Richie Palacios ripped a two-run single to highlight a four-run fifth inning, fueling the Tampa Bay Rays to a 5-2 victory over the New York Yankees on Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla., and a two-games-to-none edge in an American League Division Series.
Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero each had two hits and a run for the Rays, who are in control of the best-of-five series. Game 3 is Wednesday in New York.
“We match up with anyone,” Palacios said on MLB Network. “We go out there and work. We have sacrificed a lot this season, so we match up with anyone and we don’t care who is out there.”
The Yankees did themselves no favors by committing four errors, including three in the first inning.
“A really rough night to say the least for us,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve got to get over it. We’ve responded all year to difficult times, and we’ve got to do it again.”
New York’s lone bright spot was Ben Rice, who hit solo homers in the fourth and eighth innings. He has two multi-homer games in this postseason.
In a 1-1 game, Aranda singled to lead off the fifth inning, advanced to third base on Caminero’s single and scored on Liam Hicks’ slow grounder to second base. Caminero moved to third base on the play and scored on Chandler Simpson’s infield single.
Brent Headrick relieved Cam Schlittler (1-1) and struck out the first batter he faced before an error by shortstop George Lombard Jr. on a ball hit by Jonny DeLuca extended the inning. DeLuca then stole second. Palacios, a New York native, then drove a line-drive single to center field on a 3-2 pitch, plating both runners and boosting the Rays’ lead to 5-1.
“I was able to lay off a couple pitches and get to 3-0,” Palacios said. “(Rays manager Kevin) Cash gave me the green light. I just took a hell-hack on a 3-0 pitch high. After that, I was able to settle down and get a pitch over the middle of the plate, and I put a good swing on it.”
Schlittler was charged for four runs (two earned) on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out two.
Cam Booser (1-0) relieved Rays starter Freddy Peralta and induced Cody Bellinger to fly out with the bases loaded to end the top of the fifth inning.
Ian Seymour struck out four batters while allowing just one hit, Rice’s second homer, in three innings. Bryan Baker tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to notch his second save in as many games of the series.
Sloppy defense by New York led to Tampa Bay opening the scoring in the first inning. Yandy Diaz reached base after third baseman Ryan McMahon failed to handle a routine grounder. Diaz advanced to second on a single by Aranda and scored after a throw by second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. in a bid to complete a double play sailed wide of first base.
“Not great. Not how you draw it up,” McMahon said. “I thought Cam did a great job trying to pitch through all that stuff.”
Looking ahead to the series’ shift to Yankee Stadium, Boone said, “Whatever it takes, we’ve got to do it offensively and we’ve gotta be able to score some runs and do a better job of preventing than we did tonight.”
–Field Level Media
