race during this quick two-game set with the Yankees. Instead, they are now 61-65 with 36 games to go, 12.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays and 7.5 games behind the Yankees. They are 6.5 back for the final wild-card spot held by Boston and Seattle.

The Rays get another shot on Wednesday night, with ace Drew Rasmussen (10-5, 2.60 ERA) on the mound. The Yankees will counter with rookie Cam Schlittler (1-2, 3.94 ERA.) Game time is at 7:35 p.m. ET.