ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays kept talking about needing something to somehow get some offense going.
Saturday, it wasn’t much. But a soft liner, a blooper down the right-field line and a slow bouncer to third base were the key hits in a 3-1 victory over the Yankees before an announced sellout crowd of 25,025 at Tropicana Field.
Having dropped the first two games of the four-game series in the first meeting between the teams this year, the Rays were just happy to get a win, improving to 27-19 and reducing their division deficit to 5 1/2 games behind the majors-best 33-14 Yankees.
A duel between starters Corey Kluber and New York’s Gerrit Cole limited the hitters through the first six innings, and the relief work was just as impressive.
But the Rays scratched out the tying run in the sixth, with Randy Arozarena’s soft single to left scoring Ji-Man Choi. They took the lead in the seventh, with a bloop double by Francisco Mejia and an infield single by Yandy Diaz the key hits.
They added a run in the eighth when Wander Franco tripled and Manuel Margot singled him in, extending his hitting streak to 15 games, longest by a Ray since Austin Meadows had 16 in 2019, and four shy of Jason Bartlett’s team record set in 2009.
The Yankees got a run in the first off Kluber and nothing else.
DJ LeMahieu, out since Tuesday with a sore left wrist, led off with a drive to right that struck high off the wall, as Brett Phillips was not in position to jump for it. LeMahieu moved to third when Aaron Judge followed with a single to left. And he scored when Anthony Rizzo lofted a fly ball to medium depth center, and strong-armed Kevin Kiermaier’s throw to the plate was well off-target.
The Rays, held hitless until two outs into the fifth by Cole, got their first run in the sixth.
Choi, who despite previous success struck out the first two times against Cole, worked his way back from an 0-2 count to draw a seven-pitch walk with two outs. Cole had trouble re-finding the zone, as he then walked struggling Wander Franco on four pitches. Arozarena followed with a soft liner to left for a single that scored Choi to make it 1-1.
The Rays took the lead in the seventh against lefty reliever Lucas Luetge.
Kevin Kiermaier led off with a single up the middle, then Mejia blooped a ball down the right-field line that dropped between second baseman Gleyber Torres and right fielder Joey Gallo, putting runners on third and second.
Kiermaier was thrown out at the plate after pinch-hitter Harold Ramirez grounded sharply to first. Taylor Walls then grounded to second but hustled to beat the relay to first, preventing an inning-ending double play, as Mejia advanced to third.
Diaz then bounced a ball slowly to third that LeMahieu grabbed but had no play on as Mejia scored.
