YANKEE STADIUM (New York) — The Tampa Bay Rays swaggered into Yankee Stadium on Friday feeling confident with a spacious lead in the American League East that they expected to extend. The Yankees had played inconsistently for a while, and there was an opportunity for the Rays to capitalize on that volatility. The Bronx Bombers, meanwhile, knew they had to avoid letting the Rays run away with the division.
Alas, the heavy rainfall all weekend in the Bronx took away some of the excitement from the cutthroat series between the division rivals. Besides Friday night’s packed crowd for Yankees ace Gerrit Cole’s impressive season debut in his return from Tommy John, Saturday was a rain out, and Sunday was a plastic-poncho party in the stands for those who were dedicated enough to sit through cold and wet temperatures for a few hours.
So these weren’t the best performances the top two AL teams would have liked to showcase, never mind the high-stakes impact on the standings. But we still learned a few things about the Rays and Yankees this weekend.
Here are my takeaways:
1. A Judgian Slump Ends In Walk-Off Fashion
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For the past couple of weeks, Aaron Judge has been chasing pitches off the plate, grounding into double plays, and seeing his batting average dip to .250. The slugger entered Sunday mired in an 11-game RBI drought that ran parallel to an 11-game homerless streak. The Yankees go as their captain goes, which explains why they entered the final game of their homestand on Sunday having lost 10 of their last 14 games.
Judge finally singled in the first inning Sunday against Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, which ended an 0-for-15 slide at the plate. But then he wandered off first base and made it almost all the way to second on a fly out from Ben Rice. By the time Judge realized the ball fell into the right fielder’s glove, it was too late. He hustled back to first and was doubled up to end the inning and the Yankees’ potential threat. We already knew Judge was feeling off at the plate, but his mental error after getting his first base hit in six days indicated he was really going through it, perhaps more than we thought.
The concern turned into full-blown relief in the ninth inning when Judge snapped his homerless streak with a two-run, walk-off home run off Rays right-hander Kevin Kelly. And, man, did the Yankees need that swing from their offensive leader. Sunday’s victory marked the Yankees’ first win of the season against the Rays after they were swept at Tropicana Field early last month. Without it, they were staring down an 0-4 head-to-head record against their division rivals. Now, at least, the Bombers have something to build off.
“There’s nothing better,” Judge said after walking it off on Sunday.
2. Tampa’s Rotation Shines
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Elite pitching is the primary reason Tampa Bay has held its status as the best team in MLB so far this season. Rays starters own the best ERA (2.88) in the majors, and it’s not particularly close. Plus, the rotation has consistently worked deep into games, stifling opposing lineups three times through the order. It becomes demoralizing facing the Rays’ excellent staff, and after getting swept by Tampa Bay on the road last month, the Yankees got another taste of being suppressed at the plate this weekend.
Right-hander Nick Martinez, Friday’s starter, delivered another brilliant start in the series opener, limiting the Yankees to one run over six innings and wiggling out of jams despite the nine hits he gave up. Martinez has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his 10 starts this year. The 35-year-old veteran grinded through his outing, but he still lowered his ERA to 1.51, which is second-best in MLB behind only Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler.
Then it was Rasmussen’s turn to shine. He took the mound on an extra day of rest following Saturday’s postponed game, then he provided seven shutout innings against the Yankees. Rasmussen struck out six batters and worked around five hits and one walk to keep his final line clean. The combination of Martinez, Rasmussen, and Shane McClanahan has given the Rays a sturdy foundation and a high level of stability that they haven’t been able to enjoy in recent seasons. It’s still early, but the starting staff looks capable of maintaining this terrific performance over the long haul.
3. Rays Gonna Ray
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No team is putting the ball in play more than the Rays this season. Paired with the lowest strikeout rate in the majors, Tampa Bay is displaying the type of feistiness at the plate that the 2025 Blue Jays relied on to go all the way to the Fall Classic. The Rays’ .305 BABIP is the highest in the AL, and their come-from-behind win on Friday perfectly captured why they’ve been so successful while being scrappy.
Down by a run in the eighth inning on Friday, Tampa Bay roared back for their 14th comeback win of the season and their fifth of the year when trailing after seven innings. It was their fifth consecutive win and 22nd of their last 26 games, on a night when nobody would’ve faulted them for taking a loss following Cole’s terrific season debut. Still, they kept their heads down, passed the baton, and rallied for the runs they would need to shut the door on the Yankees.
The eighth-inning rally was started by leadoff hitter Chandler Simpson, who reached on a fielding error by Yankees shortstop Jose Caballero. Hungry to punish New York for its mistake, Junior Caminero followed by lining a single to center field, and Jonathan Aranda collected his AL-leading 38th RBI of the year on a double to center that tied the game at 1-1. After reliever Tim Hill intentionally walked Yandy Diaz, Richie Palacios might have felt a certain type of way, because he chopped a ball that deflected off Hill’s glove and went just over the reach of Caballero at short, scoring two more runs and leaving the Yankees in the dust.
“I don’t know if my mentality just kind of changes naturally in those types of situations,” Aranda said of coming up clutch. “But, thankfully, they have.”
4. Yankees Need Bullpen Help, ASAP
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This was the team’s largest glaring weakness going into the season, and it hasn’t taken long for it to rear its ugly head. Too many Yankees relievers are volatile outing-to-outing, nobody has locked down the seventh/eighth inning high-leverage roles, and manager Aaron Boone’s circle of trust is becoming increasingly small. On top of all that, it certainly doesn’t help that closer David Bednar has a 4.91 ERA across 22 relief appearances this season — though his .3.09 FIP suggests he’s running into bad luck.
Hill, who has been excellent, is one of Boone’s most dependable relievers. But even he has bad days, and his overuse could lead to trouble by the All-Star break. The southpaw took the loss on Friday after he was charged with four runs (three earned) in that game-changing eighth-inning rally from the Rays. He bounced back on Sunday, though that was due mostly to two stellar defensive plays from the Yankees’ corner outfielders, which kept Tampa Bay off the board. Aside from Hill, right-hander Fernando Cruz is Boone’s only other bridge to Bednar in the ninth inning. The lack of depth is quickly becoming an issue.
The bullpen’s problems have been magnified because New York plays so many one-run games. Boone has been forced to use his trusted relievers earlier than he’d like to. Camilo Doval, Jake Bird and Ryan Yarbrough have been disappointing, and we can throw Bednar into that group until he proves otherwise. There are no reinforcements in the minor leagues, either. All of which means the Yankees will be tasked with making the most of what they have for at least the next several weeks, until general manager Brian Cashman can go shopping at the trade deadline. There’s no denying that, for a championship-caliber team like the Yankees, the bullpen is just too thin and unstable right now.
4 ½. What’s next?
The Rays (34-16) close out their road trip with a three-game set in Baltimore on Monday, hoping to create more separation in the AL East standings, before they head home to host the Angels on Friday. Tampa Bay boasts an impressive 14-3 record against AL East teams this season. The surging club leads the division by 4 ½ games.
The Yankees (31-22) begin a six-game road trip on Monday to face the struggling Kansas City Royals and the AL West-leading Athletics. Their series at Kauffman Stadium is an excellent opportunity for the Yankees to string some wins together and regain their confidence after some inconsistent results this month.
Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
