NEW YORK _ J.A. Happ kept his focus on the plate as the Yankee Stadium grounds crew was finishing up the YMCA.
The seventh inning was about to begin, but Happ's work was yet to be done.
On Tuesday, Happ was everything the Yankees could have hoped for. Perhaps even better.
The 35-year-old Happ tossed a gem in a 4-1 win over Tampa Bay in front of 40,393 in the Bronx. The lefty allowed only one hit over seven scoreless innings of work _ a high blooper to shallow left by C.J. Cron _ and plunked another batter. He took a no-hitter into the fourth inning and retired nine of his last 10 batters.
With the win, the Yankees (75-44) tied a season-high watermark by going 31 games of .500 and kept Boston's AL East division lead to 10 games.
"We are obviously in a little bit of a tough stretch with some adversity right now, manager Aaron Boone said before the game. "But I also feel like we're responding really well. We dealt with a tough result (Monday) night and understand that we're in a stretch where we're starting to play really well. These games are so important."
Happ (13-6) lowered his season ERA to 3.86 and tossed his third straight quality start since coming to New York. In 19 innings with the Yankees, he's given up four runs and struck out 15 batters. The Yankees are now 3-0 in Happ's starts since acquiring the starter from Toronto earlier this season.
The Yankees struck quickly on Rays' opener Hunter Wood with a run in the first inning. Giancarlo Stanton roped a double to the right center field gap and moved to third on an error. Aaron Hicks singled him home for his second RBI in as many nights.
Rays' reliever Jalen Beeks kept the Yankee lineup quiet with seven strikeouts over the next three innings, but ran into trouble in the fifth.
After a five-pitch leadoff walk to Neil Walker, Austin Romine hit his eighth home run of the year on a shot down the right field line.
Romine now has a modest four-game hitting streak, after starting the month on a 4-for-25 slump.
With a slash line of .268./318./453, Romine has set a career-high in all three hitting categories and provided stability in the absence of Gary Sanchez, out with a right groin strain.
"There's no weakness back there," said Sanchez, of his catching replacements. "They've done an amazing job."
Greg Bird tacked on an insurance run in the eighth with a 2-out double to plate Shane Robinson, who was pinch-running for Miguel Andujar.
Aroldis Chapman picked up his 31st save of the year with a clean ninth inning.
