ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) The pesky Tampa Bay Rays put all the pressure on the big, bad New York Yankees.
Richie Palacios hit a two-run single in a four-run fifth inning and Tampa Bay took advantage of New York’s sloppy defense, beating Cam Schlittler and the Yankees 5-2 Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in their AL Division series.
The Rays are one win away from reaching the American League Championship Series. Game 3 of the best-of-five playoffs will take place Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
“This is the result of a very good clubhouse and a selfless group of teammates,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “They don’t care who does it. They just want to do it. The biggest cheerleaders come from the guys in the dugout. Good teams don’t just rely on one or two people. We rely on all nine members of the roster, the guys on the bench and certainly our entire pitching staff.”
Ben Rice scored twice for the Yankees, who are on the verge of elimination — which would extend their drought without a World Series championship to 17 seasons. They were dominated by Drew Rasmussen in the series opener and scored just two runs in two playoff games against the AL East champion Rays, with three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge out of the lineup due to a calf injury.
“Well, we have to win. We have to play the first inning of Game 3,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We have to come out and play well. So we’ve responded all year. We have to do it again. Obviously we have to play better and it starts with one at a time. I don’t even go ahead and win three. We have to win one and we have to play better Wednesday night to do that.”
The small-ball Rays chased Schlittler, the likely AL Cy Young Award winner, in the fifth, aided by New York’s defensive miscues.
Jonathan Aranda singled to start the inning and Junior Caminero hit a double to right center. With the infield drawn except for second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was standing several yards farther away on the dirt, Liam Hicks hit a slow bouncer to second base that scored Aranda for a 2-1 lead. Chisholm’s only play was at first because he didn’t fully come in like the rest of the infielders.
Chandler Simpson then hit a grounder that missed shortstop George Lombard Jr., scoring Caminero to make the score 3-1. It was first ruled a hit, then turned into an error and finally a fielder’s choice. Brent Headrick replaced Schlittler and retired Victor Mesa Jr. After Simpson stole second, Jonny DeLuca hit a grounder when Lombard’s throw to first went wide for New York’s fourth error.
Palacios followed with a hard single to center that increased Tampa Bay’s lead to 5-1.
“It was just one of those games that kind of compiled and stacked on top of each other,” Lombard said. “It wasn’t ideal. We put ourselves in a bad situation.”
It was huge support for one of the best bullpens in the majors.
Freddy Peralta allowed one run and three hits in 4 2/3 innings, Cam Booser came out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth and Ian Seymour allowed one run in three innings. Bryan Baker finished with a perfect ninth for his second save in two games.
Schlittler, who was 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA and dominated Boston in the first round of the wild-card round, lasted 4 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs – two earned – and six hits while striking out just two.
Rice sent a 2-2 changeup into the right field seats to tie it at 1 in the fourth, ending New York’s scoreless drought in the ALDS. Rice hit 41 home runs in the regular season. His drive woke up the Yankees fans in the stadium, who until then had been drowned out by the Rays fans.
But a sellout crowd of 40,226 was mostly Rays fans ringing the bells and reveling in the misery of New York.
Peralta retired the first two batters in the fifth before Austin Wells hit a double and Ryan McMahon walked. Booser replaced Peralta and walked Rice to load the bases, but the left-hander escaped when Cody Bellinger flew out to the warning track in center.
The Yankees committed three errors in the first inning but Schlittler held the Rays to one run. New York became the first team to commit three errors in the first inning of a playoff game since the Oakland Athletics in Game 1 of the 1975 AL Championship Series against Boston, according to Sportsnet Stats.
Yankees rookie Spencer Jones hit a towering flyball off a catwalk at quirky Tropicana Field that was caught by Mesa for an out in the second inning. Jones continued to run around the bases as the ball shook and fell to Mesa, who raced from right field to catch center. DeLuca thought he was camped underneath, in the center, but started pointing up when the ball hit one of the two rings above the field and under the roof. Mesa caught it several yards in front of DeLuca. The referees awarded and confirmed the withdrawal, in accordance with the ground rules of the stadium.
Yankees LHP Max Fried (5-5, 2.80 ERA) and Rays RHP Nick Martinez (15-6, 3.10) are the projected starters for Game 3.
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