ST. PETERSBURG — Prior to the Yankees’ first game of the year against the Rays, Aaron Boone shared a glowing scouting report on the Yankees’ first-place, American League East rivals.
“No real weakness. They’re doing everything,” Boone said at Tropicana Field. “They’re slugging with the best of ‘em. They’re hitting the ball out of the ballpark. They’re playing defense. They’re athletic. They can pitch. So there’s not an area right now where you’re saying, ‘Oh, they’re kind of struggling.’ They’re kind of covering all the bases right now and off to the historic start.”
The last-place Yankees went on to give Tampa Bay a run for its money Friday, but the Rays squeezed out a 5-4 win, their MLB-leading 27th of the year, thanks to some of the strengths Boone mentioned — and a big Bombers blunder.
Tampa Bay took the lead for good in the seventh inning when Wander Franco sliced a ball to Jake Bauers. The Yankees’ left fielder misread the liner, and it bounced off his glove. Yandy Diaz raced home as Bauers bobbled the ball, and replay determined that he barely beat the throw to the plate.
Bauers was generously not charged with an error.
Long before that, a pair of early home runs from Randy Arozarena and Diaz gave the Rays a cushion to work with. Those proved pivotal after a Gleyber Torres RBI double and a three-run homer from Harrison Bader tied the game at four in the sixth.
Arozarena remained a central figure in the game, as he was hit in each of his next two at-bats following his first-inning longball. The outfielder, who stopped at third to do his signature arm-crossing celebration on the home run, was not happy with either hit-by-pitch. The first came from Yankees starter Jhony Brito, while Albert Abreu delivered the other.
The second HBP, in the fifth inning, resulted in some chatter between both dugouts as warnings were issued. Rays manager Kevin Cash was also ejected.
Brito allowed four earned runs, including the homers to Arozarena and Diaz, over four innings in his seventh career start. Brito also totaled six hits, one walk and two strikeouts before ending his day at 65 pitches.
Meanwhile, Rays starter Yonny Chirinos tallied three hits, three earned runs and four walks over 5.1 innings before Tampa Bay’s bullpen took over.
The Yankees will try to even the series on Saturday when Domingo German takes the mound against Drew Rasmussen. German is coming off one of the best games of his life; he blanked the Guardians for 8.1 innings on May 2 before the Yanks’ bullpen ultimately blew the game.
Gerrit Cole will give the Yankees another chance to pick up a divisional win Sunday when he pitches in the series finale. Cole is off to a terrific start this season, logging a 5-0 record, 1.35 ERA and 52 strikeouts over seven starts and 46.2 innings.
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