ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Before the beginning of the Rays' four-game home series against the Yankees, manager Kevin Cash dismissed the notion that Tampa Bay's first meeting against the AL East division leaders served as a barometer for his club.
Given the way they've played of late, the only thing the Rays had to worry about was themselves, he said.
"We've engaged enough," Cash said. "We're not playing well right now."
While the Rays' 1-0 win Friday over the Yankees at Tropicana Field might not have been a statement, it still served as a much-needed victory.
Tampa Bay's bats remained cold, but six pitchers held baseball's most dangerous lineup _ the Yankees entered the day leading the majors with a .816 OPS _ scoreless, limiting them to just two hits.
The Rays (6-7) had just two hits of their own, but they manufactured the game's only run on Michael Perez's two-out, pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the eighth off reliever Adam Ottovino.
It didn't look good for the Rays most of the night. Yankees starter and Rays killer Masahiro Tanaka gave up just one hit over five scoreless innings, lowering his ERA against the Rays to 1.72 in eight meetings, dating back to the beginning of the 2018 season.
Tanaka silenced the Rays bats softly, throwing just 36% fastballs against a batting order looking for four-seamers. He relied on a slider-splitter combination that frustrated the Rays into either chasing balls down in the zone or pounding them harmlessly into the ground.
Tanaka left the game having retired 13 straight hitters.
After Tanaka left, the Rays wasted their best scoring opportunity in the sixth, failing to take advantage of Kevin Kiermaier's leadoff double off reliever Luis Cessa.
After Kiermaier's hit, the Rays went quietly. Mike Zunino flied out on a 2-0 count, Austin Meadows struck out on four pitches and Brandon Lowe popped out in foul ground down the third-base line.
The Rays didn't allow a hit until D.J. LeMahieu's one-out single in the sixth off reliever Pete Fairbanks.
Starter Blake Snell went just three innings, getting the hook after just 59 pitches. Unlike his previous start, Snell struggled with his fastball command, missing up in the zone. But the left-hander overcame that with his off-speed pitches, particularly his changeup, striking out five _ including slugger Aaron Judge both times he faced him _ and holding a dangerous Yankees lineup hitless.
Andrew Kittredge retired all six batters he faced in relief of Snell.
Rays reliever Nick Anderson stranded the bases loaded in the seventh, striking out Gary Sanchez on three mid-90s fastballs, escaping a jam that began with Diego Castillo walking the first two batters of the inning.
In the eighth, Chaz Roe overcame a Mike Tauchman leadoff double to toss a scoreless inning. He had help from shortstop Willy Adames, who threw out Tauchman going to third on LeMaheiu's grounder to the left side.
Ottavino put two on in the eighth after walks to Yoshi Tsutsugo and Kiermaier. Both moved up on a wild pitch, and Perez lofted a ball to center field, deep enough to plate Tsutsugo.
