Yankees takeaways from Sunday's 8-7 loss to Rays, including third straight comeback falling just short
The Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-7, in the series finale of this four-game set on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Here are some takeaways...
- Clarke Schmidt got the start for New York and put his team in an early 1-0 hole. Yandy Diaz led off the game with a double and came in to score two batters later on a Brandon Lowe groundout.
After the righty rebounded for a scoreless second, Tampa struck for two more runs in the third, as Isaac Paredes singled to bring in Jose Siri and Lowe lined a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
- The Yankee offense came storming back in the bottom of the third against Rays right-hander Zach Eflin, as a pair of two-run homers from Oswaldo Cabrera and Anthony Rizzo put New York ahead for the first time, 4-3.
- Pitching with a lead for the first time, Schmidt worked around a one out triple in a scoreless top of the fourth, however he didn't get so lucky in the fifth.
With the bases loaded and one out, Randy Arozarena lined a shot to deep left-center field. Harrison Bader ranged back and made a tremendous diving catch to rob him of extra bases, but a run still came home evening things up at 4. Schmidt walked the next batter to again load the bases, and bring an end to his day.
- Albert Abreu came on in relief and allowed a grand slam to Rays shortstop Tyler Walls, giving Tampa an 8-4 lead. Schmidt finished his day with a final line of seven runs on six hits and three walks over 4.2 innings. He struck out five.
- Things stood pat until the bottom of the seventh inning where New York mounted a two-out rally. Three straight singles by Cabrera, pinch-hitter Gleyber Torres and Aaron Judge produced a run to cut the deficit to 8-5. As the tying run at the plate, Rizzo struck out to end the inning.
The Yanks got even closer in the eighth inning after Anthony Volpe smacked his sixth home run of the season, a two-run blast, to make it 8-7.
- Aside from the one bad pitch that resulted in a grand slam, Abreu pitched well in his 2.1 innings of relief. He was followed by Ryan Weber and Ron Marinaccio who each tossed a scoreless inning to give New York a chance in the ninth.
- With two outs, Judge came up to bat as the tying run and swung at the first offering from reliever Jason Adam. Off the crack of the bat, Adam put his head down in disgust, thinking Judge had just tied the game with a home run. However, the ball died on the warning track and was caught for the final out of the game.
The ball had a 112 mph exit velocity off Judge's bat and traveled 399 feet to center field as the Yankees' comeback attempt fell just a couple of feet short.
Highlights
What's next
The Yankees travel to Toronto to start a four-game set with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays on Monday night at 7:07 p.m.
New York hasn't announced a starter yet, but right-hander Alek Manoah (1-3, 4.83 ERA) is scheduled to take the ball for the Jays.
