Script flipped again as Rays are pounded by Yankees
ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays were hoping Saturday’s feel-good win was a turn of the dial in the right direction.
They’d beaten the Yankees soundly. Their two most dynamic offensive players, Randy Arozarena and Yandy Diaz, had their most productive games of the season. And they had regained the momentum they built in winning the first five games of the homestand.
Then they came back Sunday and had a bad day at work, losing to the Yankees 10-6.
Rays pitchers gave up a season high-matching five homers, including three to the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters. Arozarena and Diaz were a combined 2-for-7 with two walks and a hit by pitch. Both hits, a Diaz solo homer and an Arozarena infield single, came in the ninth inning.
A five-run outburst in the seventh keyed by Jose Siri’s grand slam got them within one, but it was negated moments later by Shawn Armstrong giving up a three-run homer to Gleyber Torres.
All of which left the Rays instead finding solace in going 6-3 during the homestand against the Mets, White Sox and Yankees following a miserable 1-5 road trip. They are back under .500 at 20-21 and hoping more good times are ahead as they head out for a seven-game swing through Boston and Toronto.
“I thought we played really well the first two series, and then I still think we did some really good things (Sunday),” manager Kevin Cash said. “Would have liked to find a way to win the series. But I feel like we’re heading into the road trip a better team than we were when we came here.”
Specifically, Armstrong said, with how the offense seemed more productive. In scoring 47 runs over the nine-game homestand, they averaged 5.2 per game. Over their first 32 games, they averaged 3.75.
“I think we’ve should have won the series,” Armstrong said. “They did their job. And I’ll take ownership on that — (Sunday) I didn’t do my job. They keep doing what they’re doing, we’re going to win a lot of ballgames.
“The energy in this clubhouse, the energy that we brought this homestand, it’s a big positive. It’s good to reflect on this and move on and, as Cash said, hit this road trip with confidence. We did what we needed to do this homestand.”
“Absolutely,” rightfielder Josh Lowe said. “I think we got some momentum from this homestand. Even though we lost (Sunday), we showed some really good life there late in the ballgame, some stuff that we haven’t really been doing recently. I think we can build on that even though we lost, take that momentum into this series (in Boston) and keep playing hard.”
They had a chance to do more, though.
Rallying from a six-run deficit to beat the Yankees would have been the kind of win that gets highlighted in the scorebook and talked about later in the season. (A year ago, on May 7, 2023, the Rays were down 6-0 to the Yankees with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound and came back for a dramatic 8-7 walkoff win.)
The Yankees scored their first run just four Tyler Alexander pitches into the game and built their lead to 6-0, including homers by Jahmai Jones, Jose Trevino and Aaron Judge, while the Rays were held to three hits over six shutout innings by Luis Gil.
Things changed abruptly when the Yankees went to their bullpen.
A Richie Palacios single, Jonny DeLuca one-out double and a Ben Rortvedt walk off lefty Caleb Ferguson loaded the bases.
Siri, whose ongoing struggles have cost him playing time, got a chance for redemption and made the most of it with the first slam of his career, cutting the gap to 6-4.
“I think little by little the results are showing with all the hard work I’ve been doing”, including trying “to be a little bit more focused, a little bit more concentrated on some of these pitches,” Siri said via team interpreter Manny Navarro. “I’ve been working, and I think it’s good to see that the results are finally showing.”
With the Yankees struggling to throw the ball over the plate, the Rays added on.
They reloaded the bases as Nick Burdi walked Diaz and Lowe, and Arozarena was hit by a pitch. Luke Weaver was next, and he hit Isaac Paredes, the ball striking the visor of his helmet, forcing in a run to make it 6-5. But Palacios lined out softly to right, with Lowe bluffing but holding at third, and Amed Rosario grounded into an inning-ending force out.
“I was really encouraged and happy for Josey,” Cash said. “He has been going through it a little bit. But that was a big hit in the moment, get us right back in the ballgame with one swing of the bat. Took a lot of good at-bats to get there. And liked our chances, every guy that was coming up there.”
But they never got a better chance. Armstrong got Judge out to open the eighth, then gave up a single to Giancarlo Stanton on a 1-2 sinker, a double to Anthony Rizzo on a 2-2 fastball and the three-run homer to Torres on a 2-2 cutter. The Yankees added another run on a Trevino homer off Erasmo Ramirez.
Which made Armstrong feel worse when Diaz homered to lead off the Rays’ ninth.
“Unfortunate that I didn’t do my job (Sunday), because Yandy put us, with that swing in the ninth we would have tied the ballgame,” Armstrong said. “(There were) frustrating words I had to say whenever I saw that homer. So that’s on me. As a team, were playing really, really good baseball. Again, I didn’t do my job.”
• • •
Sign up for the Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.
Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on Instagram, X and Facebook.
