Following a win to start the American League Division Series, the Tampa Bay Rays entered Monday night looking to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.
To start the game, the New York Yankees really shot themselves in the foot with some terrible defense. On a ball to third base, the Yankees committed an error to allow Yandy Diaz to get on base from the leadoff spot.
Following him, Cam Schlittler would allow a hard base hit to Jonathan Aranda to get runners on first and second. With two on and no outs and Junior Caminero at the plate, it did not look ideal for New York.
However, they got him to ground into a fielder’s choice, getting the out at second base. Unfortunately, Jazz Chisholm tried to do too much and threw the ball away trying to get the double play. This allowed Diaz to score and gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead.
With another error on catcher interference, it was really impressive that the Yankees and Schlittler allowed just the one run. After a strong first three innings of the game, Freddy Peralta finally made a mistake, and Ben Rice made him pay with a solo home run to tie the game.
In the fifth inning, the Yankees had a great opportunity to bust this game wide open. The Rays would pull their starter with a couple of on and a string of left-handed sluggers coming to the plate. Tampa Bay turned to Cam Booser, who came in and walked Ben Rice to load the bases. However, on a long and loud fly ball to deep center field, he was able to get out of the jam on the Bellinger fly out.
Overall for Peralta, he went 4.2 innings, allowing just one run on three hits and one walk.
After getting out of a jam in the top of the fifth, the Rays put the pressure on Schlittler and were able to retake the lead. Back-to-back hits by Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero resulted in the team having runners on second and third. A slow ground ball by Liam Hicks would score Aranda, giving Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.
Following that play, another slow grounder, this time by Chander Simpson, would score Caminero. Schlittler was pulled following that, and while he didn’t have his best stuff, the Yankees defense did him no favors.
George Lombard would commit the fourth error of the game for the Yankees in the fifth, and then Richie Palacios put together one of the best at-bats of the game. Ultimately, in the long battle with Brent Headrick, he got a base hit to drive in the fourth and fifth runs of the night for Tampa Bay.
In the top of the eighth inning, it was Rice who was able to hit his second home run of the game to make it a 5-2 Rays lead. In the ninth inning, it was Bryan Baker who came in and closed it out.
Next up for the Rays will be Game 3 against the Yankees in the Bronx. Taking the mound for Tampa Bay, as expected, will be Nick Martinez, and he will be facing Max Fried.
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