BRONX — The 42,116 Yankees fans in attendance booed as the team walked off the field after the top of the fifth.
Albert Abreu had given up a go-ahead grand slam to Taylor Walls after taking over for starter Clarke Schmidt in what ended up being an 8-7 Yankees loss to the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays. The loss meant the Bombers split the four-game set with Tampa and let a fifth-inning comeback go to waste.
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Six of their last eight wins had been in come-from-behind fashion entering Sunday’s series finale. New York, which had started the series last in the AL East, entered the game 7.0 games back of the Rays in the standings.
The Yankees had scored four runs off two home runs in the third inning to erase an early 3-0 hole that they found themselves in, but the Rays countered that in the fifth with a five-run inning. After Schmidt got the first batter of the inning to strike out, he walked Isaac Paredes and Wander Franco singled to get on base.
A sharp line drive by Brandon Lowe loaded the bases and Randy Arozarena hit what looked like it could be a three-run hit, but a diving catch by Harrison Bader limited the damage to just one run.
HARRISON BADER WHAT A PLAY! Rays tie it but Bader saves two runs! pic.twitter.com/csJ8nbUMrO
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 14, 2023
Schmidt battled Josh Lowe to try and end the inning, however, with the count full the Yankees starter just missed with his knuckle curve and loaded the bases back up. Yankees manager Aaron Boone turned to Abreu after that and the reliever gave up a grand slam to Taylor Walls, the first batter he faced, to give Tampa an 8-4 lead.
“A big situation and my job is to go in there and minimize damage,” Abreu said. “Unfortunately, we missed the location (with the changeup pitch). You know, a pitch like that and in that count has to be down and away there. And missed the location, you know, and when you do that, you end up paying for it.”
The grand slam was the third that a Yankees pitcher had surrendered this year. Only the Oakland Athletics have given up more grand slams this season.
The Yankees didn’t go down without a fight, as has been the case recently, scoring runs in the seventh and eighth to cut the Rays’ lead to one. Aaron Judge drove in a run on a single in the seventh and Anthony Volpe hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to give the Yanks a fighting chance at a second comeback.
Judge hit a deep fly ball to left field that was caught on the warning track to end the game.
Schmidt pitched 4.2 innings and gave up seven earned runs to the Rays. He allowed six hits and struck out seven while walking three batters he faced in his fifth loss of the season.
Abreu pitched 2.1 innings without surrendering any earned runs, but had been on the mound when Walls hit the fifth-inning grand slam.
The Rays had jumped out to an early lead when Tampa put up runs in the first and third to take the 3-0 lead.
Yandy Diaz doubled to start the game and eventually reached third before Brandon Lowe grounded out to drive in the first run in the first inning. Paredes hit a single in the third that drove home Jose Siri to make it 2-0 and Brandon Lowe hit a sacrifice fly to center field that made it a three-run advantage for the Rays.
The Yankees’ comeback came in the bottom of the third when Anthony Volpe was able to reach first base to start the inning. Two batters later Oswaldo Cabrera sent a 2-2 sinker 355 feet into the stands to cut the New York deficit to 3-2.
Jake Bauers reached base and Anthony Rizzo followed it up two batters later when he hit the first pitch of his at-bat into the second deck in right field to put the Yankees ahead for the first time in the afternoon. Rizzo’s home run was his eighth at Yankee Stadium, which is the second most of any player in an MLB ballpark this season.
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