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Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit homered as the New York Yankees staved off elimination with a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4 of the American League Division Series on Thursday night in San Diego.

The decisive Game 5 is Friday. Gerrit Cole is expected to start for the Yankees, while Tampa Bay could start Blake Snell in a rematch of Game 1, which New York won 9-3.

Gleyber Torres leads the charge

Torres gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead and some breathing room with one out in the sixth when he drove a Ryan Yarbrough pitch to left field on a shot that nearly landed in the third deck in front of the Western Metal Supply Co. building.

Torres belted his fifth career postseason homer just two innings after he fouled a ball off his leg before lining out.

Voit, the major league home run champ this year with 22 in the regular season, entered the game 1-for-11 in the series and with no homers in the postseason. He started the scoring with a 453-foot drive to left off Tampa Bay opener Ryan Thompson (0-1) to lead off the second inning.

DJ LeMahieu drove in the second run for New York with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly later in the second.

Torres reached base three times and scored New York’s fifth run in the eighth inning. The shortstop, who hit a one-out single and then stole second, easily scored on a two-out single by Kyle Higashioka.

Brandon Lowe’s RBI groundout in the third inning, a play on which LeMahieu made a diving stop at second to get a forceout, accounted for Tampa Bay’s run. Red-hot rookie Randy Arozarena was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.



New York left-hander Jordan Montgomery shined in his first game since Sept. 24 and his postseason debut. He held the Rays to one run on three hits in four innings while working around three walks and striking out four in a 62-pitch outing.

Yankees’ bullpen steps up

Yankees reliever Chad Green (1-0) pitched two perfect innings, and Zack Britton got three strikeouts while recording the next five outs, getting lifted after fanning Yandy Diaz.

Aroldis Chapman recorded a four-out save in his first appearance of the series. He struck out Arozarena on three pitches to end the eighth after walking Lowe, then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, ending the game with a strikeout of Mike Brosseau.



Thompson allowed two runs and two hits in 1 2/3 innings. He threw 44 pitches and was lifted after LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly.

Yarbrough allowed two runs on six hits in five innings.

–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)