The Rays (56-41) fell to the New York Yankees (60-33) 8-3 on Tuesday night in the Bronx.
The Rays got the scoring started in the second inning as Austin Meadows hit a solo home run to give Tampa Bay an early 1-0 lead. The Yankees had an answer in the bottom of the second as Edwin Encarnacion hit his twenty-eighth home run to tie the game 1-1. Yandy Diaz hit a solo home run in the fourth, as well as an RBI double in the sixth, to lift the Rays lead to 3-1 before the Yankees began their comeback. After DJ LeMahieu homered in the bottom of the sixth to make it 3-2, New York completed their rally in the bottom of the eighth inning.
After Colin Poche (2-3, 6.63) got the final two outs of the seventh inning, he was asked to come out for the eighth inning and was not able to replicate that success. After Gleyber Torres walked, Brett Gardner struck out swinging and DJ LeMahieu lined out sharply to center field. One out away from getting out of the inning, it was Aaron Judge coming up with the blast that lifted the Yankees to a 4-3 lead. From there, Luke Voit singled, Gary Sanchez doubled and Edwin Carnacion was put on base with the intentional walk to load the bases for Didi Gregorius. Gregorius did not waste his opportunity, hitting a grand slam to lift New York to an 8-3 win and ice the game.
Things got heated between the AL East rivals, as the benches and bullpens cleared after Yankees starter CC Sabathia struck out Avisail Garcia to end the top of the sixth inning. Words were exchanged before Didi Gregorius intercepted Sabathia and order was restored pretty quickly. Sabathia finished the game with six innings of work, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out six and walking none. David Hale (3-0, 2.45) got the win in the bullpen after pitching two scoreless innings for New York.
The Rays and Yankees now meet in game three of their four game series on Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 - you can hear it all, beginning with Steve Carney and the Inside Pitch at 6 on 95.3 WDAE and AM 620, your home of the Rays.