The Rays beat the Yankees 5-2 in Game 2 of the ALDS on Monday night, and the Yankees did most of the work for them. Four errors, three of them in the first inning, handed Tampa Bay a head start the Bombers never fully erased.
Ben Rice hit both Yankees runs on two solo homers. It's the only reason the scoreboard looked respectable. The Rays now lead the best-of-five series 2-0, and they need one more win.
The First Inning Set the Tone
Cam Schlittler gave up one hit in the bottom of the first and still trailed 1-0 before it was over. Ryan McMahon committed a fielding error at third on Yandy Diaz's leadoff at-bat. Jonathan Aranda singled. Then Junior Caminero hit a force-play grounder, Jazz Chisholm Jr. threw it away at second, and Diaz scored.
It got weirder. The Rays challenged a catcher interference call on Austin Wells and won it, putting Liam Hicks on first. Three errors in one inning (and a replay review that went against us) is a lot to ask any starter to absorb in October.
Rice answered in the fourth with a solo shot to right off Freddy Peralta, the third homer of his postseason, tying it 1-1. ESPN had it at 372 feet.
The Fifth Inning Decided It
The Yankees had a chance to take the lead first. In the top of the fifth, Wells doubled, McMahon walked, and Rice walked against Cam Booser to load the bases with two outs. Cody Bellinger hit it sharply to center and Jonny DeLuca caught it. That flyout was worth 9.8 points of Rays win probability, and the Yankees got nothing.
(Bases loaded, nobody home. That was the game.)
The bottom of the fifth was the Rays doing what they do. Aranda singled. Caminero doubled to center for the biggest single swing of the night, 12.8 percent of win probability. Hicks grounded out to score Aranda, Simpson hit a fielder's choice to score Caminero, and it was 3-1.
Schlittler was done at 4.1 innings. He allowed 4 runs, 2 of them earned, on 6 hits with 2 strikeouts and a walk in 76 pitches.
Brent Headrick came in and got Mesa swinging, then George Lombard Jr. threw away DeLuca's grounder for the fourth error. Richie Palacios singled to center to score Simpson and DeLuca. That made it 5-1.
Rice Was the Whole Offense
Rice finished 2-for-3 with two homers, two RBI and a walk. His second came in the top of the eighth off Ian Seymour, a solo shot to right that made it 5-2. ESPN measured it at 358 feet. It was his fourth of the postseason.
He's the only Yankee who hit the ball like he expected to win. Bellinger had a single and Wells a double, and that was the rest of the damage. Luis Garcia Jr. went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
The bullpen didn't give anything back. John Schreiber threw a clean inning with a strikeout, Paul Blackburn threw another, and Ryan Weathers and David Bednar finished out the night without letting it grow. The pen kept it close enough to matter. The bats couldn't use it.
Peralta went 4.2 innings and gave up one run on three hits. Booser got the win, Bryan Baker closed it for the save, and the Rays left nine men on base and still never felt threatened.
What's Next
The Yankees lost the regular-season series to Tampa Bay 6-7, and now they've dropped the first two of the ALDS. Nobody needs a lecture on the defense. They need to win three straight, starting with the next one.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
