Yankees' Late Rally Falls Short in Crushing Loss to Rays
NEW YORK — The Yankees may control their own postseason destiny in the final weekend of the regular season, but on Friday night against the Rays, it was Tampa Bay that was in charge.
After scoring one run in the first inning, New York was held scoreless for the following seven frames. The Yankees rallied in the ninth, putting the game-winning run on first base with one man out, but back-to-back strikeouts with the game on line sealed their fate.
In a must-win ballgame, with postseason implications, New York fell short, 4-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, with right-hander Andrew Kittredge on the mound for Tampa Bay, the Yankees' offense finally woke up.
Giancarlo Stanton lined a single to left-center field, advancing to second base on an errant throw back into the infield. Swiping third with ease as the Rays transitioned into a four-man outfield, Stanton waltzed home on an RBI bunt single, executed perfectly down the third-base line by Joey Gallo.
Following a single to the opposite field off the bat of Gio Urshela, Brett Gardner brought the Yankees to within one with an RBI base hit through the right side.
From there, much to the chagrin of 41,469 fans in attendance at Yankee Stadium, the rally fizzled in a matter of minutes. Gary Sánchez—hitting for backstop Kyle Higashioka—struck out on three pitches, waving helplessly at a slider in the dirt. Then, Rougned Odor struck out swinging as well, ending the game in anticlimactic fashion.
With the Red Sox taking care of business against the Washington Nationals, New York now holds just a one-game lead in the American League Wild Card standings. They're still in a good spot to make the cut with two games to play, but can't afford to lose again if they want home-field advantage in the one-game playoff.
Nelson Cruz set the tone early for Tampa Bay, clubbing a towering solo home run off lefty Nestor Cortes Jr. in the top of the first.
New York quickly responded as second baseman Gleyber Torres doubled out of the leadoff spot, setting up Stanton for a two-out RBI single. The early run was Stanton's 14th RBI in the last seven games.
The Rays would jump back in front the following half inning, though. Center fielder Kevin Kiermaier punched a two-out, two-strike slider over the outstretched glove of Urshela at shortstop and into shallow left field. While Joey Gallo nailed Francisco Mejía trying to advance to third base on the play, the blooper scored Manuel Margot, giving the Rays a 2-1 advantage.
Cortes settled down from there, pitching into the fifth without allowing another run. With Friday night likely his final outing of the regular season, the funky lefty finishes the year with a tremendous 2.90 ERA, a revelation for New York's injury-plagued pitching staff.
The story on Friday night, however, was the Bombers' absent offense up until the ninth. After erupting in Toronto for five home runs on Thursday night—their eighth win in nine games—the Yankees were held down all night long against Tampa Bay, a team that's already clinched a postseason spot and the best record in the AL.
New York had homered in 20 of their last 21 games. They were kept in the yard on Friday night with ease.
Tampa Bay's two runs in the top of the ninth—credited to Domingo Germán, who was making his first big-league appearance since July 31—proved to be the difference.
Both those runs came home on base hit up the middle from phenom Wander Franco, taking a 3-2 sinker below the zone from Albert Abreu and slapping it right back through the box.
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