The Tampa Bay Rays allowed home runs by Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge, as the New York Yankees capped off a two-game sweep with a 7-2 decision Wednesday in the Bronx.
The Rays jumped out to a 1-0 lead off Yankee starter Luis Severino in the first, as Kevin Kiermaier singled and scored on a double from C.J. Cron.
But Rays starter Blake Snell battled command issues almost from the get-go, as he allowed an infield single to Brett Gardner and after Judge popped out for the first out, Stanton took an 88 MPH changeup and sent it deep into the seats in left to give New York a lead they'd never relinquish.
The Yankees added on with a two-run homer by Gary Sanchez in the third off Snell (0-1)that made it 4-1.
The left-hander failed to get out of the fourth inning, and ended up allowing a fifth run when Ronald Torreyes singled off Matt Andriese to score Tyler Austin, who Snell had walked to begin the inning.
Judge followed two batters later by unloading on an Andriese off-speed pitch for a two-run blast of his own to push the deficit to 7-1.
Denard Span's sacrifice fly in the eighth off Adam Warren, scoring Adeiny Hechavarria, set the score at 7-2.
The loss drops the Rays to 1-5 on the season.
Yonny Chirinos (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his first big-league start Thursday afternoon, when Tampa Bay faces the Boston Red Sox in the home opener at Fenway Park. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05, with coverage on WDAE beginning at 1:00 with The Inside Pitch presented by Crown Eurocars.