ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees finally got the big hit they had been missing for a few days in the eighth inning Saturday night, then did it again two innings later.
After José Caballero had put the Yankees ahead in the eighth and 10th innings with clutch hits, the Yankees gave it right back in the bottom of each frame, with the Rays scoring a pair in the bottom of the 10th to secure a 5-4 walk-off win at Tropicana Field.
The Rays dropped down a pair of bunts against David Bednar to tie the game — the first a single by the speedy Chandler Simpson to put runners on the corners before Taylor Walls laid down another between the mound and first base, on which Bednar’s throw to the plate was late as the automatic runner scored to tie it.
The Yankees then intentionally walked Yandy Díaz to load the bases with no outs and brought Cody Bellinger in as the fifth infielder.
Bednar struck out Hunter Feduccia but then Jonathan Aranda hit a chopper that got over Bellinger’s head and that Jazz Chisholm Jr. bobbled before making a late throw to first, allowing Simpson to score from home to win it.
Caballero had delivered a two-out single in the top of the 10th to score the automatic runner and put the Yankees up 4-3. But that was all the Yankees could scratch across as their offense continued to sputter.
Max Fried was strong across eight innings of work, though he will likely be kicking himself for giving up a third run in the bottom of the eighth that allowed the Rays to tie the game right after the Yankees had taken the lead.
The Yankees trailed 2-1 with one out in the top of the eighth inning when Giancarlo Stanton drew a full-count walk against Rays righty Bryan Baker. Chisholm, who came up to bat 6-for-43 stretch, got a nice bounce from the turf when he chopped a double over the head of first baseman Aranda, putting runners on second and third.
Caballero, who was in the midst of a 1-for-30 skid, then came to the plate with two outs and after one pitch, took issue with something that led to an extended talk with home plate umpire Shane Livensparger — which Aaron Boone had to run out to make sure it did not turn into something bigger.
After cooling off, Caballero took one more ball and then smoked a double to the left-field corner that scored both runs for the 3-2 lead.
But the advantage was short lived. Rays catcher Nick Fortes led off the bottom of the inning with a double to the gap before being pinch-run for by Simpson. Taylor Walls sacrifice bunted Simpson over to third, at which point Boone trotted out to the mound for a conversation with Fried, who talked his way into staying in the game.
With the infield in, Yandy Diaz hit a perfectly placed chopper in between Ben Rice and Chisholm. Rice jumped to his right to snare it, but had no play at the plate as Simpson raced home to tie it.
The Yankees threatened to take the lead right back in the top of the ninth against righty Hunter Bigge when Aaron Judge walked, stole second and tagged up to third on Bellinger’s flyout for the second out. The Rays then intentionally walked Rice to bring up Randal Grichuk, who had pinch-run for Stanton an inning earlier and remained in to hit for himself instead of bench options Paul Goldschmidt or J.C. Escarra. It took Bigge just one pitch to retire Grichuk, who flew out to center to end the rally.
Austin Wells, who has been among the bigger culprits of the black hole at the bottom of the Yankees lineup, put them ahead 1-0 in the second inning when he crushed his first home run of the season.
Rays righty Nick Martinez threw a 93 mph fastball on the inside edge and Wells turned on it to drive in his first run of the season.
But the lead did not last long, as the Rays tied it up off Fried in the bottom of the second. Junior Caminero led off by smoking a double to the gap before Jonny DeLuca lifted a bloop to right field that found turf to make it 1-1.
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From that point, Fried retired 11 straight Rays before Walls led off the bottom of the sixth by hitting a grounder past the dive of a drawn-in Ryan McMahon at third base.
Diaz came up next and nearly put the Rays ahead, but Bellinger made a leaping catch at the left-field wall to rob him of extra bases.
That only delayed the Rays scoring, though. Ryan Vilade followed with a single to center that put runners on the corners for Aranda, who delivered a sacrifice fly on a running catch by Bellinger to put the Rays ahead 2-1.
