ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Yankees manager Aaron Boone offered Wednesday that "honestly, I have no idea" as to which of his starters would draw the AL wild-card assignment.
And that was before Masahiro Tanaka's early knockout on Wednesday night, further complicating matters.
Tanaka quickly gave back an early three-run lead, then yielded a long, go-ahead homer to Tommy Pham in the third.
Pham's leadoff blast to distant center field gave the Rays a lead they nearly relinquished in an 8-7 victory before 11,325 fans at Tropicana Field, where the Yankees' magic number for clinching the top wild-card spot remained at two.
Luke Voit's long two-run single to center occurred in a stirring, four-run ninth, the Yanks' late rally fell short.
Any combination of two Yankees' wins or Oakland losses would give Boone's club home field advantage in the Oct. 3 wild-card game.
Boone and his staff plan to huddle soon to decide between Tanaka, J.A. Happ or Luis Severino for the wild-card start.
And after winning his first three September starts, yielding just one run, Tanaka has now put together two subpar starts _ allowing nine runs over eight innings to the Red Sox and Rays.
"We certainly want to see him go out and pitch well," Boone said before the game, adding that Tanaka's previous start against Boston had not raised any "red flags, necessarily, for me."
Other than some pitch selection problems, "I felt like stuff-wise and repertoire-wise" had been "similar to the real good Masa we've seen the last couple of months."
Neil Walker's three-run homer off Rays 'opener' Ryne Stanek was negated by the Rays, who batted around in a long, three-run first inning.
Before striking out the side, Tanaka gave up three singles and one walk and his errant, ill-advised throwing error _ trying to get a force at second base _ yielded an unearned run.
Tanaka's splitter off Kevin Kiermaier's right foot caused a hairline fracture, abruptly ending the center fielder's season.
Boone said he'd use a starter to start the wild-card game but wouldn't hesitate to use his bullpen aggressively, early in that elimination game, if need be.
On the heels of his four-RBI night with a home run, Gary Sanchez went 0-for-3 with a walk and yielded his MLB-leading 18th passed ball this season during a rough four-run eighth against David Robertson.
