ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ What looked to be a lost afternoon much of Sunday ended in celebration as the Rays scored a 4-3 walkoff win over the Yankees.
Michael Perez singled in Brandon Lowe with two outs in the ninth inning to deliver the win and launch a socially distanced celebration.
Mike Brosseau led off the ninth against Yankees reliever Zack Britton with a double but was thrown out trying to get to third when Lowe _ after an unsuccessful bunt attempt _ grounded to second baseman DJ LeMahieu. Lowe moved to second on a wild pitch. After Manuel Margot drew a walk, Willy Adames ground out to first, moving the runners to second and third.
That brought up Perez, the lefty-hitting backup catcher, to face Britton, the hard-throwing Yankees lefty.
Perez's hit gave the Rays (8-8) their third win in the four-game series against the American League East favorites and closed the gap in the standings to two games
The game didn't start well for the Rays.
Charlie Morton walked off the mound one batter into the third inning under the care of head athletic trainer Joe Benge. The initial diagnosis from the team was right shoulder inflammation, which seems likely to at least lead to rest for the 36-year-old, who was their top starter.
Down early, the Rays didn't show much offensively through the first six innings against Yankees starter James Paxton. They struck out 11 times and managed just one hit, a single by Yandy Diaz to lead off the first.
It looked to continue their miserable run this season against left-handed starters, having gone winless in the first five against Toronto's Hyun Jin Ryu, Atlanta's Max Fried, Baltimore's Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Milone, and Boston's Martin Perez.
But only until the seventh.
Trailing 3-0, Jose Martinez led off with a double to right center. An out later, Mike Brosseau crushed a 2-0 Paxton fastball into the leftfield seats. Two pitches later, Lowe knocked a ball over the rightfield fence to tie the score.
As Lowe neared the plate, just before Yankees manager Aaron Boone went to the mound to remove Paxton, there was chirping between players in both dugouts. Mike Zunino appeared to be leading the response from the Rays side.
Tampa Bay had what looked like a prime chance to go ahead in the eighth.
The rally started on a pinch-hit single by Ji-Man Choi, continuing a hot streak that started Saturday when he asked the team to start playing audio of fans chanting his name in the playoffs. Diaz's ground ball forced Choi at second and, when Austin Meadows doubled into the rightfield corner, Diaz got only to third.
The Yankees intentionally walked Martinez to load the bases with one out The Rays' left righty-swinging Hunter Renfroe in to face righty reliever Jonathan Holder. Renfroe grounded to third, and his hustle down the line to avoid a double play initially seemed to give the Rays the go-ahead run. But the call was reversed after a replay challenge.
The Rays were down from the start, the Yankees loading the bases on a leadoff single by DJ LeMahieu, a double and a walk, then Morton hitting Mike Ford. That was the 12th time in 16 games the opposing team has scored first.
As bad as things were going for the Rays, with the bats quiet and Morton replaced by Trevor Richards, they trailed 1-0 heading into the fifth.
But a Luke Voit single and Gleyber Torres double put two on, and a Gio Urshela drive to deep center that should have ended the inning was mishandled by Margot, allowing two runs to score.
Margot was back with the team for the first time after a trying week following the death of his father on Tuesday and a trip to the Dominican Republic to attend to his family.
"A lot has taken place for Manny here, and we're sensitive to that," manager Kevin Cash said before the game. "Maybe playing and getting back into the flow of baseball will help ease his mind. I don't think any of us can imagine or fully appreciate what he's going through, the travel he just went through and what he had to experience. It's been a tough couple days for Manny, and we're going to try to be really, really good teammates for him."
The Rays left after the game for Boston and the start of a season-long 11-day, 10-game, three-city road trip that includes an off-day in New York.
