ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The Rays found a way to stage another dramatic win Tuesday.
And in doing so increased their chances of playing another game after the regular season ends Sunday.
Ji-Man Choi homered to lead off the 12th inning to give the Rays a 2-1 walk off win over the AL East champion Yankees.
And, as a result, the Rays maintained their one-half game lead over the Indians for the second AL wild-card with five days and four games left in their season, as the Indians had a big lead late over the White Sox. The Rays also stayed within 1{ games of the wild-card leading A's, who played late Tuesday at the Angels.
It was the Rays' 10th walk-off win of the season, third in the first five games of their final regular-season homestand, and eighth in their last 23 home games, all before an announced Tropicana Field crowd of 16,699.
The Rays (94-64) have another game against the Yankees Wednesday night, and then three in Toronto starting Friday, which will determine what they are doing next week from these three most likely scenarios:
Going to Oakland for the wild-card game next Wednesday, hosting the Indians on Monday in a Game 163 playoff or heading home disappointed to be done.
The game-winner came quickly, as Choi led off the 12th and drove a 2-2 pitch from Cory Gearrin over the rightfield fence.
Until then, the scoring was straightforward.
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead when Cameron Maybin led off the third with a homer off Yonny Chirinos. The Rays tied it in the fifth when Kevin Kiermaier homered with two outs off Stephen Tarpley.
Both teams had some other chances.
The most promising for the Rays came in the sixth, albeit with two outs, as Choi walked to put two on, then Matt Duffy also walked to load the bases. Rookie Nate Lowe pinch-hit and got to a 3-1 count but rolled into an inning-ending out.
The Rays got their usual string of strong relief work, with Andrew Kittredge, Brendan McKay, Diego Castillo, Emilio Pagan, Colin Poche, Oliver Drake, Chaz Roe and Pete Fairbanks all pitching in after a solid three-inning outing by Yonny Chirinos.
The Rays had to be encouraged by what Chirinos did.
Making his first start and second outing following a six-week stint on the injured list due to inflammation in his right middle finger, Chirinos allowed just the one hit, albeit the home run, in three innings. He worked effectively and, as importantly, efficiently, throwing only 30 pitches.
The Rays felt good about the position they were in going into Tuesday's game, battling for one of the two wild-card spots.
But they also should have felt some regrets over not being in the better spot the Yankees were, with the AL East title already clinched and a focus on prepping for the postseason, which they know they'll open in the Bronx next weekend.
As recently as mid-June, which is to say not all that long ago, the Rays were still leading the division and had aspirations of finishing on top.
But then the Rays stumbled, losing 20 of 35, including eight of 11 to the Yankees, who despite an extensive run of injuries were streaking the other way and built a comfortable margin, nine games ahead at first pitch Tuesday.
Not coincidentally, the Yankees won 12 of the first 17 games with the Rays.
"Coming out of spring training, we knew there were three really good teams in this division," Rays manager Kevin Cash said, including the Red Sox in the discussion though they weren't really in the division race.
"What has taken place if you look at it, it's been a lopsided matchup between us and (the Yankees). They've beat us up. You could probably point to those games as to why there is so much separation in the division right now."
Those first 17 games were telling, as the Rays were outscored 95-50, for a minus-45 run differential. In their 140 games against everyone else, they were plus 157 (703-546) and compiled an 88-52 record.
Is the margin between the teams that large?
"They just have really good players," Cash said. "We played a lot of tight ballgames with them, but at the end of the day, they have good players. We have good players also. We've come up short more times than we'd like. ...
"You can't take anything away from what New York has done. They've beat us, and there's a reason they beat us. It's because of the depth of their roster and how quality their players, position players and pitchers, are."
That the Rays, if they make the playoffs and were to win the wild-card game, could end up facing the Yankees for higher stakes makes for even more interesting dynamics.
"They've been great all year," Rays centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier said. "They had a bunch of injuries early. And they had a bunch of guys step up, Giovanny Urshela, guys like that. Just their core group of guys, they can flat out play. They don't really have a weak spot in the lineup. They have great pitching, a great bullpen. They're dangerous, there's no doubt about it. They deserve to have the record they have because they're good. They're really, really good.
"They're beatable, for sure. Obviously. But this is one of those things where they deserve to have the crown. It's a pretty big margin. For as good of a year as we've had (93 wins going into play Tuesday), those guys over there have celebrated nine more times than us. That's incredible ."
Yankees manager Aaron Boone also felt that mid-June stretch was a key point of delineation, as from that point on his squad went 61-28, which is how they got to 102-55.
"We had a couple series in there, I think, head-to-head, where we really had a lot of success against them, and it was in a time where obviously we were winning a lot of games outside of just them," Boon said. "But, those series were where it kind of flipped our way, and we went on a really good long run there we were able to build a little bit of a lead."
The difference between division champ and wild-card is substantial from a competitive standpoint in the playoffs, and for other reasons.
"Winning the division, that's a grind," Rays starter Charlie Morton said. "Would I like to have won the division? Absolutely. It's rewarding. Not just in terms of how the logistics wind up and now you've got to play a one-game playoff and whatever. But just from an achievement standpoint."
The Indians opened a three-game series on Tuesday at the White Sox, and were bolstered by the star Jose Ramirez's return. Ramirez came back from Aug. 26 surgery to repair a broken hamate bone and hit a grand slam in his first at-bat.
The A's are also getting a boost to their roster as righthander Frankie Montas, who was off to a team-best 9-2, 2.70 start, gets to return from an 80-game performance-enhancing drugs suspension, and will start Wednesday. Montas isn't eligible for the post-season, but will allow the A's to rest and set-up their other starters how they want, including for the Oct. 2 wild-card game that could be against the Rays.
