ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The usual brigade of Yankees fans at Tropicana Field had found their voice in extra innings and the chants were directed at DJ LeMahieu.
"M-V-P, M-V-P."
"Le Machine" to his teammates for his all-around play and uncanny production, LeMahieu delivered a go-ahead, two-run single in Thursday's 10th inning.
Two batters later, Gary Sanchez launched a massive three-run homer that totally erased Aroldis Chapman's blown save and sent the Yankees toward an 8-4 win against the second-place Rays.
The All-Star closer gave up the tying runs in the ninth, blowing a 3-1 lead, but rebounded to strike out Austin Meadows with the bases loaded to give the Yanks a fighting chance.
They took advantage against the Rays' bullpen, with leadoff walks by Gio Urshela and pinch-hitter Aaron Judge.
Judge's 10-pitch at-bat and Brett Gardner's bunt hit on a sacrifice attempt set up LeMahieu's ground single to left off Oliver Drake.
LeMahieu is now batting hard-to-fathom .480 (36-for-75) with 51 RBIs this year with runners in scoring position.
Sanchez, who'd been a weak 0-for-4 heading into the 10th, walloped one into the upper deck in left _ his first home run since June 21.
The Subway Series followed the London Series, and the Yankees also had three off dates in that stretch, which followed a home set against the Blue Jays.
During that period, J.A. Happ was, well, just along for the ride.
Happ hadn't pitched in a game since he started on Old-Timer's Day at Yankee Stadium and looked as if he might have trouble navigating through the present-day Paul O'Neills and Willie Randolphs.
On that Bronx Sunday, the Houston Astros tagged Happ for eight runs on 11 hits _ three of them home runs _ and soared his ERA to 5.23.
All those results were season-highs for the lefty, plunging him into a mini-vacation made possible by the Yankees' schedule.
Happ's hiatus ended on a holiday, and it was a good showing after a shaking beginning.
Pitching into the sixth inning at Tropicana Field, Happ was in line for a victory against the second-place Rays before 21,974 fans indoors on the Fourth of July.
The Yankees (56-29) opened a 7.5-game lead on their closest AL East competitors to start a four-game series leading up to the All-Star break.
It's the largest deficit by the Rays (50-38) this season.
Since June 14, when the Rays led the AL East by a half-game, the Yankees have won 15 of 17 games and Tampa Bay has gone 8-11.
Chapman gave up a run in the ninth but was on track to notch his 24th save of the season when a series of events _ and his own command issues _ caught up to him.
After walking the leadoff man, Nate Lowe, Chapman served up a one-out, RBI double by Joey Wendle that had to survive a Yankees replay challenge.
The Yankees unsuccessfully argued that Lowe's left hand did not touch the plate as he made a swipe-slide past catcher Gary Sanchez.
Replays upheld the call of "safe" on the field.
There were two out when Chapman threw two wild pitches, sending Wendle home with the tying run.
After yielding two more singles and a four-pitch walk to load the bases, Chapman came back from a 2-and-0 count to strike out Austin Meadows and send the game to extra innings.
Getting the start at first base, Mike Ford singled to open the third and started a two-run rally against Rays right-handed starter Yonny Chirinos.
A passed ball sent Ford to second and he scored on Mike Tauchman's RBI single.
Tauchman was playing right field with Judge rested from the starting lineup. Ford started at first base, with LeMahieu starting a third base for Urshela, who arrived just before the game.
Urshela remained back in New York on Wednesday night for an MRI on his upper left leg, which came back clean.
With two out in the third, Aaron Hicks delivered an RBI double to right for a 2-1 lead.
Leading off the seventh, designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion lashed his fourth home run (25th of the year) as a Yankee, making it 3-1.
Happ yielded a two-out, RBI double to Avisail Garcia in the first and required LeMahieu's deft play toward the foul line and strong throw to nail Mike Brosseau to end the inning.
